The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

On Friday, I saw the documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," an Irish production about the coup attempt that nearly overthrew Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. The film had a refreshing lack of nuance: Hugo Chavez good, his enemies (the globalization goons called neo-liberals...basically what we call conservatives in the States) bad. The left-right divide is so sharp in Venezuela: like a heightened red-blue U.S. divide! There was a lot of talk on the Right about the corrupt values of the Left: all that was needed was the appropriate "wedge" issue to exploit!

Coup attempts really cause a lot of tension and chaos: In the absence of Chavez, who had surrendered and been jailed incommunicado, the struggling government swore in the Vice President. I liked the attempt at solemnity during the swearing-in ceremony, on recently restored National TV, while an idiotic ringtone interrupted the Oath of Office and people scrambled to find the stupid cell phone. Solemnity was so hard to reach, even though the situation could not have been more grave: instead, with all the endangered lives, people were overwrought with emotion. The twelve or so of us in the theater had a good time, pumping fists in the air. I wish I understood more about the political background, but that would have just complicated things.

Feels like we are in the 60's again! Throw away all that heavy baggage about how things are more complicated than they seem. Be gone, shades of gray! No more malaise! That must mean Michael Moore's new movie is approaching release. They had a trailer for that too, and it looked pretty good, with little irony, and many opportunities to cheer for the good guys.