Venezuela on Screen

You have surely read up on the topic by now (not least thanks to Foreign Policy’s reporting and analysis ), but many people need a more personal connection to fully measure the importance of a headline. This is where cinema—the “empathy machine,” as the late film critic Roger Ebert called it—can fill in the gaps.

There is no shortage of domestic and international crises right now, and it can be difficult to fully understand everything that’s happening. In other words, don’t beat yourself up if you found yourself wondering, when Donald Trump ordered Delta Force to zip into Venezuela and capture its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, on charges including narcoterrorism, conspiracy, and weapons possession: “Wait, what the hell is all this about?”

There is no shortage of domestic and international crises right now, and it can be difficult to fully understand everything that’s happening. In other words, don’t beat yourself up if you found yourself wondering, when Donald Trump ordered Delta Force to zip into Venezuela and capture its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, on charges including narcoterrorism, conspiracy, and weapons possession: “Wait, what the hell is all this about?”

You have surely read up on the topic by now (not least thanks to Foreign Policy’s reporting and analysis), but many people need a more personal connection to fully measure the importance of a headline. This is where cinema—the “empathy machine,” as the late film critic Roger Ebert called it—can fill in the gaps.

There haven’t been as many movies about modern Venezuela as about other nations undergoing great tumult.