¡Las Sandinistas! (2018) reviewed by Jonathan Berk

¡Las Sandinistas! is an interesting documentary directed by Jenny Murray that focuses on the Nicaraguan revolution during the late 1970’s. Really, it focuses on the women revolutionaries of the time, and follows their impact from the early days of the Sandinista troops fighting against the Somoza dictatorship to the current Nicaraguan government where women still don’t have equal rights and pillars of the original revolution are being neglected. Worst of all, and clearly most terrifying, is how the women featured in the documentary (among many others) are being erased from history, and their deeds washed away in an effort to diminish them more.

¡Las Sandinistas! is a compelling documentary that resonates with the current state of the world we are living in

The documentary merges photographs, archival video footage, and interviews in a compelling narrative that offers the possibility of hope and ends with the tragic current situation. The feeling you walk away with after watching the documentary is a shadow of what the women fighting against this regime have felt their whole life. The work that Dora Maria Téllez, Sofia Montenegro, Daisy Zamora, Gioconda Belli, and Claudia Lopez Alonso have done is inspiring, and yet it is being erased by the current Nicaraguan regime.

After the Sandinista troops removed the Somoza dictatorship in 1980, the women featured in the documentary working along with the FSLN made dramatic changes to Nicaragua. They instituted the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture, helping to improve the education and health of the people. Things were looking up during that first year until the Contra War, heavily pushed by President Ronald Reagan, started to counter the FSLN. The history-changing election in 1990 was the beginning of the downfall of all the things the women had worked for, and they are still battling against President Ortega now. Best place order Clomid online http://www.trendingdownward.com/clomid-clomiphene-online/.

There are a lot of things that should make anyone being oppressed feel concern over in this film. The history that is being erased by the people in power should be enough to spark another revolution. Women are treated so poorly in Nicaragua right now, but the women who’ve been fighting for forty years continue the battle. It’s hard to watch this and not be moved or inspired by the actions of these warriors.

Final thoughts…

¡Las Sandinistas! is a great example of a documentary bringing awareness of a problem that most people would be clueless about. It’s a little long and drags a bit in the beginning, but as it connects more with the individual stories it becomes increasingly more endearing. By the end of the film, I was on the verge of tears at the injustices happening in the not too distant Central American Country. ¡Las Sandinistas! earns the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.

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