Review of Return to El Salvador (2010) by Zach G — 02 Aug 2010

Filmmaker Jamie Moffett was in Kansas City to screen and discuss the film at Screenland Crossroads on August 1. The film is a riveting retelling of death squad crimes, but leads to a hopeful outlook for present-day Salvadoran society and challenges US audiences to keep El Salvador in their sights.

The film explores a first-hand recollection of the years when El Salvador was inflicted with US- trained death squads leading to the deaths of 70,000 civilians between 1980 and 1992. "Return to El Salvador" follows the lives of two families -- one where a union leader was threatened by security forces and another with a former FMLN militant.

The well-organized and flawlessly- produced film steps through the history of El Salvador from the days of the 1992 peace accords, back through years describing large landowners domination of the economy, forward through 15 years of horrendous death squad crimes committed against teachers, union organizers, and peasants by US-trained military forces, and to present-day with the victory of the FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio Funes.