El Salvador, Another Vietnam?

A documentary made during the US backed civil war in El Salvador, documenting the social conditions of the country and many of the atrocities.

I've been looking through the Internet Archive, and found a lot of interesting stuff that seems to have been forgotten. One was this documentary titled El Salvador Another Vietnam? It was film during the conflict and traces the growing involvement of the United States military in a brutal civil war. And investigates the behviour of the Salvadoran government.

It doesn't pull its punches, the hypocrisy of the government and its US supporters is exposed, platitudes about promoting peace are juxtaposed over scenes of shocking violence.

And I do mean shocking, I don't think the usual content warning does it justice. Here's just a brief description of some of the more distressing scenes, a number of military police stand over a corpse, one of them takes a rifle and then plants it in the hands of the deceased protestor. Footage of the military raid in June 1980 on the National University, including soldiers firing on two un armed students who are lying down on the floor reciting prayers. One of the students is hit several times and we see him begging for mercy. Several of the interviewees of the documentary including a missionary and members of the Democratic Revolutionary Front were abducted, tortured and murdered before filming finished and the makers included their discovered bodies.

There are also segments dedicated to rebels ambushing soldiers and street battles. Its honestly very haunting,

That's why I've put the links to the video below, in the hopes that anyone looking at this page will at least skim read this before clicking play.

The shock factor doesn't detract from the facts either, its very good at explaining the social and political conditions of El Salvador and why this war is happening and why its so brutal.

Film info.

Publication date 1981

This film examines the civil war in El Salvador in light of the Reagan administration's decision to "draw the line" against "Communist interference" in Central America. It offers an overview of U.S. military and economic policy in Central America since 1948, with extensive background to the current crisis. Includes scenes with both government and guerilla forces, and discusses U.S. aid to the Junta. Is this the beginning of a "new Vietnam"? A Blue Ribbon Winner, American Film Festival 1982. Directed by Glen Silber and Tete Vasconellos. 1981

Producers, directors, Glen Silber, Tete Vasconcellos ; editor, Deborah Shaffer ; narration, Claudia Vianello ; narrator, Mike Farrell