Panamanian director Abner Benaim’s documentary “Invasion” made its world premiere Sunday at the International Film Festival of Panama (IFF Panama), wowing audiences with its hard-hitting exploration of the U.S. invasion of Panama to take out Noriega – an event that most Panamanians seem all to quick to forget.
In the Panamanian/Argentinian coproduction, Benaim interviews Panama City residents directly impacted by the midnight invasion that occurred around Christmas 1989. Bombs were dropped in a wide radius around the Noriega complex, leveling houses, starting fires and killing innocent people.
According to the film, we’ll never know how many were killed and wounded, but estimates are in the thousands.