2003, 105 minutes ENGLISH —
Costa Rica abolished its army and concentrated its budget on funding for education and culture. This approach, still in place, fascinated Karen Olsen Beck, an American pacifist of Danish origin. She married President Jose Figueres Ferrer, the man who transformed the country in 1948, and has since dedicated her life to demonstrating that peace is much more than the absence of war.
00:07:50 Karen studied architecture, then sociology and later became a social worker.
00:15:47 How she met Jose Figueres Ferrer (Don Pepe), the father of modern Costa Rica
00:29:58 How Don Pepe proposed. A man who was not afraid to dream
00:41:00 The youngest first lady of south America and mother of a future President of Costa Rica
00:53:57 Why Don Pepe abolished the army in Costa Rica
01:00:37 In 1955, At the time of Somoza dictatorship, Nicaragua invades Costa Rica but is stopped.
01:04:03 President Allende of Chile was misunderstood by many people
01:07:42 Cuba, hope and disappointment
01:13:02 La Lucha sin fin, an emblematic farm visited by many major poiticians
01:24:47 «Peace is the absence of intolerance»
01:37:49 How she felt when her son, Jose Maria Figueres, became President
01:40:04 What the statue of her husband in San Jose means to her
Karen Figueres interviewed by Philippe Nicolet. Camera: Julien Cuendet
BONUS
« Rêveur »: le Costa Rica. Une émission sur la terre d’origine d’immigrés en Suisse. Ce documentaire raconte l’histoire de l’abolition de l’armée au Costa Rica.