Qué viva Mauricio Demierre (y tambien la revolución) (2006)

Directed by: Stephane Goel | 70 minutes | documentary | Starring: Chantal Bianchi, Sergio Ferrari, Santiago Mercado Ruiz, Silvia Mercado Uriarte, Florentina Perez

After twenty years, actress Chantal Bianchi returns to Nicaragua where she wanted to give shape to the Sandinista revolution with her fiancé Mauricio Demierre. Mauricio was murdered by the opponents of the revolution, the Contras. What is left of the ideals and what role does the church play?

After twenty years, the people in the village of Chantal immediately recognize Bianchi. The Swiss is warmly welcomed, although many residents also say that they have never understood what she, Bianchi, was doing there. That does not seem to have been much more than following her great love, the revolutionary Mauricio Demierre. Unfortunately, after a four-year stay, this Swiss, along with four other women he gave a lift, is killed when he is ambushed. There are many authentic images of their stay there together, beautiful images of working with the people on the revolution, building schools and working the land.

Unfortunately, like Mauricio, the revolution also died. The United States spent millions in financing the Contras and in the end the Sandinistas lost the battle and the elections. Apart from a glimmer of hope among the population, little is left of the heyday that Bianchi experienced with Demierre in Nicaragua.

In addition to the story of Mauricio and the revolution, the film also shows the story of Bianchi. That is sometimes a bit annoying. The created and rehearsed art forms and artifices that she and her (Swiss) friends show, contrast sharply with the authenticity of the images of the past, of the revolution. It is, as she herself says, the spoiled rich Swiss against the poor population of Nicaragua. Chantal Bianchi doesn’t do herself justice with that. Because much later in the film she shows what a strong woman she has been. A year after the attack, Bianchi visited the killer in his cell and spoke to him. Precisely because of her behavior during this conversation, being completely in control, an extremely moving scene. It is therefore a pity that after twenty years she does not go into what happened there in that cell. She doesn’t really comment on what happened then. Her indignation is not rooted in the behavior of the church, which is doing everything it can to oppose a commemoration of Demierre. A missed opportunity for this film, because few have been as close to the fire as she has. It would be interesting to evaluate what happened and what is left of it. Because the battle song ‘No pasarán’ can still be sung there. After all, the land again belongs to the large landowners and the people have nothing.