The Fall of Fujimori

A friend and I went to see this movie. We have opposite opinions about Fujimori but after watching this movie we agree on the following: the easiest way to have an inaccurate documentary is to make it about a foreign country in which you were not present when the events happened, no matter how talented or how much you invest in the film. If you are truly looking to learn about another countries history, watch something made by natives of that country otherwise you won't be able step away from your bubble. And those who try to force their views and opinions about something to which they don't belong are really abusing their power. To make it even worse, the director chose to not talk about the embarrassing involvement of the CIA with Fujimori's regime. She decides to evade dealing with the only subject for witch her country has much to explain to Peruvians. But this is not surprising because, both, the director and the CIA are violating the sovereignty of Peru by trying to affect the democratic processes at very different levels of course.

If the director was really interested in helping Peru she would have financed a native to make the documentary. In any case there are numerous Peruvian made documentaries, films and books about the subject. Such include "Ojos Que No Ven", "Dias de Santiago", "Montesinos-Fujimori: Las Dos Caras de la Misma Moneda", "Montesinos: Poderoso Caballero", etc. The director of the "Fall of Fujimori" should spend her time analyzing the numerous problems in her own country or at least the involvement of her country in the matters of other nations.

Either you become what you hate, or you fall victim to what you hate. THE FALL OF FUJIMORI can almost be viewed as a "political morality tale". This film demonstrates what happens when a hugely popular anti-terrorist Peruvian president transforms into something much worse than his enemy, or maybe, he does not. The filmmakers go out of their way to offer an in-depth, and multifaceted account of an important South American leader. And, in the end, I don't think that you can easily peg this man as a demon or a saint. I think that the case can be made that this man was a swindler and a crook, and, equally that he was a man who was absolutely driven by 'reform' at any cost. Maybe human beings, and especially political leaders, are just too convoluted to be pigeon holed. Absorbing and complex.

The movie was a riveting account of the personal struggles of a man thrust into the daunting position of leading an entire country out of chaos that was Peru in the 1980's. Not only was it educational for me from a historical perspective, the director Ellen Perry did well to add a human dimension to the drama. The viewers were able to see how the dramatic and traumatic events of an entire nation and of ultimate responsibility personally affected Mr. Fujimori and his family.

Ms. Perry did well to give the viewer the space to decide their own verdicts and make their own opinions. I could see why Japan reveres the exiled leader as a hero. I could see why he is hated by some. She balanced the factual documentary style with the energy of human drama to make the film well worth watching.

For Ms. Perry to have a film of this magnitude under her belt at such a young age, speaks volumes about her abilities and gives everyone much to look forward to.

Not a balanced point of view. The director shouldn't express her opinion as truth. The movie has some criticism of Fujimori but it always gives him and his family the last words. So few critics of Fujimori were provided that it seems the only reason they were included was to be able to say the movie provides both views. But that is not the case.

The movie barely shows one of the massacres that Fujimori is accused of. And it gives him credit for the masterminding the murdering of the MRTA insurgents that took the Japanese embassy. It is well documented that the CIA did the planning. There is even pictures of a well known CIA strategist on the site published by Caretas magazine and other newspapers.

The fact that such well known information was not used by the director gives us a few possible conclusions: the director is pro-Fujimori and purposely and falsely chooses to give the credit to him; the director does not want viewers to note that the CIA and Fujimori worked together; or it was just out of ignorance since the director is not Peruvian and was not present in Peru at the time the events occurred.

The explanation provided by other commentators, that Fujimori is still fairly popular in Peru, does not excuse the lack of accuracy and balanced explanations.

Also, the statistics provided in the movie for the actual support of Fujimori were the highest I have ever heard of. Most statistics by major poll agencies are much lower.

Another point to mention is that the intelligence that was key in the capture of the leader of Sendero and discover the secret network was done by a police force led by Ketin Vidal and he had complete autonomy from Fujimori and Montesinos.

The first government of Fujimori did experience an improvement in overall economic trends (GDP) but this improvement was financed by the privatization of several national industries with contracts that were not beneficial for the country in the long term. Also, the gap between rich an poor continued to increase during Fujimori's regime. In his second term the economy was suffering and there was nothing else to privatize and by the end of Fujimori's second term the economy was about to collapse.

In terms of investments in infrastructure of Fujimori's regime, they fallow the paternalistic pattern. They were created to raise support for Fujimori but were not meant to last long. These structures needed continued maintenance but Fujimori did not provide political power for the civilians in order to demand further investment. In fact, Fujimori's regime was able to destroy most forms of political organizing such as unions and grass-roots groups and the increase in informal unorganized labor was immense.

Finally, the director chose to spend most of the movie talking to Fujimori instead of citing the cases of massive corruption in favour of Fujimori (the Media, Business Owners, the Military, etc) that were so wide spread it was impossible that Fujimori was not aware of it.

I saw the Fall of Fujimori at Sundance, with two senior Latin America diplomats, and we were all completely fascinated and impressed beyond belief by this film. Every filmmaker tackling a difficult subject should be required to see it. It is fantastic, moving, provocative... I wanted more! Others may naively claim that this film lets Fujimori off the hook, but on the contrary, Fujimori hangs himself in the film on several occasions. He doesn't come across as charming or patriotic or even particularly likable; he made a Faustian bargain with spy chief Montesinos, it appears, to stay in power, and it was that "deal with the devil" that ultimately brought down his administration.

This is an atypical American film in that it doesn't condescend to tell the viewers how they should feel, but instead gives plenty of data for them to make up their own minds. In other words, it is objective, which is unfortunately a rare thing in political cinema these days. It is a very complicated story, and the filmmaker did a wonderful job in sifting through the mountains of material to make a lyrical, cohesive, moving film.

A friend teaching at Harvard saw it at a festival in Boston (where it apparently won Grand Jury Prize), and was amazed that a non-Peruvian could even have made it.

Fall of Fujimori is the real deal. See it as soon as you can.