Nicaragua in American Media: “Under Fire”

This week, I’m sharing my thoughts on Under Fire, a fictional film based to some extent on true historical events about journalists covering the Nicaraguan Revolution. The film, which was released in the United States in 1983 for American audiences, is a political thriller set in Nicaragua in 1979. It centers around three American journalists, Russell, Claire, and Alex, covering the end of the successful Sandinista uprising against the Somoza regime.

The film stars Nick Nolte as Russell, the wartime photographer who faces a crisis of journalistic integrity, Joanna Cassidy as Claire, the female radio reporter who is the shared love interest of the two male leads, and Gene Hackman as Alex, the TV reporter who ends up getting killed on camera by Somoza’s  soldiers. It was directed by Patrick Crowley, Jesus Marin, and Ron Shelton and produced by Edward Teets, Aurelia Ortiz, and Anna Roth. Although the entirety of the action is set in Nicaragua, the movie itself was filmed in Mexico.

The plot of the movie revolves around the three journalists and their roles in the Nicaraguan Revolution. It is loosely based on a couple of true historical events, including the murder of Bill Stewart, an American reporter working for ABC, which was caught on tape by an ABC cameraman named Jack Clark. Clark’s footage became international news, and was shown on national television across the United States for days. The incident was crucial in drumming up American support for the Sandinista regime and resulted in the final destruction of the relationship between Somoza in Nicaragua and the Carter administration in the U.S. Just over one month later, the Somoza regime finally fell to the Sandinista party, an event also shown in the film.

In Under Fire, Russell, Claire, and Alex are working to cover the revolution in Nicaragua for audiences back home. They begin as impartial observers, cataloguing the fighting and taking pictures of the carnage, but over time, Russell in particular begins to lean towards the Sandinista cause. Eventually, he ends up in a secret Sandinista camp, believing he has scored an interview with the elusive revolutionary called Rafael, a character loosely based on Carlos Fonseca Amadoran influential leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front. However, Russell soon discovers that Rafael has been killed by Somoza’s forces, an act that has the potential to deal a serious blow to the Sandinistas. Remaining Sandinista leaders then reveal to Russell that they have invited him to their camp so that he can convince the world that Rafael is still living: they want him to take a picture using Rafael’s corpse that makes him appear alive. He is reluctant, as is Claire, who has accompanied him to the camp, but eventually agrees, compromising his journalistic integrity in order to influence the outcome of the war. The picture is taken with a newspaper reading, in Spanish, “Rafael Has Died”, and it spreads through American and Nicaraguan news outlets like wildfire.

The picture rallies support among the Sandinistas, but draws suspicion from Alex, who tells Russell that he wants to arrange a meeting with Rafael. Russell and Claire lead him around the region pretending to search out Rafael, but eventually admit to him that the picture was fabricated. Later, as he and Russell search out another story to make up for the loss of the Rafael interview, the pair finds themselves in an abandoned town that has been taken over by Somoza’s national guard. After getting lost, Alex leaves their truck to ask a woman for directions, and she points him towards the soldiers. He walks up to them, looking for directions out of the town, and they force him to his knees. Russell films the interaction, up to and including the moment when the soldiers shoot Alex, killing him. He then flees, and is injured in the process. The movie then ends with his dramatic reunion with Claire, who is struggling to cope with her grief at the death of her original love interest, and their presence at a parade in celebration of the Sandinista victory. It is revealed that Alex’s death on camera pushed the United States to sever their last ties to Somoza, aiding the Sandinistas in there final push for victory.

The film centers around themes of journalistic integrity, the fuzzy boundaries of morality, and the role and impact of the media in warfare. Like many war movies, it uses war as a backdrop for other struggles amongst its protagonists, including a love story and the struggle with right and wrong that is central to its message. The mood is tense, as the characters wrestle with their moral compasses and try to decide on the correct course of action. There is both the physical danger of reporting in the middle of the war and the quieter, more ominous danger that comes with taking sides and potentially influencing the outcome of the fighting.

I had some mixed feelings about this movie. The tension and sense of urgency in deciding whether or not to support one side of the war are made very real. To the extent that that was the purpose that the production staff set out to fulfill, according to the producer, this movie was very successful. Some issues to note, however, include the romanticization of war and the fact that the two sides of the war are rather clearly assigned to be “good” and “bad”, with the Sandanistas shown as brave and committed and the Somoza government portrayed as oppressive. It has also been noted by some critics that there should perhaps have been some afterword with the film noting the fighting still to come and the fact that no group or side has proven to be purely good for the country. Personally, I enjoyed watching the movie. It was engaging and if I weren’t aware of the history of Nicaragua already, it might have sparked an interest in doing some research about the Nicaraguan civil wars. However, because it centers around an American love story and moral dilemma, with the civil war in Nicaragua in the backdrop, I did feel like this was perhaps an example of ignoring the rich history of a foreign conflict and using the struggles of others to set the scene for an American story. To the extent that the movie reduces the conflict in Nicaragua to background for Americans falling in love and examining their convictions, I could make as much of an argument against Under Fire as I can for it.