On Wednesday in class we watched the film Men With Guns. I found this film very interesting and wanted to learn more about its production. I discovered that Men With Guns, was based on true stories of the disappearances of doctors and agronomists in rural towns. I also discovered that this movie in which the story is set in Guatemala City and its rural lands, was actually not filmed in Guatemala. The Movie was filmed in Mexico City, Chiapas, as well as other rural and jungle areas in Mexico. I also discovered that the film's director, John Sayles, is an American film director born in New York. In 1996, he directed Lonestar about the border between Mexico and Texas. I find both of these facts very interesting, because as I was watching the movie, I almost assumed that it was filmed in Guatemala by a Guatemalan director who was very passionate about his home. Therefore I was quite surprised to realize that this was an American-made film because in my opinion it represented the Guatemalan point of view very well. Especially with the allegorical "American tourist" characters that kept reappearing throughout the films. One other interesting fact I learned about this movie is that a key question John Sayles wanted to impose on the audience is, are we ignorant because we are not truly aware of the actual situation, or are we ignorant because we have to be to live our lives? This is the same question that the main character Dr. Fuentes faces throughout the film. And I believe it is the very same question that many Americans ask themselves with regards to Latin America in general.
Here is a website about the production of Men With Guns:
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/menwithguns/production.html