Review of The Panama Deception (1992) by Private U — 21 Feb 2008
Stylistically, this op-ed movie is clearly outdated. Further, there are several clear instances of intentionally manipulative juxtapositions and manipulative use of sound, which, in addition to being aesthetically displeasing, is also simply unethical.
These problems notwithstanding, this is an extremely moving and informative piece of work, and I'm not one to normally be compelled with what superficially appear to be obscure political issues. The allegations that are made in this film can indeed be extreme, however, and should be taken with a hefty grain of salt, but the movie's most salient accusations come through adequately substantiated; it seems quite certain, based on the evidence provided in this film, that some extremely serious war crimes were committed by the elder bush administration in their dealings with Panama, and information pertaining to these crimes was scrupulously subverted and manipulated, for the consumption of the classically supine American press, which raised no serious objections to our government's involvement, and framed nearly everything about the invasion of Panama in terms of our own national interests.
The historical background to the invasion, furthermore, accurately depicts yet another instance of our government turning a blind eye to an evil dictator if that dictator plays by our rules, and then the second that dictator acts against our national interests, constructing him as a boogeyman that must be immediately destroyed, whatever the cost may be to civilian life.
Even after having said all of this, however, it remains that our involvement in Panama *is* still an obscure political issue to just about everybody on this planet outside of (maybe) parts of central America.
One feels that there are doubtlessly a handful of similar cases such as our Panama involvement, but the countries remain too far away and too unknown to Americans for anyone to say or (more appropriately) do anything, myself certainly included.
A sobering message indeed, that resonates very strongly in this film...highly recommended.
This review of The Panama Deception (1992) was written by Private U on 21 Feb 2008.
The Panama Deception has generally received positive reviews.
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