“It’s not about how you start . . . its how you finish that counts.”- Former Attorney General, Claudia Paz y Paz
March 24th, 2015 In 1982, the then President José Efraín Rios Montt issued a public service announcement with a veneer of pride extoling the virtues of Guatemala’s rich beauty and unique landscape. Baked into that joyful close-up was a thinly veiled threat of change which abruptly extinguished any remaining hope there was for basic civil liberties or human rights to take root in Guatemala. Military officers, political leaders and the head of state were all complicit in the systematic massacred of some 200,000 unarmed Mayan Indians, Ladino civilians and indigenous Ixil. The crime of ethnic cleansing should have been answerable by some and yet to date, these crimes go unanswered. It wasn’t until the symbolic and exceedingly graphic murder of Roman Catholic Archbishop Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera who led a grand scale investigation into the role government forces played in this genocide that another indelible mark was forever left on the nation psyche.
Look on the cover of any national daily newspaper these days and what do you see? Wanton front page atrocities that violate the economic, political and social tenets of our society. With society in crisis as the one percent amassed even greater wealth while the voices of the underserved fall silent, ideals like fair and balance becomes mere word play within the gilded corridors of power. Finding public figures who won’t game the system is getting harder and harder. Those brave enough to answer the call and right the wrongs within their city, state or country walk a long, lonely and often dangerous road where few fear to tread. So how can the first female Attorney General to lead the Public Prosecutor’s Office in one of the most dangerous countries in the world break the strangle hold of kickbacks, Zeta drug cartels and protracted violence that has become synonymous with daily life? She can and she did but at what cost. Meet Claudia Paz y Paz.
It has been almost twenty years since the U.S. backed Civil War in Guatemala ended and still remnants of that cancer persist. And if you thought the signing of the peace agreement between the government and the guerillas in 1996 would stop the conflict, think again. Change in all its forms can bring renewal. Change in all its forms can bring order but make no mistake about it; change in all its forms can also bring death. And just like the courage under fire Veronica Guerin, Karen Silkwood, Anne Frank and so many other women found in standing up to corruption and hate, so did Claudia Paz y Paz for the love of her country in Director Joey Boink’s socially conscious narrative, “Burden of Peace”.
Burden opens with a raft of recent Guatemalan newsreel footage looking more like selected scenes from the movie Platoon to make it glaringly obvious the toothless nature of the current government and where the real power lies. Well aware of how ineffective the previous Prosecutor’s Office was and the influence and power this new position holds through the rule of law, Claudia Paz y Paz is sworn in as the new Attorney General and things start changing exponentially. The mandate of this diminutive soft spoken lawyer is simple; to solve the ills of today and end the cycle of corruption we must correct the wrongs of the past and restore justice to Guatemala.
Four neatly structured chapters parallel Claudia’s four year term in office which diarizes the mountains of crime that she must wade through daily. After her swearing in on December of 2010, Claudia’s first order of business was to address the current backlog of cases and the broken internal processes that have hobbled this office. For a woman to hold such high office in this male centric society created an elevated level of contempt and sexism that percolates openly and often. Undaunted we see Claudia and her prosecutorial team strategizing over a series of Salvatrucha gangs and syndicate takedowns and true to her word the fruits of her labour starts paying dividends with massive arrests and convictions regardless of ethnic affiliation or social class. In roads on crime and corruption are being made during the Paz y Paz tenure and this is making both the military elite and political establishment very nervous. Picking up the torch where Bishop Gerardi Conedera left off, Claudia started building the case against Rios Montt in 2012 for his crimes against humanity, including genocide. This undoubtedly raised the ire of the country’s elites.
Even under the cloak of her 24 hour security detail, Boink’s capable direction wrangles up a mixture of intimacy and trepidation seldom seen from such a high ranking government official. A noticeable sense of unease begins to form when retired General Otto Pérez Molina, who continues to tow the military party line with his view on genocide, wins the Presidential election creating yet another obstacle in the path to Rios Montt. Claudia’s steely resolve of grit and determination masks a not so hidden fear we know exists every time she enters a room, steps into a waiting car at night or commutes to one of the many public media scrums in defence of her actions. Boink reminds us time and time again with creative radio frequency theatrics that even all of Claudia’s prosecutorial successes won’t muzzle the intermittent public voices of slander and dissent hiding behind the anonymity of radio that continue their smear campaign of hate. This fear is not only reserved for her but for her husband and young son too.
As compelling as Burden of Peace is by offering the requisite historical narratives and contextual interviews to set the stage, certain elements left me more than wanting in there omission. The courtroom narrative of Rios Montt’s trial, presumably the lynch-pin the story which should have supported a heft and depth of disclosure worthy of a truth and reconciliation commission, delivered more flash than substance. Yes we are given a litany of victim impact testimony but we never once hearing anything of substance from the big man himself. Though often verbose and cantankerous throughout the narrative outside the court room, Montt’s silence in the court room becomes deafening to all who watch. Quieter still is the cursory acknowledgements we are given in relation to Claudia’s 2013 Nobel Peace Prize nomination and 2012 Forbes ranking as one of the most powerful women changing the world of Politics and Public Policy. Incorporating international views and opinions on Claudia accomplishment that are less insular to the Guatemalan mindset would have been a refreshing perspective.
VERDICT: 3.5 / 5: With uncompromising access, Filmmaker Joey Boink captures the entrenched inequalities that still challenge Guatemalan society framed through the lens of one activist turned Attorney General. Diminutive yet rubeneseque in stature the prosecutorial convictions of Claudia Paz y Paz translates into a most powerful narrative on screen. With human rights ideology as her foundation, this position was never about material wealth or the trappings of success. It was always fixed firmly on the rule of law. The serendipitous timing of Journey’s song “Don’t Stop Believin” as Claudia hits her lowest point is just one of many emotional touch tones we witness in her journey for justice. With equal parts CSI investigation mixed with court room drama, Claudia Paz y Paz propels this disquieting little narrative through the corridors and back rooms of the Guatemalan legal system with gusto.
Sometimes even the most qualified defender doesn’t get a second chance.
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Year: 2014
Country: Guatemala, Netherlands, Spain
Language: Spanish (w/ English sub titles)
Directors: Joey Boink
Writers: Joey Boink, Sander Wirken
Producers: Bart Voorsluis, Annemiek Munneke,
Interviews + Research: Sander Wirken
Editor: Ruben Van Der Hammen
Composer Mihkel Zilmer
Narrator: Charles Hens
Website: http://www.burdenofpeace.com/
Runtime: 77 Minutes
Will this film come to the Ottawa area? Also, I would like to view the entire film ~ how can I do that. Great music per M. Zilmer!
The trailer was great. There is so much corruption to be exposed. At times it is a challenge for some to believe what Psalms 27:11 states in the Bible says the “…the meek will inherit the earth,
And they will find exquisie delight in the abundance of peace.”