Customer Reviews

Noriega: God's Favorite [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a too-long and too-talkative account of the streetwise thug who brutalized his countrymen as the military ruler of Panama in the 1980s. Bob Hoskins is believable as Manual Noriega but he can't overcome all of the dialogue and a leisurely story shot mainly indoors. You keep wishing for action tied to real or believable Panamanian locations to create a sense of locale. The co-villain, the U.S., isn't really nailed for its thuggery in sending in some 25,000 troops to capture the head of a country who had been a longtime informant for the CIA. As a result of Operation Just Cause, a classic wrong name if there ever was one, an estimated 2,500 to 5,000 Panmanians were killed and an entire poor neighborhood was obliterated; it has not yet been rebuilt completely. The movie does claim at the end that drug trade in Panama has doubled since Noriega was removed; the elder Bush, president at the time, had been miffed that Noriega also was helping the Colombian drug cartel. Hoskins makes a nice try but the movie misses the mark.

I lived in Panama from 1985 to 1988, and remember quite well some of the events portrayed in the movie. Of course a movie of 2 hours can not be expected to tell the entire history of Panama and the actions of General Noriega. Since I speak Spanish and knew many local people, I was able to understand current events. I thought the murder of Dr Hugo Spadafor was a terrible thing, as well as the suffering of the Panamanian people. From the time of my arrival to Howard AFB, we were instructed to respect and obey the laws of Panama as well as the PDF and local police. We were not allowed to carry guns nor wear a military uniform off base. As military personnel, we were taught that we had no right to intefere in the local politics. I thought that the United States building the Canal and our presence was a good thing, since we supported the economy and made many local friends. Therefore, it is my opinion that the movie was a reasonable brief synopsis of the life of Gen Noriega, although it left out many details of the suffering of the Panamanian people, and could have been much improved had it revealed more of the facts.

This is a very interesting movie.
This movie doesn't make a hero of Noriega, it shows how evil a man can be as a leader of a nation. The opening sequence clearly depicts the murder and torture associated with his regime and his methods.

There are strong alignments in this movie with other tyrannical historical figures depicted in stage and film, Richard III is a good example. I think that there are three basic lessons in this film:

1) Noriega led a tyrannical life of contasts, his bad behavior upped the stakes to the point that he could no longer control the external forces he stirred.

2) He did seem to have luck. The black comedy depiction highlights just how lucky he was. The depiction of the coup he narrowly escapes in the movie was very real.

3) There are key lessons in this movie about the level of violence tyrants will go to to keep power.

I bought this movie and its a favorite. I hope it will be released on DVD soon with the extras.

One Panamanian told me on 25 December 2011, that the Christmas after the invation, was the best one everybody in Panama had. Becuase they looted every store and had plenty merchandize and also food that lasted four months. Now that Noriega is back in Panama, 11 Dec 2011; it is time to add more to this movie (after and before the movie). There is more that even the Panamanian people don't know. The movie is ok, but tend to be more like a comedy. The two years before the invation, the US suffered over 1,200 cases of abuse by the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF). They stopped them to take all the money, beat them, raped their daugthers, wives, even men and sons. Few family members were killed that way. They pulled pistol on their heads and played russian rulette. One time their stopped a school bus full of elementary studenst comming from the base, and hold the bus in the sun for 4 hours until finally someone from the US Ambassy make a deal. Good thing the US Army MP where surrounding the bus so the PDF won't go inside an rape the children. The PDF did the majority of the killing in Panama. They dressed as civilians and shoot at the US Forces from group of Panamanian citizens to draw attention. Many of the dead Panamanian by bullets where from non-US forces caliber ammonution. The Panamanian that died directly from US Forces didn't obeyed check-points or did something stupid to draw attention. The US Forces conducted an evacuation of non-essential personnel and families weeks before that invation. Including many Panamanians because they were spouses, without passport and visas. All Panama knew that, so it was not a surprise the attack was coming. Specially the people from El Chorrillo. The US Forces informed them the day of the invation to get out of El Chorrillo by radio, flyers, and PA Systems; both in Spanish and English languages. Many decided to stay because they don't wanted to loose their belongings. The PDF used El Chorrillo as a Obstacle to the advancing US Force, by setting the whole place on fire. Like that the PDF could have a wall of fire to slow down the forces and lots of dark smoke to prevent direct view from the forces and aircrafts. And what the Panamanian people do on the middle of the shooting? They decided to go shopping, that is why there are too many casualties.

