Stone's El Salvador: eye-opening, solid story (3.5 stars)

This is THE Oliver Stone film for people who don't like Oliver Stone films. Released in 1985 (while the war between the FMLN and the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian government was still going full speed), the legacy of "Salvador" is that it opened America's eyes to some of the terrible happenings within El Salvador. Oliver Stone's films almost always try to accomplish some sort of political and/or social awareness, but this movie actually does it. The reason why I recommend it to non-Stone fans in particular is because it is devoid of his usual "pseudo-Cinema de Look" directing style (most eccentric in Natural Born Killers and Nixon), and takes on a more mainstream approach with the hope that the subject matter itself would be controversial enough. Controversial it was, but with the UN Commission on Truth and Amnesty International reports on El Salvador (circa 1993 and 1991, respectively), we are beginning to see that Stone was more right than wrong in his portrayal of the horrors that took place during the early 80's in El Salvador. Onto the film...

"Salvador" revolves around the El Salvador journey by a journalist sleazeball looking for some good material (James Woods), and his average joe buddy who came along for a vacation (Jim Belushi). This isn't the first trip to El Salvador for the Woods character, and much of the early part of the film revolves around him meeting up with some old friends. The rest of the movie follows Woods in his search for a picture/story, and includes several side-stories which gives the audience a survey class in the problems of political and social life in 1980-81 El Salvador. The Belushi character serves as a comic relief, but more importantly, as the device through which the American audience can relate to the story (average American guy in a not-so-average country). I should note here that Woods was nominated for a best actor Oscar for his role in "Salvador."

The quality that I really love about Stone's "Salvador" is that the story cleverly blends real people and real happenings with fictional characters and fictional happenings. I can't think of another movie that accomplishes this hefty task so perfectly. However, there was one occasion where Stone was pushing believability (ie when Woods just HAPPENED to convert to Catholicism AND be at the church the same tragic day that Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Archbishop Oscar Romero, was shot). If you don't know much about 1980's El Salvador, you won't notice when the facts pop up, but if you do know a bit about the history, then the film is more enjoyable for the "cleverness factor" involved in mixing fact with the fiction. And yes, "Salvador" was blessed with an Oscar nomination for the "Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen."

I would give this film 3 1/2 stars if I could (for lack of creativity beyond its script), but I'll give Stone the benefit of the doubt and round it up to four.

All in all, a solid film that is Hollywood's greatest portrayal of war-torn El Salvador ("Romero", despite Julia's brilliance, doesn't compare). This is a mainstream movie that should appeal to everyone over the age of 18. One of the few anti-war films that actually changes the minds of its viewers. Oliver Stone die hards will be undoubtedly disappointed as this is no "Natural Born Killers," but hey... sometimes substance can speak for itself.

Oh... and the name of John F. Kennedy isn't mentioned once! Give Oliver Stone a hand for that.