Was Jordan Goudreau a patriot or patsy? That’s one question raised by the documentary “Men of War,” a hectic account of Goudreau’s role in attempting to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela in 2020. The film paints a picture of involvement by Venezuela’s opposition leaders and Goudreau’s old Army buddies. At the center of the mess, was an eager mercenary in search of a mission.
The plan, as the directors Billy Corben and Jen Gatien detail, was for Goudreau, a former U.S. Special Forces soldier, to get a group of men in boats to land on Venezuelan shores and spark a revolution. An exiled Venezuelan general, Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, was to guide the local forces. The fact that Cordones’s video interview in the film appears to take place from a prison telegraphs that things did not end well. (Goudreau was arrested in 2024 on arms smuggling charges.)
The understaffed invaders crumble on contact with Maduro’s forces, and Goudreau’s buddies are detained; the brother of one is skeptical that the mission’s goals were noble. The hubris and slapdash logistics are shocking to the point of outlandish (although even governments aren’t immune; a risky U.S. mission happened a year before in North Korea, and failed).
The strained, square-jawed Goudreau ends up resembling a doomed middle manager who references “Starship Troopers” and Heraclitus. The film’s often frenetic editing tends to weaken this strong story. But this hopeless history does have the flair to deploy Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again,” capturing the tragic absurdity to Goudreau’s ambition.
Men of War
Rated R for fighting words. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. Available to rent or buy on most major platforms.
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