Product Details

• Actors: Universidad de Oriente, Puerto La Cruz, José Sant Roz, Universidad Socialista del Pueblo, Mérida, Jutta Schmitt, Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Christene DeJong, Center for Latin American Studies, University of California, Berkeley Dr. Steve Ellner
• Directors: Clifton Ross
• Format: AC-3, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: PM PRESS
• DVD Release Date: May 13, 2008
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0015U42DA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,995 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

About the Director

Clifton Ross is a freelance writer and videographer who has been reporting on revolutionary movements in Latin America for over 25 years. He has edited many anthologies including: A Dream Made of Stars: A Bilingual Anthology of Nicaraguan Poetry and Voice of Fire: Communiques and Interviews of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. He is the translator of Quetzalcoatl by Ernesto Cardenal and his poetry has been published in the U.K. and Venezuela. Ross currently teaches English at Berkeley City College, Berkeley, California.

Product Description

Venezuela: Revolution from the Inside Out is a voyage into Latin America's most exciting experiment of the new millennium, exploring the history and projects of the Bolivarian Revolution through interviews with a range of its participants, from academics to farm workers and those living in the margins of Caracas. This introduction to the ""revolución bonita"" (""pretty revolution"") offers in-depth interviews, unforgettable images and a lively soundtrack that will open new vistas onto this hopeful human project. As he totes his camera on bus and car trips all over Venezuela, director Clifton Ross becomes our tour guide through the Bolivarian Revolution. He sweeps us through its history and takes us to its works-in-progress on the ground. These schools, rural lending banks and cooperatives weave the fabric of Venezuela's ""Socialism of the 21st Century."" They show its failures and successes, its warp and woof. Through it all runs the frayed but unbreakable thread of a people in struggle. Ross is a freelance writer and videographer who has been reporting on revolutionary movements in Latin America for over 25 years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bolivarian revolution from all sides, April 13, 2008

By 

Andrea Gibbons (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venezuela (DVD)

The Venezuelan revolution is unique and full of contradictions. Even among those of the left, the figure of Hugo Chavez has caused great debate and division as he has certainly achieved great things, stood up to all of the powers of the global North, and transformed Venezuela...while at the same time he is part of the military and he has also tried to draw ever more power into his own hands. What I loved most about this documentary is that it is a frank and sometimes critical look at Venezuela, combining a broad and unique set of voices ranging from street vendors to community organizers to cooperative workers to academics. It manages to show a panorama of Venezuela's realities that achieves both width and depth at the same time, and never enters the realm of propaganda.

It starts with broad enough information and background to be interesting to those who really know nothing about what has been happening there, yet also gains good depth through the interviews, making it enlightening for those who have been following events there closely. Its effectiveness comes from its broad picture view of what has happened there on a national level, moving down to an extensive look at what is actually happening on the grassroots level. The multiple interviews of Venezuelans doing the hard of work of building alternative community and economic organizations are both candid and inspiring, making it particularly useful for people doing community work here in the US.

On a final note it has subtitles in both Spanish and English so it is accessible in both languages, and as someone who is bilingual, I'd also like to say they really did an amazing job with the translations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ground Breaking Truth Telling, July 1, 2009

By 

J. D. Curl (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venezuela (DVD)

This documentary breaks new ground in getting the truth out about the grassroots revolution in Venezuela. Cutting through the smoke screen of misinformation put out by much of the US media, Clifton Ross documents the exhilarating social transformation taking place in Venezuela based on cooperatives and community self-help. This video has a deep integrity, and will change the way you see the forces transforming Latin America.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening and inspiring!, July 1, 2009

By 

Elizabeth Claman "fiction writer and poet" (Richmond, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venezuela (DVD)

Before watching "Venezuela: Revolution from the Inside Out," I thought had a pretty good intellectual understanding of Hugo Chavez's rise to power and the ways his kind of participatory democracy made it possible for many more kinds of people to engage politically than the representative form of democracy we have in the US. However, after watching this film, my understanding of what such engagement meant in people's lives grew much deeper. The film's wide range of interview subjects speaking with such candor brought the Bolivarian revolution to life for me. I found this film moving and inspiring, and I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about South America in the twenty-first century. It also would be an excellent addition to the library of any educational institution, as it offers a perspective on Latin American politics that is often suppressed in this country.