Discovery produces docudrama on Pancho Villa's inv
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Miami, Sep 15 (EFEUSA).- The docudrama "Pancho Villa: se busca vivo o muerto" (Pancho Villa: Wanted Dead or Alive), with dramatizations and historians' opinions, delves into one of the most controversial figures in Mexican history, the Discovery en Español television channel announced Thursday.
The channel will air the one-hour program on Sept. 25 on the centennial anniversary of the U.S. invasion staged by Francisco "Pancho" Villa and his men.
Carlos Bolado, the production's director, said in remarks sent to EFE that it's a story that is "complicated" by the aura that surrounds the protagonist.
Pancho Villa is an icon, a hero, there are many legends about him, the people don't know his story exactly, but everyone knows who he was and the documentary will tell you a different version, he said.
Bolado refers to the fact that he and his team told the story through an historical prism, far removed from the controversial legends and, therefore, they wanted to get expert opinions.
"It's been 100 years since this event happened and Villa has been very controversial, historical, interesting, in part ... about what it means to be Mexican, he's among the most important and recognizable characters outside of Mexico," he said.
The production recounts the deeds that made him one of the key figures in the Mexican Revolution and one of the men most wanted by the U.S. Army, when he crossed the U.S. border on what is considered to be the only invasion of U.S. continental territory in more than 200 years.
On the morning of March 9, 1916, several hundred Mexican guerrillas under the command of Jose Doroteo Arango Arambula, the pseudonym of "Pancho" Villa, crossed the border and attacked the small city of Columbus, New Mexico,
The docudrama, which introduces viewers to the moments before and after the battle in the town, were filmed in the Mexican state of Durango and stars Enoc Leaño in the role of Villa.
The production questions the motives for the attack - was it revenge or a military strategy? - and analyzes the theories about the origin of the confrontation and the later Punitive Expedition, the U.S. military campaign to capture the man who, at that time, was Washington's worst enemy, the channel said in a statement.