Juan C. Davila’s insightful documentary examines a decades-long struggle by the people of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques to gain control of the land back from the control of the federal government.
The root of the problems began in 1941 when the U.S. Navy took over two-thirds of the island ahead of World War II. After the war, the Navy stayed and used the island for troop training and bombing exercises. Protests percolated over the years among locals, but Puerto Rico’s government consisted sided with Washington regarding the military presence. The 1999 death of a civilian Puerto Rican security guard during a bombing mishap sparked a more aggressive campaign of civil disobedience – and more than a few violent protests – that gained global attention. When many prominent celebrities and activists descended on Vieques to join the protests, the federal government began to cave in and the Navy eventually withdrew in 2003.
However, the Navy failed to clean up much of the damage left from its years on the island, including a surplus of unexploded bombs, and the federal government abruptly declared much of the island a National Wildlife Sanctuary under the control of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, thus denying the residents access to lands that they claimed. At one point in this film, enforcement officers from the agency prevent the film team from shooting on public land.
The film offers a harrowing and frustrating view of how Puerto Ricans have faced a second-class citizenship in their own land, and it also questions whether Puerto Rico’s leaders have the best interests of their people in mind.