In their latest documentary, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, directors Jen Gatien and Billy Corben present an account of Operation Gideon that is reminiscent of a conspiracy theory thriller.
How Former US Army Green Berets Were Lured Into Disastrous Failed Coup in Venezuela
In Jordan Goudreau, a former Green Beret and special forces operative who planned and executed a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Venezuela, directors Jen Gatien and Billy Corben found a compelling subject worthy of starring in a documentary. Full of bravado and arrogance, he quotes the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus and evades serious self-analysis. In “Men Of War,” Goudreau is shown as brave, greedy, power-hungry, stupid, gullible, loyal, and a victim of PTSD. It’s a morally complicated portrait of a mercenary who thinks he’s a righteous soldier: a man clearly unable to deal with the consequences of his actions.
The framework for Gatien and Corben’s character study is the aforementioned coup attempt. Goudreau planned what became known as Operation Gideon, a 2020 naval invasion of Venezuela by a coalition of local dissidents and American mercenaries to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro. The filmmakers follow this failed invasion and the few characters who survived to tell the tale: a journalist, an army general, a Miami-based dissident who is the brother of one of the captured American mercenaries. And, of course, the mastermind behind it all: Goudreau. What follows is a propulsive, engrossing story told with great flair, like one of those action films Goudreau is so fond of. The film traces Goudreau’s background as a soldier in the American wars in the Middle East after 9/11, but the focus is primarily on 2019 and 2020, when this eventual fiasco was being planned.
The filmmakers give Goudreau the modern American cowboy outfits in his interview setup. He is filmed in neutral colors reminiscent of military uniforms, with a nice burning fire in front of him as he sits next to a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Quite literally and without irony, he speaks of himself as a military movie hero. A combination of Jason Bourne and Rambo, an adventurer and thrill seeker in the style of the characters in "Apocalypse Now" and "Starship Troopers", who sees no nuances in those stories that go beyond military heroism.
