protek22 One of the most timely and engrossing documentaries, you'll ever watch. While the story takes place in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, it provides an intimate look into political dynamics, that prevail throughout the western Hemisphere. While essentially another chapter in the story of the "U.S. backed, Latin American coup", this film chronicles in real-time, what can happen when the poorest people, are armed with unity, political savvy, and courage! The political insights offered by this film are invaluable. One gets clear examples of the private media, as a formidable force for mass deception and propaganda. We see the poor people of Caracas grappling with the brutal realities of "American politics". One gets a clear sense of impending doom, if the people fail to address the blatant tyranny, which has been abruptly, and illegally, thrust upon them by the conspirators. We also see the arrogance and fascism, of the CIA backed, private media, plutocrats, and generals, who've conspired to bring Venezuela back under Washington's domination. Though ably led by President Hugo Chavez, the people of Caracas are forced to act without him, after Chavez was forcibly kidnapped by renegade generals. Their response is the highpoint of the film. If one seeks an excellent portrait of what the U.S. government, Hugo Chavez, and revolutionary Venezuela, are all about, this movie is it!

phoenixlau There are a lot of comments regarding the controversy surrounding whether this movie got the facts straight or not. Frankly, I didn't care one way or another about the events in the movie, because the filmmakers did not MAKE me care. When making a documentary, the number one priority is to have a cohesive plot line that draws the audience into the story. With this, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" fails in every respect.Every scene should have a purpose, to develop the characters in the documentary, or to further the story with background information. Here, all we see is a confused mish-mash of poorly chosen footage. We have political figures, who we don't know and don't care about because the film never develops them, rambling on and on about logistical stuff with no context. Think C-SPAN mixed with your neighbor's home videos. Ohhhh, very exciting! We have random people off the street screaming stuff into the camera, again not adding anything to the story. Throughout the entire movie I kept wondering, "Why are you showing me this scene?", and the only possible explanation was that the filmmakers were incompetent.Even the supposed main draw of the movie, the "behind-the-scenes" footage of the coup and aftermath, is mind-numbingly boring. Nothing exciting happens on camera. All you see is meetings, more meetings, and even more meetings. Oh, and throw in a bunch of shots of shrill protesters. Just because you were there and got it on film doesn't automatically make something interesting. In fact, the only footage worth seeing in the entire movie was the brief "sniper" scene during the riot. 10 exciting minutes out of 75, not a very good ratio.

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.

trinitysitesarah You've never seen anything like it. Once the coup begins, it's the most dazzling, edge-of-your-seat thriller you'll ever see -- even though you know the outcome. And it's all real, because it's a documentary -- amazing. By the time it was over, it was on my Top 10 list of All Time Great Movies.Disregard the slobbering right-wing fanatics. Everyone I know who has seen this film gives it the 4-star rating. Even if you don't care about politics or about Venezuelan politics, you will find yourself nerve-racked and -- believe it -- on the edge of your seat.It's a roller-coaster ride.