The film I watched for my in-class presentation was Under Fire. This movie is set in Nicaragua toward the end of the Sandinista revolution. The movie is shot through the perspective of an American journalist covering the war. The movie was made in 1983, four years after the revolution took place.
The film touches on many interesting topics, perhaps the most obvious ones were the freedom of the press and the divide between the Sandinista rebels and the Somoza regime. The film contrasts the perspective of Nicaraguans and the perspective of U.S citizens in the war. Throughout the film we see how the Somoza regime was living in luxuary and how many members of the media were given restricted access to the peaceful regions of the country. The film then contrasts these peaceful regions and the Somoza wealth to the immense poverty in the country and the war torn areas throughout the country. I think it is interesting how the film focuses on an American Journalist who had a neutral opinion of the war, but eventually exhibits sympathy for the many Sandinista rebels and supporters. The focus on this character makes the viewer follow his sympathy and support for the Sandinista cause. One of my favorite characters was the "war-loving" mercenary played by Ed Harris. This character jumped from a war in Africa to a the war in Nicaragua, and then expressed his desire to jump to yet a another war at the end of the movie. I think this character encompassed a good representation of the battle-cowboy mentality held by many mercenaries.
I thought the following quote was quite interesting and illustrates a very pessimistic view of the revolution.
"You are sentimental as Shit. You fall in live with the poets. The poets fall in love with the Marxists. The Marxists fall in love with themselves. The country is destroyed with rhetoric. And in the end we are stuck with tyrants. Somoza, he's a tyrant for sure, but thankfully he's not a poet, you see. If we wish to survive, then we must pick from a choice of tyrants. You poets chose the wrong side"