A Place Called Chiapas (1998)

As enigmatic as its subject material, the documentary makes the place seem like a cross between a new Revolutionland area of Disneyland and a local folk festival.

"A Place Called Chiapas" is a documentary wherein a Canadian/Mexican film crew travels to the Chiapas region of Mexico for an international conclave thrown by the rebel Zapatista forces, and are surprised that they are asked for identification when entering a war zone. The results are mixed to say the least. While I have no problem with a lot of the focus being on the Zapatistas' peasant supporters who are persecuted and repessed by government funded militias and end up getting caught in the middle(Peace talks are stalled by the government's bureaucracy and the Zapatistas' democracy which involves five separate languages.), the filmmakers are much less successful in getting underneath the skin of the Zapatistas' themselves and their enigmatic leader Sub Commandante Marcos, even with a certain level of access. That might not entirely be the filmmakers' fault as the Zapatistas' seem to thrive on a certain level of mystery which could prove frustrating, also to their supporters. They were also one of the first movements to take full advantage of the internet as a marketing tool in the days after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before every other word out of the powers that be turned out to be 'terrorist.'

An excellent film! This is most memorable and a very interesting topic about the people in Chiapas!