Dirty Secrets

I assumed my present gig as UC Berkeley video guy in the mid-1980's, and one thing that I seem to recall about this decade, collection development-wise, was the superabundance of films by lefty indie filmmakers blowing the whistle on the CIA's complicity in Third World dirty dealings and mayhem. It was, consequently, with a wary (and weary) sense of impending déjà vu that I sat down to view Patricia Goudvis' film, Dirty Secrets. I'm happy to report that there's more going on in this film than mere political flashback and warmed-over outrage. Dirty Secrets is the emotionally-charged story of American attorney and human rights activist Jennifer Harbury's attempt to learn the truth about the fate of her husband, Everardo, a Guatemalan rebel leader captured by the army sometime in the late 1970's. Harbury's personal and political crusade is artfully told through interviews; through footage chronicling her continuing fight for information and action; and, most effectively, through enormously moving letters exchanged with her husband and with supporters of her cause (the latter are read by Jane Alexander...sort of odd, considering Harbury's own eloquent voice). The video provides a dramatic chronology of Harbury's maddeningly dead-ended twenty year dealings with stonewalling embassies, U.S. government officials, and Guatemalan military, including her plunge into the dark web of CIA declassified documents and disinformation. In the end, the political revelations Dirty Secrets has to offer--unspeakably horrific covert stuff happens--are far less compelling than its underlying story of love and personal commitment. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (G. Handman)