Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2006

State of Fear Pamela Yates, Paco de Onís, Peter Kinoy (U.S., 2005)

This look inside the Peruvian Truth Commission uncovers a nation caught between two forms of terrorism: the infamous Shining Path guerrilla movement and the equally violent government response. After the end of two decades of internal warfare that left nearly 70,000 mainly indigenous civilians dead at the hands of either the military or the Shining Path, the Peruvian Truth Commission was formed to document the corruption, violence, and repression that occurred. State of Fear functions as the audio-visual echo of the commission's work; the filmmakers were allowed unprecedented access to the organization's archives to create this harrowing record of a nation's pain, and its possible healing. With sound bites from those who define one form of violence as “terrorism” and another as “a battle for good,” State of Fear also serves as a decidedly cautionary tale for those who use such language unthinkingly.

• Photographed by Juan Duran. (94 mins, In English and Spanish with English subtitles, Color, Beta SP)