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Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ed Harris ... see more see more... , Richard Masur , René Enríquez , Alma Martinez , Jenny Gago , Eloy Casados , Jorge Zepeda , Hamilton Camp , Elpidia Carrillo , Oswaldo Doria , Fernando Elizondo , Martin LaSalle , Ella Laboriel , Enrique Lucero , Holly Palance , Raul Picasso , Carlos Romano , Andaluz Russell , Eric Valdez , Jonathan Zarzosa , Samuel Zarzosa , Raul Garcia , Enrique Beraza , Clay Wright , Michael Crowley

This gripping, emotional story of a roving photographer's transformation from a neutral artist with a camera to an involved human rights activist with a camera begins in Chad, travels to Nicaragua in ... read more read more...the early 1980s, and ends when the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza takes off for the palm trees and beaches of Florida. Nick Nolte brilliantly interprets his role as the photographer Russell Price, and Joanna Cassidy is Claire, the radio journalist he meets while in Chad, along with her lover, Time Magazine reporter Alex (Gene Hackman), who ends up opting for a plush job as a TV anchorman and a quiet life on Long Island. When Alex leaves, Claire heads off to the next hot spot, Nicaragua, and Russell decides to tag along -- not because he is that interested in Nicaragua, but because he is interested in Claire. Once in the war-torn, Central American country, it does not take Russell long to see the vast difference between the corrupt, U.S.-backed dictatorship and the struggling guerrilla forces who have been fighting for a decade already. As his eyes are opened, he and Claire decide to go along with the rebels and film their fighting behind the lines. During one battle, the much-venerated rebel leader is shot dead, and Russell reluctantly agrees to fake a photo of the man as though he were still living, so as not to demoralize the army that looks up to him for leadership. The photo appears in the news around the world and causes such a furor that Alex shows up to demand an interview with the leader for national American television. It is on the way to this supposed interview that Alex leaves the car for a moment and is senselessly shot and killed by a government soldier, the whole episode filmed for the world by Russell's camera. This outrage (which actually occurred when journalist Bill Stewart was inhumanly shot by a Somoza soldier in full view of the video camera) soon makes global news and helps to hasten the overthrow of the corrupt dictatorship. Meanwhile, Russell has new issues to consider once his camera has become an "active" and not a "passive" observer of political unrest. René Enriquéz who plays the dictator Somoza in this film is a native Nicaraguan, related to a newspaper reporter killed by Somoza's government. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Flixster Users

58% liked it

3,588 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

16 critics

R, 2 hr. 8 min.

Directed by: Roger Spottiswoode

Release Date: October 21, 1983

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DVD Release Date: September 4, 2001

Stats: 113 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (113)

  • jjnxn
    March 23, 2008
    jjnxn
    Three outstanding performances highlight this gritty drama.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    January 9, 2008
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    Riveting little political thriller that seems to be all but forgotten!
  • somebody421
    May 18, 2009
    somebody421
    I like how the peppering of Spanish throughout the film is not subtitled. Haunting docudrama about the Nicaraguan civil war.

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff, Variety

Director Roger Spottiswode, after a couple of earlier actioners, has great potential. Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This is the kind of movie that almost always feels phony, but "Under Fire" feels real. Full Review

Vincent Canby
May 20, 2003
Vincent Canby, New York Times

Means well but it is fatally confused. Full Review

January 3, 2012
TV Guide's Movie Guide

[Spottiswoode] succeeds brilliantly in creating the chaotic last days of Somoza's government while at the same time incisively evaluating the moral dilemma faced by war correspondents. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
May 7, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

A timely political drama, well acted by Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman. Full Review

Geoff Andrew
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew, Time Out

A thrilling film, with a head, a heart, and muscle. Full Review

Rich Cline
February 26, 2005
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

above-average battle movie

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
July 23, 2003
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

Presents a fascinating look at a journalist caught up in the tensions and violence in Nicaragua's civil war Full Review

May 24, 2003
Film4

Spottiswoode captures the random terror of the war zone, the press corps's acute journalistic instinct for story and survival, and the appalling moral dilemmas that reporters must confront. Full Review

Chuck O'Leary
October 9, 2005
Chuck O'Leary, Fantastica Daily

No review available.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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