Stephen Cho | Coordinator of the Korean International Forum
This article is a film review of “Nicolás”, a movie depicting the life of Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro is the people, and the people are Maduro. Maduro is Cilia, and Cilia is Maduro. Whether in the era of Chávez or in the era of Maduro, Cilia is the first combatant. Cilia remains by his side even during his days in Manhattan. Maduro is a hero and a collective. He is the representative of the collective hero. The heroic struggle of Maduro and Cilia is giving birth to countless other Maduros and Cilias. Venezuela will not be shaken by imprisonment of one or two people. This is the Bolivarian Revolution. It is the revolution of Venezuela and of Latin America, pioneered and carried forward together by Chávez, Maduro, Cilia, and the collective heroes of Venezuela.
As the words he engraved on a baseball in his childhood once said, challenges are unavoidable when one chooses revolution. His father taught him: “Challenges in life will make you brave. One day, you’ll be a man and the challenges will be even bigger. That’s when you’ll need to fight for a cause that is actually worth it.” Maduro was kidnapped and imprisoned before reaching Miraflores, and he was kidnapped and imprisoned after arriving there as well. Maduro’s words—spoken in the past when he was abducted by lackeys of US imperialism and faced an uncertain death, asking to inform it to the “MBR-200”—now echo in his “V” sign for victory, signaling “We shall win,” sent from today’s terrible situation of being kidnapped directly by US imperialism. An individual may be defeated, but the collective is never defeated.
In Yare, Nicolás was “Verde.” This name, given by Hugo Chávez, is not read merely as wordplay or humor. Chávez entrusted Nicolás with the mission of serving as his bodyguard, placing his life in his hands, and Nicolás accompanied Chávez, watching closely and learning from him. Then Chávez entrusted the “Comuna” and passed away first. In Miraflores, Nicolás was Maduro. Inheriting the legacy of Chávez, he built more houses even under much more difficult conditions, increased economic independence, and practiced “Comuna o Nada.” He spoke and acted consistently, with the same calm tone he once used to incite strikes.
The plot line and the emotional line intertwine and spiral together, and the carefully built love line of the protagonists whispers that this film is not a documentary but art, warming the viewer’s heart. From Mañana and Bochniche toward the Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuela advances; within that “historical project,” the collective heroes who shine like stars—and at their very center, the love and struggle of Maduro and Cilia—are always future-oriented, optimistic, confident of victory, and passionate. Likewise, there is the scene in which Maduro, who chose Cuba—the major league of revolution—rather than America, the major league of baseball, stands on a beach in Havana and shouts “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido (The people united will never be defeated)” together with international comrades. Maduro’s destiny as he walks the path of revolution is inevitably intertwined with the destiny of Venezuela and the destiny of Latin America.
The film begins with non-fiction and fiction running parallel, but soon fiction penetrates non-fiction until, at the end, they become completely one. The documentary is art, and the art is a documentary. It remains faithful to the typification techniques of realism, while at the same time breaking down the boundaries between documentary and art. The dialectic realized by the production team weaves history and reality, society and family, collective and individual, and struggle and love into one, eloquently arguing that only art makes this difficult task possible. In ‘Nicolás,’ each cinematic element maintains its distinct characteristics, while they simultaneously form an organic synthesis, vividly depicting the yesterday, today, and tomorrow of Maduro, who represents the collective hero of our time.
Ninety years ago, the International Brigades who fought in the Spanish Civil War sacrificed their lives for the revolution, shouting “¡No Pasarán!” If fascism were to pass through Spain, France would be next—then Western and Eastern Europe. Today, if imperialism passes through Venezuela, Cuba will be next—then Central and South America. Venezuela is Latin America, and it is the entire world. Any true communist, internationalist, or anti-imperialist must support and defend the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela. The thirty-two heroes born of Cuba gave their lives to protect this Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. They are the red stars illuminating the night sky of Caracas—collective heroes who will shine forever in the hears of humanity.
Hugo Chávez became a target of imperialism as he devoted everything to the Bolivarian Revolution. Maduro, too, did not fear that path, considering it a supreme honor. Chávez, dying at the hands of the US imperialism, stood in the pouring rain before the people and shouted “¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!” in the final period of his life. Whenever it rains, the people of Venezuela recall that image of Chávez. And today, Maduro, abducted by the US imperialism, is sending the signal of “¡Venceremos!” to his comrades and to the people. The Trump imperialist government made the people of Venezuela, the people of Latin America, and the people of the world its enemies. The unprecedented abduction drama committed by US imperialism will be recorded in history as an unprecedented error that hastened the strategic defeat of imperialism.
Just as Chávez had his Yare period, Maduro now has his Manhattan period. Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of the revolutionary organization to which Maduro belonged, lost his life due to torture by the CIA’s puppet henchmen. A difficult historical task has been placed upon Delcy Rodríguez: to carry on the spirit of her revolutionary father under entirely new conditions. Along the path of the Bolivarian Revolution once taken by Chávez and Maduro, countless heroes are now emerging like mushrooms after the rain. Chávez’s “Firm Opinion” recommending Maduro as president overwhelms Trump’s “Absolute Resolve” to abduct Maduro. The appearance of the unprecedented villain Donald Trump only intensifies the dramatic intensity of ‘Nicholas.’ The land of the collective hero, Venezuela, will never be defeated.