Tariq Ali is not usually associated with cinema. Born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, Ali came to prominence for speaking out against the Vietnam War after being elected the president of the Oxford Union in 1965. Engaging in debates with luminaries such as Henry Kissinger, Ali became prominent in the New Left and stood in the 1974 election as a candidate for the International Marxist Group. A colourful figure and often outspoken on television debates, his writings on history and politics began to be published in journals and in book form. He has now written more than 20 non-fiction books as well as seven novels.
Clearly his youthful enthusiasm and refusal to give up the ghost are some of the traits that Oliver Stone was drawn to when he called the 66-year-old out of the blue, asking if he'd do some work on a documentary he was making about the controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. "Well I got a call from Stone when I was in Paraguay, and he'd read my book Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope (2006) about all this and said: 'I'm Oliver Stone, do you know my work?' And I said: 'Yes, of course,' " says the commentator, who bursts out laughing while recounting the tale. "The next time I was in North America, I went to see him in LA and we got talking and he said: 'Look at what we've shot on South of the Border.' I watched it and then advised on the way it should be structured, especially on the content of the narration, which would be used throughout the film."
While Mr Chavez is the poster boy of the film - the president even went to the Venice Film Festival when the film received its world premiere - Stone's fascinating documentary does more than just focus on a single enigmatic figure. Ali explains: "Oliver Stone had already made a film on Castro and he wanted to explore the idea of doing one on Chavez, and as he began to explore and travel around the world, he realised that a more interesting film was not to do it exclusively on Chavez, but on South America and the changes taking place there.
"So he went to Bolivia, he went to Paraguay and eventually decided to interview seven presidents to show to American audiences, and also those elsewhere, that this was not just one guy looking to change the system, but virtually a whole continent." Stone was asked by HBO to return to Cuba to make Looking for Fidel (2004) as they felt that the maverick director's first effort, 2003's Commandante, went too soft on the Cuban President.
He has faced similar charges over his treatment of Chavez. Ali dismisses these claims with his usual candour. "You had to start with some of the lies that were being told about Chavez, and from there it was very easy to move onto the other leaders. The two things went together: first you showed the attacks on Chavez, what they are, why they are wrong, and then you explain its not just one man, or even one country, but a whole continent. These are changes which are just systemic changes that are taking place and that's the importance of South America."
One of the most unusual things when Stone first presented the film at Venice was the sight of the director deflected political questions about the movie at the press conference to Ali. The famously maverick Stone deferring to anyone is quite something and by the time I caught up with Ali, when he presented the film in Doha, Stone was happy for the commentator to represent the film alone. Ali is happy to return the compliment by underplaying his own involvement and praising the director of Platoon, The Doors and Wall Street. "Well the narration is quite minimal actually, basically the idea we all agreed that it should be a political road movie. A well-known American director decides to explore for himself what is happening South of the Border. So he hops on a plane with a film crew and goes and meets all these presidents and talks to them. Now, of course, most people couldn't have done that. He could do it because he's Oliver Stone and they all know who he is, and so we decided to play on that, because that is the strength of this film, Oliver meeting these people and the hours of interviews."
The input that Ali had was explaining the bigger picture and parts of the history. He talks of the massacres that took place in Venezuela in 1979; the economic collapse in Argentina and the protests against the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government of Lula in Brazil and, of course, the decision of all these leaders create a bloc and work together. The film presents one big South American family, using Socialism to fight against the imperial tendencies of the West. While the arguments against the tactics of the IMF are particularly strong, at times though, Ali sounds like he sees this world with rose-tinted glasses. He paints South America as the new battleground of class war and President Bush, despite no longer being in office, still comes in for special treatment. "America is the United States for, as George Bush said, for the haves and the have mores." In contrast, he claims, "South America is trying to unite people from below."
The film is admiring of the way that Chavez, Evo in Bolivia and Rafael in Ecuador have delt with the media in their own countries, overcoming local attacks to retain media support. The movie starts with footage from the news media and a huge focus is an attack on how the media reports on 'facts' and the 'news'. When talking about the BBC, who must have paid Ali a pretty penny in fees over the years, he says, "The BBC has become, more and more, a propaganda channel of the British foreign office, so I can't take it too seriously, and I say this to their face when they invite me on their radio and television shows, that it's a disgrace."
During the Iraq war it became almost a team sport of the left to sing the praises of Al-Jazeera and Ali joins this chorus, "When you compare what Al-Jazeera shows with what is shown on CNN and BBC World there is no comparison. The images alone, I mean even if you don't speak Arabic, you get totally different images of what's going on, and I think many people are fed up with what is going on with these networks."
Yet Ali's final word is not on any of the leaders but on the work being done by Stone to readdress the media balance and give an alternative truth to the world. He comes in for some high praise, "Stone says what he wants now; he doesn't give a damn about anyone. After you reach a certain age you can do that. His reputation is safe. I think one of the most important projects he is doing is the one he is working on how, which is The Secret History of the United States, a ten hour series. I've seen rough cuts of the first two episodes and they are brilliant."