For Panama...my life! That was Noriega's patriotic military shout against the almighty US Army; yet, he didn't defended his country with his life, he ran and took cover behind the skirt of a priest inside the Vatican Nunciatura while his country was being obliterated (literally!) by US bombs. I rented this movie a couple of nights ago in Venezuela (my home country)to see North America's version of Noriega and compared with the similarities we are suffering with our own dictator Hugo Chavez... Even though this film DOES give you a brief and truthful synopsis about Noriega's secret releationship with the US governmet, the CIA, The Iran-Contra fiasco, the DEA and dear Mr. George Bush Sr., at least 70% OF THIS FILM ARE LIES!. First of all, I will like to say that Panama is one of the most beautiful countries in Latin America and I have great friends and memories in it. I had the opportunity to visit Panama when it was considered by the UN as one of the most dangerous places in the world, before and after the invasion.
In 1987 I was cought in the middle of a peaceful manifestation that ended up in a bloodbath where many civilians were killed and thousands brutally beaten by the PDF and the now infamous Dignity Batallions , who worked very similar to François Duvalier's genocidal "Ton Ton Macoute" death squad. Today, panamanians remember that horrible day as "BLACK TUESDAY" and the 21 years of brutal dictorship is remembered as "BLACK YEARS". I saw with my very own eyes how that beautiful country was torn to peaces by a very brutal and heartless Dictator who's only goal was to be rich and powerful no matter the cause. It is very hard for me to forget one of the most brutal and cruel sights I've ever seen in my life: A panamanian news camaraman captures how a panamanian civilian was gunned down by a death squad member. The victim layed halfway sitted in the middle of a sidewalk while a Dignity Batallion wrapped him with a "Molirena opposition party flag". The helpless civilian was bleeding to death from a chest wound and started asking the paramilitary for help "Please take my to a doctor, please have a heart and cure me"; the goon looked down at him a replied "You want me to cure you?... Tell Endara (Noriega's political adversary) to come here and cure you!". The civilian died in front of the camara as the death squad member stood still telling the camara "I love this country... I don't sell my "PATRIA!"... It was an ugly sight. I also witnessed how thousands of panamanian civilians used to go down to US Bases asking the north american officers for help. I remember people holding pictures of their family members and a huge lists containing names of countless civilians that were dissapeared, missing or killed, asking american generals to take out Noriega... The US never did anything about it.... and they knew that Noriega was killing and torturing everybody. Well, actually the US did help.... invading the country and murdering thousands of thousands of more civilians. I visited Panama 4 months after the war, the place was OBLITERATED!!!. Buildings were destroyed, bullets holes and burned cars all over the city, every comercial store and bussiness was robbed and destroyed... it looked like Hiroshima... only smaller. The real story of Panama's sad years is not in this film... This film only focuses in a puppet Noriega who is confused, used, brainwashed and political...and in some cases "HUMAN"... Do not take this film seriously because everything looks made up, even though, all the political bla bla bla about Noriega's relationship with the CIA and the DEA is very accurate. I just wonder why they didn't show the real Noriega, the murderer, the executioner, the Tyrant. The cruel Dictator of a one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been in my life! It also very sad that this movie does not show the reality and cruelty of an unnecessary Invasion. Lets open our eyes to reality. If you're a North American, you most know that in 1989, the US ARMY massacred 3000-6000 civilians looking for a man who never did nothing bad to the US... on the contrary, he made the CIA rich!!!. It was a horrible invasion... just like you say 911 was horrible... the only thing is that in Panama during the 80's, everyday was 911, just like it was in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua... places where the United States of America's anticommunist political crap helped tyrant militants take control of the population... Tyrants that murdered thousands in very stupid wars. So if you're a US citizen, you should take concience... and thank the lord you never had to witness this type of agony, sadness and suffering in you beloved country.

I lived the black years. I'm a witness and a martyr. Two of my older cousins were murdered in cold blood in the middle of a peaceful manifestation in one of the most populated streets of Panama. They were gunned down by paramilitant forces dressed up as civilians. A few months later, one of my father's bussines partners was found dead in a beach along with other four persons. After the executions, my family was persecuted and we were forced to flee to Costa Rica. On the border, panamanian police arrested my father and tortured him for 2 hours. They forced him to sit with his bare rear (back side) in a huge block of ice. The ice burned his skin and his genitals so badly, that even today he suffers from severe traumas. He was also beaten with a stick called "manguera" (hose) which is made out of hard rubber, it's even more painful that a wooden stick...but the "manguera" does not break bones, yet, it causes serious damages to veins a muscles. He was forced to give information about bank accounts and some people in the "Cruzada Civilista". He was released two days later and his passport was confiscated. After that, he managed in join us in Costa Rica. Why they did this to my father? He knew people that was against Noriega, my father never hurt nobody, and neither did the thousands of innocent civilians that were murdered, executed, tortured and raped during Noriega's Tyrant dictatorship. There's very sad documentary made by a Panamanian tv reporter titled "Nunca Jamás" (Never Again). This documentary gives the the horrid truth of the panamanian struggle...from the begining. It features horrible unseen footage of the PDF,Death Squads and Dignity Batallions brutalizing and murdering our country. Noriega's regime was based on executions, beatings, tortures, concentration camps, shootings etc. This documentary shows the truth in detail and has not being seen by the world .All this things that I'm mentioning are being denied by the US government. American sources claims that only 200 persons where executed during Noriega's regime. There are accounts of thousands of dead civilians and political prisioners. The US government reason for denial is sad...they where stationed in the same city while Noriega was murdering, dealing, robbing, training "contras" guerrillas, doing moneyloundry, drug traffic... all of this was aided by the US. If you think you will see any of that in this film... don't waste your time... this is an excuse to clean a political mess that ended the life of thousands. Our country still mourns our dead...the world does not knows about it and the US denies that any of this happened....what a wonderful world! If you want to see this film, then take my story as a source. This film only fosuses with Noriega's drug connections...there is nothing about our country's struggle for survival. Noriega will die like all of the other great tyrants in history... alone.

