In 1983 the directors of this documentary, Pamela Yates and Newton Thomas Sigel, went to Guatemala to film the civil war between the Indian guerillas and the army of the dictator Jose Effrain Rios Montt. They were fortunate to find Rigoberta Menchu, a soft-spoken 21-year-old Quiche peasant, to speak about her people and the events of the times. She reveals the wide reach of the suffering and misery that the poor descendants of the Mayans have endured first under Spanish rule and then under one dictatorship after another.

Although Menchu points to her own yearning for the freedom promised by democracy, she knows that the American presence in Guatemala is in defense of United Fruit, a gigantic corporation and largest employer in the country. In speeches by U.S. President Ronald Reagan we hear about the need to support the Guatemalan government in its battle against the rebels or "subversives." A wobbly dramatic re-enactment of a 1954 meeting between an American ambassador and the President of Guatemala shows that the advancement of U.S. business interests determines foreign policy. This results in the land of the free arming and training supporters of the reigning dictator whose regime bears responsibility for the deaths of 14,000 Guatemalans (most of them Mayan peasants).

Menchu speaks eloquently about her own radicalization after the deaths of two brothers and her father. This Mayan peasant was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

There are many more memorable scenes in When the Mountains Tremble including interviews with the Archbishop of Guatemala who supports American policy, several radical priests who espouse a liberation theology and God's preference for the poor, an evangelical minister who is more interested in church services than social action, and guerilla leaders who give pep talks to villagers about the goals of their campaign against the government.

Screened at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Film Society of Lincoln Center Walter Reade Theater 2011.