I Am The People: Venezuela Under Populism (2018)

• 70%
• 2018
• Documentary
• Carlos Oteyza

The country that once had the highest economic growth in the world is now a benchmark of collapse and misery. I Am The People: Venezuela Under Populism is a documentary film that sets out to expose the skillful mechanisms of authoritarian power in the government initiated by Hugo Chávez and continued by Nicolás Maduro. The film uncovers the emergence of the charismatic leader at a time of crisis and how -supported by soaring oil prices- he paves the way to seize institutions, polarize society, silence the media and dismantle the production apparatus. All this, of course, on behalf of the people. In a world increasingly less transparent, where the shortcut of populism lurks to endanger democracies, I Am The People compels us to ask ourselves if any society, however stable, can be considered invulnerable to a populist irruption and its consequences.