Ballade vom Kleinen Soldaten

Account of a journey to the territory of the Miskito Indians in Nicaragua, who are on a war footing with the Sandinistas. The documentary largely consists of interviews with Indian guerrillas: boys of ten to twelve years old. In their eyewitness accounts from the refugee camps, they talk almost stoically about the tortures and executions. The Miskitos used to support the Sandinista revolution, because they also regarded the Somoza government with disfavour. But as soon as the Sandinistas had assumed power, the Indians were driven into camps. The insurgents were killed and their livestock was set fire to.During a screening in the United States, Sandinistas protested against the pro-Indian tenor of this film, claiming that Herzog conspired with the Contras and the CIA. Herzog retorted that he, as he did more often, had given a voice to an oppressed minority.