It sounds like a bad movie all by itself.

Hugo Chavez, on his weekly national television show, announced that Oliver Stone would be making a movie about his 2002 coup attempt, something he brought on himself by making life intolerable for Venezuelans.

Chavez is loaded with conspiracy theories about that, so in Stone he found the perfect match. Stone has believed every conspiracy theory since the Kennedy assassination and Nixon, and more than that, he's essentially a hagiographer about the leftist idols he loves most. One of his previous objects of adoration was Fidel Castro of Cuba.

Chavez's claim may be true, because it's so wild, yet so believable.

Stone may well hang out with Hollywood Chavistas, like this one, who are active in promoting Chavez's causes. Or it may be another source: Stone's got a direct line to Fidel Castro, so Castro may have had something to do with this idea.

But it's significant that Stone hasn't said anything publically about it. Chavez had flirted with Michael Moore late last year, and nothing came of it. Meanwhile, Stone is apparently trying to go more mainstream with his upcoming World Trade Center, which is supposedly a straightforward non—conspiratorial depiction of the events of 9/11. That's not a sure thing, because his screenings were not public, and we will only know in August when the film comes out. But it's possible that Stone has learned that nutty conspiracies don't sell that well at the box office and movies that reflect essential American values do.

But if Stone is out shilling for the crazy Venezuelan dictator, whose world reputation is rapidly falling, this movie could go down like a Stone.

A.M. Mora y Leon 05 22 06