The award-winning ‘The War On Democracy’ was John Pilger’s first film for cinema.
Using archive footage sourced by Michael Moore’s archivist Carl Deal, the film shows how serial US intervention has toppled a series of legitimate governments in South and Central America since the 1950s, keeping the rich in palaces and the poor in the desperate poverty of the barrios.
The film also unearths the real story behind the attempted overthrow of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez in 2002 and how the people of Caracas rose up to force his return to power.
It looks at the wider rise of populist governments across South America lead by indigenous leaders intent on loosening the shackles of Washington and a fairer redistribution of the continent’s natural wealth.