Pictures from a Revolution (Film Review)

Note: This is a documentary film, not a major motion picture.

Pictures from a Revolution ; c1991 ; 92 minutes ; in English ; directed by Alfred Guzzetti & Susan Mieselas. A world-renowned photographer returns to examine the aftermath of political conflict, and the use of her images by both sides in the revolutionary war.

Photographer Susan Mieselas was in Nicaragua in era 1978, as Anastasio Somoza was overthrown, and the then moderately socialist Sandinistas came to power. Mieselas is responsible for some extremely powerful images during and after the Nicaraguan civil war. Some of her photographs were used by both the Somoza dictatorship, and the Sandinista revolutionaries, as part of their political and propaganda platforms.

In 1988, ten years later, Mieselas returns to Nicaragua, and interviews various people involved in the conflict and the aftermath, examining the actions and legacies of both U.S. intervention, and that of the former Soviet Union. All sides are questioned, and the director also returns to Canada and the U.S. where she interviews exiles then in both countries.

This film is very well done, and one needn´t be a photographer nor student of propaganda to find it insightful. Though her images speak for themselves, this film examines who used them, how, why, and to some extent, with what success.