Libertador

Score: 6/10

Recommendation: Rent it.

Summary: Although imperfect, the film depicts a fascinating true story of a man that changed the course of history for an entire continent. Everyone should see it for the history alone.

Review:

This is going to be one of those situations where my score and my recommendation might not line up perfectly. I can't say Libertador was a great movie, I will explain why not below, but I can say that it is an incredible story that deserves a great movie, and this is the best we have until that day. You could even say that it's not the movie we deserve, but it is the movie we need right now. I love historical biographical pictures and Simon Bolivar lived an incredible life that many (excluding Latin America) don't even know about. So keeping in mind that I wholeheartedly recommend that you rent Libertador and watch it, here is my critical review.

The Liberator (Libertador) tells the incredible story of Simon Bolivar as he becomes the leader for independence for most of South America from Spain. He's basically the George Washington of Venezuela, Panama, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru! That's ridiculous! In fact it ends up being about 1,853,164 square miles of Spanish land that was liberated because of Simon Bolivar! It's almost like anytime he was bored he thought, "Done folding laundry, I guess I'll go free another country this afternoon." So Libertador definitely had good content to pull from.

So, what's the biggest problem? There was too much story to tell. The greatest thing that could have happened to this story is a miniseries like the John Adams miniseries starring Paul Giamatti or the HBO Band of Brothers series from a few years back. Maybe it could have focused only on a single battle or event. Simon Bolivar's entire life deserves more than 2 hours, and you can feel how underdeveloped many parts of the plot are. For example, even the motivation to fight against Spain is never really explained! It was like they just wanted to be free from Spain because they wanted to be free from Spain (#recursion)! I really never felt like they had much motive or reasoning behind liberation, let alone feel like they were justified or that I supported them. The relationships were also underdeveloped. I didn't feel like his relationship with Manuela Saenz was anything special and all of his supporters (except the English guy because he spoke English) could pretty much be interchanged without me even noticing. The battles may as well have occurred in the same city since none, except for the last one, had any individual weight that made sense. Everything was rushed to fit into an acceptable run time and I believe this is a disservice to the incredible story Simon Bolivar should be able to tell.

I also have to admit that I have a pet peeve. I hate when movies start in the middle and then go back to the beginning. Actually, that's not the problem, I hate when they do it for no reason except that it is popular! Generally, films do this to foreshadow and get the audiences attention. Libertador tries the same thing, except it was done clumsily and leaves the audience confused since there isn't much of a transition between the first scene and the flashback. I spent 3/4 of the film confused by the first scene. Sure, later I understood, but my confusion distracted my from the story instead of engaged me. I'd love to see a cut where that scene was returned to its chronological position.

So, why did I give this film a 6 then? That's a fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Well, let's talk about the what the film did well. Mostly the production design. Everything in this film looks awesome! The costumes, the sets, the hair/makeup (dope lamb chops Simon, I saw those), the wars were brutal and well choreographed, and the acting was good. The music was powerful when it needed to be (although otherwise forgettable) and there were some compelling speeches and thoughtful lines. I would be interested to know if Simon Bolivar actually gave any of them because there were some beautiful lines. So Libertador is actually executed well, it just didn't have a coherent, developed story to tell.

All in all, I really did enjoy the film while watching it. Latin American history has always interested me. But I can't overlook the films shortcomings despite the fact that the narrative was so perfectly tuned to my interests. I give Libertador 6 little glass South America shaped figurines out of 10.

Misc Notes while watching:

• Costumes = awesome
• Can we go back to dressing like that?
• Early life is a tiny bit confusing.
• I didn't realize the little boy was the same character as the main character until the revolution was pretty much won
• Or I guess not? Um what?
• Don't just show a late scene earlier in the film because you want to if it doesn't give anything to earlier parts of the film!
• Man Simon Bolivar's Lambchops are dope