Invasion was warmly welcomed at its premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. It provides a retrospective look at the US invasion of Panama in 1989. It appears to be one of the first theatrical examinations of this event by a Panamanian. While the film is compelling some of its directorial choices seem surprising. It isn't really a history of the invasion as much as it is a series of interviews with Panamanian witnesses as to what they remember about what happened 25 years ago. At what point it is suggested that the film is intended to show how the invasion is remembered rather than what actually happened. This leaves open the question of whether we are hearing peoples' actual memories or those that they have reconstructed in their own minds over a quarter century. The interviewees are never identified by name or title. There is no real attempt to provide political context or narration. Surprisingly, there is no archival photography of the invasion leaving the viewer to merely imagine what it might have looked like. There is no attempt to interview scholars or journalists who covered the invasion which might have provided context, which seems particularly useful for an international audience. In another odd decision, the director uses actors to make somewhat clumsy recreations of dead civilians in the street. The exercise seems somewhat pointless when archival footage would have been easily accessible.
Still Invasion is enjoyable and informative. Some of the witnesses offer compelling first-hand testimony about the events of the invasion. Their personal witness is powerful. Their political analysis and historical context seems significantly less satisfactory. The reasons for the invasion and the extent of the casualties remain obscure and poorly defined leaving the viewer intrigued, but confused. The film is an interesting one for those interested in American foreign policy and the role of historical memory, but its limited scope feels somewhat incomplete. If documentary is supposed to bring the viewer closer to the truth, Invasion instead raises more questions than it answers.
