The film First Lady of the Revolution is about a woman from Birmingham named Henrietta
Boggs. Henrietta Boggs went to visit an aunt and uncle of hers in Costa Rica for the summer. During her visit in Costa Rica, Boggs met a man that joined her family for dinner one night. Jose ‘Don Pepe’ Figueres and Henrietta Boggs went on motorcycle rides around the countryside and eventually got to know each other leading to the two getting married. Henrietta’s marriage is just the start of a long road to her becoming the first lady of Costa Rica. When Costa Rica’s new leader was accused of nepotism and corruption, Henrietta’s husband Figueres began to become very political. Figueres gets himself exiled from Costa Rica, and being his wife Henrietta followed Figueres out of the country and to El Salvador where they were relocated. The couple traveled from El Salvador to Mexico where they began smuggling guns to Costa Rica for future battles to come where Figueres is the leader in a revolution. In 1948, the civil war in Costa Rica ended and Figueres was made president. Figueres became more interested in politics and less interested in Henrietta an his children. Eventually, Henrietta left Figueres and moved back home to Alabama with her children. Once back in Alabama, Boggs started a magazine that keeps tabs on local politicians and she went back to college where she graduated at the age of 93.
This film is a portrayal of how courageous Henrietta was in escaping her sheltered Presbyterian life in Alabama to expanding her horizons by traveling to Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico. Henrietta had a life she would never have imagined for herself. Also, Henrietta played an incredible role in shaping Costa Rica’s democratic identity. Henrietta and Figueres would discuss their political ideas together on multiple occasions and she was there for the revolution, the smuggling arms from Mexico to Costa Rica, the exile to El Salvador. She was there for everything. It is amazing to think that an ordinary person from Alabama could play such a huge role like Henrietta did. Furthermore, she left her husband to return to Alabama where she raised her two children by herself, started her own magazine where she kept tabs on local politicians, and she graduated college at the age of 93. Henrietta Boggs is an amazing woman who has done so much during her lifetime. The film First Lady of the Revolution is incredible and mind-blowing.
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