How can an open society balance demands for security with democracy? Dramatized are the human and societal costs a democracy faces when it embarks on a war against terror, potentially without end, all too easily exploited by unscrupulous leaders seeking personal political gain. Personal testimony, history and archival footage tell the story of escalating violence in the Andean nation and how the fear of terror undermined their democracy, making Peru a virtual dictatorship where official
corruption replaced the rule of law. Terrorist attacks by Shining Path insurgents provoked a military occupation of the countryside. Military justice replaced civil authority, widespread abuses by the Peruvian Army went unpunished, and terrorism continued to spread. Nearly 70,000 civilians eventually died at the hands of Shining Path and the Peruvian military.
A fiercely detailed, yet scrupulously balanced documentary about the 20-year cycle of violence, retribution and corruption that engulfed Peru, its government and its citizens.
The new doc State of Fear may only be effective as an educational tool for Americans, whose media have told them next to nothing about one of the Western Hemisphere's most horrifying killing fields.
Whatever its propagandistic purpose, State Of Fear draws out these contemporary resonances through a straightforward, four-square documentary style, patiently revealing its history lesson via the expected talking heads, archival footage, and photog
Yates encourages us to strike parallels between Peru's war on terror and any other crusade of its ilk without ever turning her attention away from the crisis at hand.
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