The Panama Deception
The Panama Deception is a 1992 American documentary film that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The subject of the film is the 1989 United States invasion of Panama. It was directed by Barbara Trent, written and edited by David Kasper, and narrated by actress Elizabeth Montgomery. It was a production of the Empowerment Project. Argument. The film recounts the events which led to the invasion, the death and destruction caused by the invasion, and the aftermath. The film is critical of the actions of the United States Armed Forces. It also highlights media bias  within the United States, showing events that were unreported or systematically misreported, including the downplaying of the number of civilian casualties. It also argued that the true purpose of the invasion was to prevent the then-scheduled retrocession of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama as agreed in the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. The film states that the U.S. government invaded Panama in order to destroy the PDF, the Panama Defense Forces, which were perceived as a threat to U.S. control over Panama, and install a government which would be friendly to U.S. interests. The film includes footage of mass graves  uncovered after the American troops had withdrawn and footage of burned-down neighborhoods, refers to the use of experimental weapons, and presents depictions of some of the 20,000 refugees who fled the fighting. Production. The documentary was completed on a $300,000 budget provided by funding from Channel 4, Rhino Entertainment, J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, the Rex Foundation, the Peace Development Fund, the National Council of Churches, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, the Vanguard Public Foundation, Michael Moore, and other donors. The film was banned in Panama, and in the United States the Public Broadcasting Service banned it from  being broadcast. Several individual PBS member stations such as WNYC-TV, WGBH-TV, and KQED-TV defied the ban to broadcast it anyways.