A Place Called Chiapas is a documentary on the Zapatistas that provides a first-hand account of the lives of the Zapatistas filmed by Nettie Wild. The film offers a mass of cinema and images of the Zapatistas that serves to place the rhetoric of the Zapatistas in context of their reality. One of the rallying cries which introduces the global viewer to the Zapatistas is: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

We were born of the night
We live in it
We will die in it
But tomorrow there will be light
for those now crying in the night
for those whom day is denied
to whom death is a gift
to whom life is forbidden.

The documentary takes the viwer in Chiapas rebel territory mostly near the village of Realidad. Not too far from this village is the Lacondon Jungle in which the Zapatista military lives in hiding from the Mexican Army. Chiapas is a state in the southeast of Mexico. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In 1993 the mexican government passed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); implications from this agreement were that it would send Mexico into the status of a 'First-world country'. Since then there has been an unsettled peace in Chiapas, Mexico. Nafta or NAFTA may refer to: an acronym for the North American Free Trade Agreement an acronym for the New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement the town/Tokyo of Nafta, Tunisia This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

The Mayans, who are a large indigenous population living in Chiapas who say, "Ebasta!, Enough!, we will take ourselves underground and wait to rise up, like corn," in response to NAFTA's unfair replications. The word Maya or maya can refer to: The Maya – a Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America the modern Maya people the pre-Columbian Maya civilization the Maya language Maya – a concept in Hindu/Vedic philosophy a state of misperception of reality the inherent force of...

The effect of the NAFTA deal resulted in the Institutional Revolutionary Party, whom at this time (1993) were in power for seventy years, stopped selling Campesinos. The indigenous soldiers moved out of the jungle in 1994 to begin their insurrection. The people of Mexico City woke to find armies of indigenous men with AK-47s and some with sticks. The ZLFN seized six hundred and fifty ranches and after controlled one quarter of the state of Chiapas. The spokesperson for the Zapatistas spoke in Spanish on behalf of the indigenous leaders of the Zapatista movement. Subcommander Marcos' statement to the Mexican media [look at Mexican Radio was: Today there were attacks on four municipalities in Chiapas. This is an insurrection led by our organization The Zapatista National Liberation Army. The leaders are mostly indigenous The Mexican army counterattacked, however the Zapatistas' demands appeared on the internet claiming that they wanted "control over their lives and land". Eventually a ceasefire was declared. After this however Zapatista villages were surrounded by the Mexican Armies looking for rebel commanders in Realidad- driving army trucks and tanks through villages twice a week and as frequent as twice a day. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional or PRI) is a Mexican political party that wielded hegemonic power in the country – under a succession of names – for more than 70 years. ... Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947 g. ...

The NAFTA did not turn out as Mexico's ruling party had planned. NAFTA resulted in import of cheap American corn and as result the peso plummeted and the biggest economic bailout was set in motion. Fifty billion dollars in loans was sent to Mexico by President Bill Clinton.The CHASE Manhattan bank sent the Mexican government a memo advising them to 'get rid of the Zapatistas'. With this bailout blurring the lines of power the Zapatistas say "they have no idea who they are negotiating with".

The Enquentro is another mode of resistance and support for the Zapatistas. This is a meeting Wild considers "a post-Glasnost revolutionary woodstock, without the acid". Three thousand people attended, whom were Spanish and Italian communists, assorted Latin American revolutionaries, indigenous from all over Chiapas, and a caped wreslter Lucha Libre. This international meeting is against Neoliberalism and for all of humanity. The Equentro reveals how important civilian support is to the Zapatista movement whose goals suffice the civilians of the world.

The Enquentro also entails a dance in which Zapatistas dance with the guests, a dance which is performed "on the edge of romantic ideals and harsh politics, between those who can leave Mexico and those who cannot. There are, however, many people who support the Zapatistas, but could not reach the Enquetro of 1996.

Nettie Wild states, "A month before the Equentro I encountered a group of people the revolution almost forgot. I followed dark rumours of fear and violence to the north of Chiapas. [Jomajl] Here villages are deeply divided between Zapatista supporters and villagers who work directly with the ruling party and profit from it". She claims that the paramilitary groups have been formed, and ironically named "Peace and Justice" whom work within and sometimes outside of the group too. "Anyone who opposes them they call Zapatistas". Two thousand sympathizers in the north of Chiapas are forced to leave their homes making them refugees in their own country. Nettie Wild questions, "if they go home can or will the Zapatistas help them?" and comments, "my camera is framing the gap between rhetoric and reality". Nettie Wild a month later watches, with three thousand others, as Subcommadante Marcos appears riding on his horse with a pole with a tiny red flag, "reminiscent of the hapless Don Quixote- the fictional Spanish knight who fights for impossible dreams and can't distinguish reality from what's inside his head". Nettie Wild during a press session asks what the Zapatistas have in store for the supporters in the north and he responds offensively, but later in the documentary ceases to have Peace Talks with the Mexican government until the refugees in the north are served real peace and justice.

This documentary reveals the startling reality of what is like to live in Chiapas relatively today. The nature of the movement is left to the viewer to interpret.