Raul the Terrible (ATOM Study Guide)

Raul the Terrible (David Bradbury & Carlos Alperin, 2006) (52 minutes) looks at the Argentinian activist, Raul Castells. Castells was born about 1950 in Rosario, Argentina. He is the leader of a political and social organisation called 'Independent Movement for the Retired and Unemployed' (Independiente de Jubilados y Desocupados, MIJD) that is part of a large social movement in Argentina called Los Piqueteros, 'The Piqueteers'.

In a 'warts-and-all' approach we see several of his confrontations with government and big business, as well as a look at his home and the hovels of his poverty-stricken supporters' slums. We see him arrested on a charge of extortion, and undertaking a life-threatening hunger strike in the name of political freedom and truth. The film explores a clash between the powerless and the powerful, between the establishment and those who seek to overturn it.