'Men of War' Review: Masculine Bravado Runs Amok in Doc Examining How a Coup Failed in Venezuela

Sep 6, 2024 5:25pm PT

Directors Jen Gatien and Billy Corben present an account of Operation Gideon that plays like a conspiracy theory thriller in their latest doc, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.

By Murtada Elfadl

In Jordan Goudreau, a former Green Beret and special forces operative who planned and executed a failed attempt at overthrowing the government of Venezuela, directors Jen Gatien and Billy Corben found a fascinating subject worthy of being the main character in a documentary. He’s full of bravado and hubris, quotes ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus and evades serious self-examination. In “Men Of War,” Goudreau is shown as brave, greedy, power-hungry, stupid, gullible and loyal, as well as a victim of PTSD. It’s a morally complicated portrait of a mercenary who thinks he’s a righteous soldier: a man who obviously cannot grapple with the consequences of his actions.

The framework for Gatien and Corben’s character study is that aforementioned coup attempt. Goudreau planned what was named Operation Gideon, a 2020 sea invasion of Venezuela by a coalition of local dissidents and American mercenaries to overthrow president Nicolas Maduro. The filmmakers trace this botched incursion and the few characters who lived to tell the tale: a journalist, a Miami-based dissident, an army general and the brother to one of the captured American mercenaries. And, of course, the mastermind of it all: Goudreau. What transpires is a propulsive, fascinating tale told with great panache, like one of the action films that Goudreau reveres. The film shows Goudreau’s background as a soldier in the post 9/11 American wars in the Middle East, but the main focus remains 2019 and 2020 when this eventual fiasco was being planned.

. . .

He always speaks in war jargon; he did not attempt a coup d’etat in Venezuela but rather was “catalyzing a regime change to free 30 million people.” He believes he’s upholding the pillars of American democracy; and, if there’s a little money to be made on the side, why not? The film peels off all this bravado to uncover the hollowness inside him and the grave consequences he’s inflicted on his friends and collaborators. Those who bought into his big talk paid the price with their lives and freedom. The doc is a condemnation of American masculinity and bluster.

. . .

However, “Men of War” is also a blistering critique of U.S. foreign policy that plays like a well-told but unbelievable conspiracy theory. Goudreau had contacts in the U.S. government and signed a contract with representatives of the Venezuelan opposition. There is some legitimacy to his story. Whenever Goudreau or one of the other witnesses mention a U.S. politician, the filmmakers cut away to official denials from well-known faces in the Trump administration of that time. These quick editing methods create an eerie atmosphere and paint this story as more of a believable rogue foreign policy operation than a farfetched tall tale. But the filmmakers never take a firm side; it’s left to the audience to guess which way it is. In fact, their only intrusion is an off-camera interviewer voice that appears sporadically to puncture Goudreau’s proclamations and to gently question his righteous fury.

More:
https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/men-of-war-review-tiff-venezuela-coup-doc-1236132797/