Val Verde (fictional country)

For other uses, see Val Verde.

Val Verde is a fictional country used by Hollywood filmmakers when they require a South/Central American country without getting into legal or diplomatic disputes. In general it is a Spanish-speaking country resembling Cuba or Nicaragua.

Appearances

It has appeared in a number of films and television programs:

• Commando (1985), Arius (Dan Hedaya) is the former ruler of Val Verde and sends John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to kill the current president but he escapes en route.
• Predator (1987), Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rescue team is sent to Val Verde ostensibly to rescue an American politician.
• Supercarrier (1988) the USS Georgetown commanded by Capt. Henry K. 'Hank' Madigan (Dale Dye) docks in Val Verde just as civil war breaks out.
• Die Hard 2 (1990), General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero) is from Val Verde.
• Adventure Inc. (2003), Episode 10 of Season 1 was titled "Plague Ship of Val Verde".

Shared personnel link all appearances. Commando, Die Hard 2 and Adventure Inc. were written by Steven E. de Souza, Commando and Predator both star Schwarzenegger, and both films were produced by Joel Silver; de Souza produced the ABC TV series Supercarrier.

Steven de Souza has also set the Devil's Due comic book Sheena in Val Verde and described his reason for using it:

It's something like Guyana, a country which encompasses lush Caribbean resorts popular with tourists, an unexplored mysterious rainforest, and a mix of Anglo, Spanish, African, Creole and indigenous cultures. This is a country of the imagination I've used in several films and TV programs, which I thought was my little inside baseball joke, but Eric Lichtenfield, the author of 'Actions Speak Louder,' recently sent me a Wikipedia page on it! Seriously, my Dad's family is from that part of the world and it's something I can write about with some familiarity

Portrayal

Val Verde has principally been used as a plot device or location in place of real Latin American countries in action and adventure movies, as a particular result of America's rocky relations with many nations in the region during the 1980s.

When glimpsed in Commando, it appears to be a poor nation, where subsistence agriculture (ie. livestock) is side-by-side with military propaganda and constant military presence. Inhabitants appear poor but happy, and there is evidence of a trade embargo reminiscent of that placed on Cuba in the presence of battered but functional vintage 1950s cars.

Politics

In Commando, Val Verde is presided over by President Velázquez, an apparently capitalist leader installed by an American-backed revolution assisted by Colonel John Matrix and Captain Bennett, during which the nefarious General Arius was deposed. Arius intends to force Matrix to help him reinstate his dictatorship, but is thwarted.

In Die Hard 2, General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero) is a General in exile, awaiting trial in the United States. He is aided by former special forces members to escape from his prison plane. Esperanza is wanted by the U.S. government for drug trafficking, but the leader of the rogue special forces, Colonel Stuart, wishes to free Esperanza because he "stands up to communist aggression."

In Supercarrier a US Navy carrier is present in Val Verde when civil war breaks out and is forced to step in; this violation of Pentagon protocol, though entirely fictional, precipitated the withdrawal of Navy participation from the series.

Locations

As well as studio shots, other locations have been used to portray Val Verde on film:

• Long Beach Airport was used for the main airport in Commando
• San Pedro, California was used for the port of Val Verde on Supercarrier, while Valencia, California stood in for the countryside.
• San Simeon, California stood in for the beaches in Commando
• Puerto Vallarta had previous appeared in The Night of the Iguana and was used as the principal filming location for Predator, despite the objections of John McTiernan and Donald McAlpine. The early beach shots were taken at Puerto Vallarta and jungle scenes were shot slightly further inland. When more money was released by Fox, McTiernan was able to shoot in his preferred location around Palenque (including the Misol-Ha waterfall) and about half of the final film came from this round of shooting.

Parodies

The comedy group Elephant Larry made a series of comedy sketches about the country of Val Verde. The sketches take place between the scenes and off-camera during the film Predator.

See also

• List of fictional countries
• Banana republic