Salvador recounts the conflict between the peasant revolution and the US-backed death squads in El Salvador in the early 1980s as seen through the eyes of American journalist Richard Boyle. Telling unpalatable truths condensed into intense fiction, Oliver Stone's film is typically confrontational, the real Boyle writing the source material for Stone's savage screenplay. The journalist is brought to life by James Woods in a brilliant hyper-kinetic performance: his powerful commitment to the truth balances his self-destructive, drink, drugs and danger-fuelled personality.... Providing excellent support is James Belushi as partner in debauchery Dr Rock, while Stone delivers the most spectacular $4 million movie imaginable by conning the El Salvadorian military into lending tanks, planes and helicopters for a film which brands many of their leaders as war criminals. Genuinely radical cinema, Salvador blisters with moral fury, setting it beside The Killing Fields (1984) as a modern classic. On the DVD: Without spoiling the plot, the original trailer is so compelling it makes you want to watch the film again even if you've just seen it. The are four deleted/extended scenes which add a little more political background--unfortunately the legendary orgy/severed-ears seen is not among them. Parts, though not the whole of this scene, appear in the exceptionally good 62-minute retrospective documentary which covers the extraordinary making of the film and the horrors of the political background in depth (a technical advisor was shot dead on a tennis court). Oliver Stone delivers the best commentary tracks around and this is no exception as he presents a masterclass in gonzo-guerrilla filmmaking. There is also a gallery of 46 behind-the-scenes stills. Given the circumstances, Robert Richardson's cinematography is miraculously accomplished and, excepting some grain, transfers to DVD, anamorphically enhanced at 1.77:1, very well. The original low-budget sound has made the transition to three-channel Dolby Digital with style, George Delerue's machine-gun score having real urgency and the action being appropriately chaotic. --Gary S Dalkin [show more]
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. El Salvador, 1980: Richard Boyle, veteran war photo-journalist, is sent to capture the bloodshed and brutality of El Salvador on film. In El Salvador, injustices of the civil war are as plain as the day. Boyle's mission is to expose the savage government which employs the murderous death squads to deal with dissenters. It's a powerful, moving film experience from Oliver Stone that you will never forget.
James Woods stars as Richard Boyle, an experienced, but no longer trustworthy photo-journalist who travels down to Salvador with a friend, expecting to find a bounty of cheap drink, drugs and sex. However, when they arrive they discover a civil war in full flow and also a disturbing degree of US involvement on the side of the right-wing incumbents. Boyle then begins to regain his professional credibility as he uncovers the full story, but in doing so endangers his life.
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