lwolfe26 One of my top five favorites really. You look on Wikipedia and the only mention of this coup was that Chavez survived.I just saw this film this year and was shocked by the power of private media. I knew it was powerful, but I guess until you see it in action you never realize how easily they can overthrow a leader and misinform the masses.Incredible footage that resulted from being at the right place at the right time. This film is a must see.This should be mandatory in every high school government class. We host documentary nights several times a month with friends and this film is highly regarded by everyone who's seen it.

nospam78 Even though we know how the story ends, this is a gripping fly-on-the-wall film that plays almost like a political thriller. During the calm before the storm, we meet Hugo Chavez as a charismatic, larger than life man who has an unbreakable connection with the mestizos who make up 80% of the population but have previously been shut out of Venezuela's political process and its oil wealth. He seems as devoted to them as they are to him. He travels the country at a hectic pace, reaching out to the campesinos, addressing huge crowds, hugging and kissing ordinary people, accepting letters on scraps of paper, and hearing pleas for help. The people are excited that one of their number has made it to the highest office in the land. There is an electric sense of hope and optimism that change for the better is coming to the festering barrios.But not everyone is happy with the situation. The pure-blood Castillian Spaniard elite who are a small minority but previously controlled all the wealth are full of bitterness and resentment. One of the most unintentionally hilarious moments in the film is when an Ann Coulter lookalike, at a residents' meeting in an exclusive gated community, complains of the mestizos, "they have no concept of struggle or sacrifice." Minutes later, a speaker tells the meeting to "beware of your domestic servants - they could be Chavez supporters." Duh! Of course they are.In a late night interview alone with the film crew, Chavez reveals something of his soul as he tells the story of his grandfather. He can be a sensitive, poetic person, though with an impish, even clownish, sense of humor (like we saw when he addressed the UN and called Bush the devil.)Then the storm starts to gather force as the coup organizers call for a mass protest and cynically manipulate their supporters into changing the route at the last minute and marching on the presidential palace, knowing it is surrounded by Chavez supporters and violence is inevitable.Another element of the plot falls into place as snipers on rooftops begin to fire on the Chavez supporters, some of whom fire back. The local equivalent of Fox News shows this return fire and claims that Chavez supporters are massacring protesters. Then the camera pulls back and reveals that there are no protesters - the street is empty! The protesters took a different route. Needless to say the footage of the empty street was edited out by the rabidly anti-Chavez private TV stations (who had been airing a constant barrage of propaganda calling Chavez mentally ill and sexually fixated on Fidel Castro.) Immediately after the coup, we see the ringleaders and their media propaganda masters openly bragging on TV about how they had manipulated the situation with reckless disregard for the lives of supporters and opponents alike.The filmmakers continue to be at the heart of this chaotic, fast-changing situation as the military coup surrounds the palace and threatens to bomb it. Chavez eventually surrenders to avoid bloodshed but refuses to resign and is whisked away to an offshore island where a plane awaits to take him - where? The US? How can the remaining cabinet members avoid arrest and defeat this heavily armed conspiracy of right-wing generals and ultra-wealthy businessmen who are closely linked to the Bush administration? Watch the movie and find out!If your only knowledge of Hugo Chavez and Venezuela is from the US media, then you know nothing. He is not an "unelected tyrant" and does not "rule by decree" - he is enormously popular, having been elected and re-elected several times with over 60% of the vote (something George Bush Junior has never achieved) and the devotion he inspires in ordinary Venezuelan people is ultimately the reason why the coup fails.This is an extraordinary film about an extraordinary man in an extraordinary situation. The skill of the filmmakers is in being unobtrusive and letting the story unfold through the voices of Venezuelans at every level from the barrio to the presidential palace, the tumultuous scenes, the chaos and confusion out of which a coherent whole emerges that is tense, riveting and moving. Not to be missed!

