| Freedom of trip. My journey towards a movie and more. |
It all began a couple of weeks ago, as I was ranting and ranting about how much I wanted to see
"Fahrenheit 9/11", how good it must be and how it obviously would never come to Honduras, my country.
Then my brother told me that his college professor (a member of the country's censorship committee) had
told them all about why the Michael Moore documentary was never getting released here.
It was propaganda she had stated. Well last I knew they called Leni Riefenstahl propaganda and I'm sorry
but "Olympia" is one of the greatest films of all time. But this didn't really bother me, they can call Moore
whatever they wanted, but I was deeply offended that a group of people (who were probably in their jobs
for political, not professional reasons) dared to determine what the rest of the country and me could see or
not see.
Not even the United States had banned it! When it directly affected them and their interests. Sure, this
country and most of Central America owe a lot to the US (economic aid, access to information, school
system help, guerrilla, new police motorcycles etc.) but when it comes to showing a film, is this a sense of
morality and allegiance to this nation or an ignorant tactic that makes this country even more ignorant?
And some people ask me why am I not happy here? Sure, sure let the Hondurans see the new Vin Diesel
film or the new Ashton Kutcher comedy, but hell no they're not watching a documentary or "Dogville"!
My anger went considerably down for the next days, until I logged on to the Cinemark website and
discovered the film wasn't playing here, but it was showing in the rest of Central America!
The nearest place was San Salvador, El Salvador, a country next to mine, small in territory, but huge in
economical (and apparently intellectual) development.
But sure, I could actually leave school, drop my life here and go to another country to see a movie...
It was coming out on DVD soon, but I needed to watch it in the silver screen, it had become a mater of
freedom, I wasn't going to stand up to someone censoring things to me.
Suddenly the stars aligned for me, and by a funny coincidence my trip was a possibility.
While on the ride there (2 days with their respective hotel nights, 6+ hours of rocky, dirt roads) I kept
thinking of the state in which we live. Politicians are awfully corrupt, the law is something inconsequent,
crimes that range from the brutal to the illogical surface each day, and these people still decided Michael
Moore was offensive.
Packed with my "Stupid White Men" copy (which is a modern masterpiece by all means!!!) I decided this
would be my Moore trip, I was enlightened by facts I had ignored, by things I had seen but had not realized
before and by ideas which were funny but offered a sense in this times.
The day I reached the city I felt I was in civilization, which for me is a place in which movies matter, I
reached the cinema and felt glowing when I saw the poster for the film right in front of me.
The movie itself was worth the trip! (Read my review here) But I came out with more than the experience, I
felt mad, I was angry someone had decided they could prevent me from watching this.
I may not be as patriotic as Moore, but for once I felt sorry for the state of my nation, I decided I couldn't
really blame the whole population for its precarious ways. Some people do take charge of our lives without
us knowing and without us doing a difference or caring for that matter.
I returned home after lots of thinking and lots of reading ("Stupid...." should be requisite reading for any
human being!) in the end I may have not changed anything about myself or even want to anymore, one
thing must be left clear though: not even 170 kilometers will stop this guy from watching a film!
"Fahrenheit 9/11", how good it must be and how it obviously would never come to Honduras, my country.
Then my brother told me that his college professor (a member of the country's censorship committee) had
told them all about why the Michael Moore documentary was never getting released here.
It was propaganda she had stated. Well last I knew they called Leni Riefenstahl propaganda and I'm sorry
but "Olympia" is one of the greatest films of all time. But this didn't really bother me, they can call Moore
whatever they wanted, but I was deeply offended that a group of people (who were probably in their jobs
for political, not professional reasons) dared to determine what the rest of the country and me could see or
not see.
Not even the United States had banned it! When it directly affected them and their interests. Sure, this
country and most of Central America owe a lot to the US (economic aid, access to information, school
system help, guerrilla, new police motorcycles etc.) but when it comes to showing a film, is this a sense of
morality and allegiance to this nation or an ignorant tactic that makes this country even more ignorant?
And some people ask me why am I not happy here? Sure, sure let the Hondurans see the new Vin Diesel
film or the new Ashton Kutcher comedy, but hell no they're not watching a documentary or "Dogville"!
My anger went considerably down for the next days, until I logged on to the Cinemark website and
discovered the film wasn't playing here, but it was showing in the rest of Central America!
The nearest place was San Salvador, El Salvador, a country next to mine, small in territory, but huge in
economical (and apparently intellectual) development.
But sure, I could actually leave school, drop my life here and go to another country to see a movie...
It was coming out on DVD soon, but I needed to watch it in the silver screen, it had become a mater of
freedom, I wasn't going to stand up to someone censoring things to me.
Suddenly the stars aligned for me, and by a funny coincidence my trip was a possibility.
While on the ride there (2 days with their respective hotel nights, 6+ hours of rocky, dirt roads) I kept
thinking of the state in which we live. Politicians are awfully corrupt, the law is something inconsequent,
crimes that range from the brutal to the illogical surface each day, and these people still decided Michael
Moore was offensive.
Packed with my "Stupid White Men" copy (which is a modern masterpiece by all means!!!) I decided this
would be my Moore trip, I was enlightened by facts I had ignored, by things I had seen but had not realized
before and by ideas which were funny but offered a sense in this times.
The day I reached the city I felt I was in civilization, which for me is a place in which movies matter, I
reached the cinema and felt glowing when I saw the poster for the film right in front of me.
The movie itself was worth the trip! (Read my review here) But I came out with more than the experience, I
felt mad, I was angry someone had decided they could prevent me from watching this.
I may not be as patriotic as Moore, but for once I felt sorry for the state of my nation, I decided I couldn't
really blame the whole population for its precarious ways. Some people do take charge of our lives without
us knowing and without us doing a difference or caring for that matter.
I returned home after lots of thinking and lots of reading ("Stupid...." should be requisite reading for any
human being!) in the end I may have not changed anything about myself or even want to anymore, one
thing must be left clear though: not even 170 kilometers will stop this guy from watching a film!
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