Eye Spy

Corruption is a universal phenomenon, and is particulary deeply rooted in certain Latin-American countries. But never before did it leave such a bizarre visual legacy as in Peru, where the head of the security service Vladimiro Montesinos taped all his bribery practices at the time of the Fujimori regime with a secret camera. This yielded thousands of tapes, from which director/journalist Sonia Goldenberg made a selection for Eye Spy. In the film, we see how Montesinos bribes the owners of the national TV stations, how he explains that every day at lunchtime he dictates what should be broadcast that night on the news, and how the president of the national bank proposes ‘co-operation’ between companies and the government. The Montesinos tapes are complemented by footage of the great tumult in parliament when bribed parliamentarians were installed, of victims of torture and murder, but also of schoolchildren who want to put an end to corruption. Goldenberg provided her documentary with an ironic voice-over, which draws lessons from the past in nine chapters, depicting the backgrounds, rise and fall of the administration. ‘Every man has his price’, Montesinos’ motto was. ‘Power corrupts’, Goldenberg retorts. The revelation of the tapes led to the downfall of Fujimori’s regime. Meanwhile, Montesinos has been put behind bars and Fujimori has fled to Japan, where a deportation process is in progress. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)