J Snow This movie is basically a documentary of the chronologically ordered series of events that took place from April 10, 2002 through April 14, 2002 in the Venezuelan Presidential Palace, Caracas Venezuela.The pathos of the movie is real and one feels the pain, sorrow and joy of the people who lived through this failed coup d'etat of President Hugo Chavez.One comes away from viewing this film that Hugo Chavez is truly a great historical figure. Hugo Chavez's persona single-handedly brought the Venezuelan people to overthrow the 3-day old military-installed junta and re-establish the democratically installed government of Venezuela.It is obvious from the film footage that George W Bush aided and abetted the Venezuelan coup d'etat. That the mainstream media aided and abetted George W Bush is not surprising.What is surprising is how few people has seen this movie and how few people realize the total corruption of America's mass media.It has taken only 20 years for Ronald Reagan elimination of the Fairness Doctrine in 1986 to turn America into blind and rudderless state.May Hugo Chavez open patriotic Americans' eyes to the truth and beauty of the true American vision.

RATTFINK I found that this movie was a little too simplistic. The message is basic. Chavez is loved by the people because he takes from the rich and gives to the poor. The rich in this case are Venezuelan oil tycoons, depicted as Washington's cronies, helping the US to suck Venezuela dry. When Chavez threatens this setup, the CIA helps instigate a coup. Chavez is shown as a populist leader and shining example of democracy, touting the constitution and its ideals. He's the little guy, David with his single government channel, up against Goliath, the rich businessmen and their many private channels spewing anti-Chavez propaganda and bankrolled by the US. But the real world is never that simple. Chavez can't be such a shining example of goodness, can he?After watching the movie, I felt very angry at the fatcats (American and Venezuelan) who unjustly and unconstitutionally try to take power from the democratically elected president of the people. But after looking up Chavez on wikipedia, and reading some of the IMDb comments from Venezuelans, I wasn't so sure about him. Is he another Castro? It seems like he's got absolute control over the National Assemby, and he's using it to make constitutional changes giving him more and more power. Sure, he's gotten a lot done for poor people, but at what price? Apparently, unemployment and poverty levels in Venezuela have not improved much during Chavez's term, while state oil revenues have dipped. None of this is addressed in the movie.The movie focuses very narrowly on the events that took place during the short-lived coup attempt against Chavez in April, 2002. For people like me, who don't know much about Venezuela, this movie did little to explain the country's recent history with any depth. All the viewer is told is that Chavez became famous after leading a failed coup attempt in 1992, then was elected democratically in 1998. We're shown scenes of crowds of poor Venezuelans all supporting Chavez, and rich Venezuelans loathing him. The only explanation given for this polar division along class lines is Chavez's plan to more evenly distribute the revenue from Venezuela's oil industry. But this seems to fall short of fully explaining the grievances against Chavez. Such vehement opposition to Chavez as shown in the movie can't come solely from rich oil tycoons angry because he's taking their oil revenues, can it? But that's the only reason given.Then comes the coup. A crowd of anti-Chavez protesters parade to the oil ministry, then decide to move the demonstration to the presidential palace, where a pro-Chavez crowd has gathered. I would have liked to know exactly how many demonstrators were in each camp, but the movie doesn't say. Another murky subject never satisfactorily cleared up is the sniper shooting during the protest. The movie never clearly identifies who is killed by the snipers. Were the snipers shooting pro-Chavez or anti-Chavez demonstrators? The movie lets you assume that the victims were all pro-Chavez demonstrators, but never tells you outright who the victims were.The killings are blamed on Chavez and the military withdraws its support of the Chavez government. Then Chavez is taken into custody by the coup generals and the coup government takes over the presidential palace. According to the movie, the coup government from the beginning starts to repress the people. We are shown riot police, purportedly sent out to repress pro-Chavez supporters. Nevertheless, news of Chavez's arrest and his refusal to resign spreads, and in a couple of days, seemingly millions of Chavez supporters surround the palace calling for his return. The palace guards, still loyal to Chavez, stage a mini-coup of the coup government, returning control of the palace to Chavez's people. Finally, the military gives in and returns Chavez, unharmed, and he resumes control of Venezuela's government. That's it, that's the whole movie.If after watching this movie, you are filled with righteous anger and conviction that Hugo Chavez is on the side of good and that fatcats are on the side of evil, I urge you to do a little more research and try to get both sides of the story before rating this movie a ten while being angry at those who rated it a zero. This movie does little more than show a very narrow slice of Venezuela's history, specifically the events that took place in the presidential palace in Caracas over three or four days in April, 2002.