Even though this movie has been around for a couple of years, last night I got the "opportunity" to catch it on regular TV for the first time and to be honest, as a Panamanian, I felt cheated. Manuel A Noriega, wasn't just a powerful druglord that happened to be a General... on the contrarie, he was a General that happened to be a druglord...he was the last great Dictator of Latin America, and when I say last is just that we don't consider Chavez in Venezuela to be half of the dictator or villain that Noriega was. Noriega was a man who used all his power to brutalized his country with murder, torture, execution, encarcelation,kidnapping, money loundry, robbery, dehumanization and misery. This is a guy who exterminated his opposition, who violated human rights, a man who's soldiers and villains raped woman, children and men, yes MEN!!. Death Squads, paramilitants, Dobermans, Dignity Batallions and Codepadi's dominated the streets, thousands of innocent people dissapeared, thounsands were murdered and thrown in rivers and ditches so their families could find them dead. In 1987, Panamá was considered by international sources as the most dangerous place in Latin America, even more dangerous than Nicaragua and El Salvador in that year. All this was happening while the United States Army were stationed in the same soil. To understand Noriega you have to know the problem. The US goverment lied and continues to lie about their involment in Panamá, and that murder and execution was not happening while they were there. LiE... they could have taken Noriega out peacefully... on the countrary, like you see in Iraq, they came full force, with 25,000 troops and murdered 3-6 thousand innocent civilians. None of that is in this film. Do not watch this movie, like a reviewer said, it insults the intelligence of our country and our dead. The United States of America builted a machinery of murder in central America in the 80's, that machinery went down with Noriega. A man that's doing time for drug trafficking and lives like a God in Miami. A man that will never do time for murdering, robbing and torturing teh innocent people of his country

This movie aired a few days ago on Panamanian national television and right now, no one can't stop talking about it.
My first reaction to film was ???, the second was laughter. I started wondering, what will be the reaction of the world when they see this silly movie?. I came to realize that the director of this film has to be Noriega's wife, a lover or a very close friend. But then, I started to think in deep detail what I just saw and I finally got what this is all about...A FILM TO MAKE THE NORTH AMERICAN GOVERMENT LOOK GOOD! This is a cinematic excuse for the US to clean up their image, to look like saints and saviours, to look like the police of the world against a villain who sents drugs to the poor little kids of the USA. Was that really Noriega's crime? Well, in this movie it is. Why? because the US can't mention that they let Noriega get away with murder while the southern Command Army was stationed in Panama since 1914. The US invented Noriega, Noriega used the US to become a Dictator, the US helped Noriega built a powerful drug empire that had chains with the CIA and the DEA and to dear MR. George Bush Sr. Noriega made the US goverment rich, Mr Noriega started to get too greedy and spoiled...and then LET'S START A WAR! A war that ended the life of 6,000 civilians to trial a man for drugs, not to get a man that was murdering and brutalizing his countrymen for years... It was a war to save the little children of the US from drugs!; ain't that stupid and unbelievable? To this day, every year, thousands of families gather in places to ask information about their relatives that are still missing since 1968, victims of the various dictatorships that were finnanced by the US government, innocent victims that fell in the murdering hands of a brutal Dictator that got away with the murder of thousands...the US denies the amount of victims of the Torrijos/Noriega regimes, the US lies about the amount of victims caused by the Invasion. This film has nothing to do with reality and it's of very bad taste to try to clean up a mess with a ultra low budget film that give the world more lies about the Dark Years and Noriega. This film is a complete work of science fiction. But the actor that played Noriega was funny..and better good looking!

This film is a complete insult for those who lived in the "black years" of Noriega's brutal regime. Where's the tyranny, the executed, the missing, the tortured, the economical downfall of the country, the white opposition, the over-ruled, the persecuted, the Dignity Batallion's macabre bloodshed...WHERE'S THE DIGNITY OF THE PANAMANIAN CIVILIANS THAT STOOD UP AND FOUGHT WITH THEIR LIFE TO OVERCOME NORIEGA'S TYRANNY???? This is a joke of a film!! A complete joke even for Noriega. Noriega wasn't a tool of the American government...on the contrary...Noriega used the C.I.A as a tool to become powerful like every other Dictator in Central and South America. The US gave all the Military aid Noriega needed to become a powerful tyrant, oppresor, murderer and the drug lord that he was. This film makes the Panamanians look stupid and weak and makes Noriega a confused clown. This film is a fake political excuse!!! 60% of what you see here is made up or changed. The Spadafora assessiantion was and still is a very dark and macabre unresolved event that should be taken more respectfully. The reconstruction of october 3, 1989 events and the uprising are pathethic!!!, and the US invasion looks like a drug store robbery if compared with the actual and unnecesary brutal abuse of force the US government used. Where are the thounsands of thousands of dead civilians killed by the US army???? no where to be found here!....This film is a joke and an insult...and a very bad biographical account of what Noriega really was.