The Liberator

The Liberator

In the history of Latin American wars of independence against the Spanish empires Simon Bolivar is a great figure to focus on as he fought for the independence of the territories and sought to create a democratic foundation in the region. Probably a little too great a figure in fact as a Spanish language film called ‘The Liberator’ felt like an over produced textbook in how it never really went beyond Boliver the historical figure into Boliver the person.

This film is about scale, but only the scale such as sweeping but never gets into closer details. There is sound of heavy rains and galloping of horse and boom of drums to indicate danger. The drama evokes the feeling of watching endless film clips with soldiers from Bolivar’s side fighting against the Spanish army and other people always around: faceless men falling in repetitive, exaggerated slow motion to machinery grease, poor production, and the overkill of a History channel battle reenactment.

In one of the episodes, Bolivar takes the lead and takes his people on a hazardous journey on the Andes. It should be blood-chilling how clothes ripping off dozens of imperialist refugees freezing to death in desperation trying to escape captivity. Nevertheless, the audiences are never rendered close with these people and their struggle. Even the images showing the life of people who lived in awful Spanish oppression are absent; there is a recorded moment showing a slave being beaten by her Spanish master but it is nothing personal, rather a flash.

But the heart of the film’s trouble lies in its treatment of Bolivar himself, who to say the least is an odd looking character who does not appear to age at all. He is like an emperor sitting in lacquered the action and speaks like a textbook quoting ‘The true destiny of man is freedom’ and ‘Law is might that protects the privileged from the rest of the society’. Once more, sounds great on the paper, but is utterly lifeless on the screen.

What a real shame that a film about resisting conformity ends up being so compliant.

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