The Panama Deception (1992)

Documentaries, especially when they are good, give you a kind of strange aftertaste that I cannot really describe in a single word. This feeling is something that would linger in your system especially if you’re not someone familiar to the medium of documentary. It is a curious feeling that couples the initial hesitation or apprehension you had of watching 2 hours of uninteresting, special effects and action less information before you actually watched it, with the feeling of persuasion and intensified emotion you have after watching the feature. Come to think of it, I think the proper word to call that feeling is “ambivalence.” How do I know about this feeling you may ask. I used to be someone who didn’t pay much attention to documentaries until about 3 years ago, until I came across the documentary “Zeitgeist: The Movie”, that left me shell-shocked, just the way The Panama Deception would have left many people who watched it filled with disgust and distrust towards the Government of the United States. I am sure, that after watching this documentary, that initial misguided prejudice people would have of watching what many would think is a mind numbingly boring feature of some senile old people talking about some issue would gradually disappear and blossom into a feeling of deeper curiosity about the world and a silent but strong appreciation of the documentary medium of filmmaking.

The Panama Deception, virtually unheard of today, is an Oscar winning 1992 documentary by a filmmaker named Barbara Trent that attempts to reveal the atrocities committed by the hands of a deceptive United States government headed by that old snake of a president (yes, you will most likely guess correct), George Herbert Walker Bush, in Panama in 1989. Accompanied by the visceral images of a desecrated humanity in the hands of gun toting mercenaries we call the American soldier, The Panama Deception tells the little known story of the invasion of Panama by the United States that rendered thousands of innocent civilians dead in an ocean of mindless carnage and butchery for the sinister motives of power and profit.

The story begins with an introduction to the history behind Panama – US relations, and the role of the Panama Canal in that bilateral liaison. Trent educates the viewer about a controversial history of coercion and profoundly unethical exploitation of Panama by the US since the beginning of the twentieth century that has been (very effectively) glossed over by the goons of the mainstream US media. Progressing to explain how the CIA managed to maneuver the Panamanian government and other Southern American nations by installing puppet regimes for America’s benefit, the filmmaker shows the reactionary attitude of Bush and his cronies in the Pentagon when General Manuel Noriega, the once CIA backed Panamanian General, takes Panama towards a different direction, against the best interests of the sinister machinations of the American government. The deception the film speaks of is centered on how the US government (George H.W. Bush and his profiteering chums in this case) managed to artificially engineer American sentiment against Panama by using the mainstream media, US defense institutions, and good ol’ scare tactics in order to legitimize an inhuman campaign of violence in the name of profit and power. The invasion of Panama massacred thousands of civilians and left the Central American nation helpless in the hands of sophisticated American military technology and brainwashed American mercenaries. The irony of the whole incident was how ordinary Americans were left oblivious to the carnage caused by their government while the rest of the world cried out in protest of the infamy of this mindless brutality.

A blindfolded Panamanian being questioned by a US Soldier; possibly before being murdered.

As you can clearly discern, the film made a strong impression on me. So persuasive was its story and so compelling were its images of humanity in desolation, it is very likely that even the most patriotic American would be utterly disgusted and humiliated to call him or herself an American after watching this movie. The film’s success in creating that powerful feeling of revulsion and shock can be directly attributed to the skilful editing that very effectively juxtaposed the contrasting images of destruction, pain, and sorrow of the Panamanians with the cold indifference, and sometimes humorous justifications of the invasion by the US officials being interviewed. The narration of the documentary establishes a clear continuity of the story and is appropriately accompanied by complimenting images that engage the viewer in its compelling narrative. The use of montage editing to establish evidence, such as the many newspaper headlines and (propagandist) TV news reports would evoke strong emotions in the hearts and minds of the viewer while establishing a high degree of trust in the filmmaker and her story. Some voice over testimonies of the atrocities, as Emanuel Levy of Variety magazine correctly notes, were faulty, uncoordinated, and could have been edited better to make a bigger impact on the audience. But these deficiencies take a back seat to the powerful images and moving interviews in the film.

Overall, the film made a strong impression on me. But after watching more recent documentaries in the Zeitgeist series, I am hardly surprised by the message of the film. The covert atrocities of the US government are nothing new to me, and I urge anyone reading this blog post to follow this movie up by watching the Zeitgeist documentaries, which will undoubtedly create (and trust me on this) a much bigger impact on you than The Panama Deception. I’m sorry to be such an incendiary, but Americans; your government is lying to you and has been feeding you utter claptrap in the forms of media, pop culture, and economics for the last 90 years. You can wake up if you want to, or live in the bliss of ignorance while thousands of millions of people elsewhere in the world burn and languish in the aftermath of your country’s inhuman atrocities.

Yes. George H.W. IS Davy Jones!

PS: 9/11 . . . Was an inside job.

Don’t trust me? Watch what I recommended and have your minds changed.

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