Chile, la memoria obstinada

This is a film about the insistency of memory.

It is both an elegant and forceful film. As elegant in its way as a documentary as Alain Resnais's film, La Guerre est Finie. In that film the Communist, Yves Montand's character, returns to France and remembers his past. So Guzman returns to Chile once Pinochet is no longer dictator

Guzman can not and will not forgot the enormous harm that the right wing did to his beloved country. Nor will he forgot the personal losses and particularly the murder of his cameraman, Jorge Muller, on his earlier film, The Battle for Chile. He is back in Chile to,screen his long repressed documentary on how the right wing set the stage for the military overthrow of a democratically elected President, Salvador Allende.

Guzman visits with Jorge's father, Rodolfo Muller, and talks about Jorge's death in the National Stadium in the first days of the coup.

I knew Jorge from working on an earlier Amercan made film about the election of Allende called Que Hacer. I was horrified to learn of Jorge's death and appalled by the coup. I found the film both personally moving as well as a finely,wrought piece of art

This pseudo documentary is just passable, but not that interesting. The people interviewed do have a point of view and it is Leftist, but they simply are not convincing, compelling, or even entertaining.

One of the most damning statements the film included was the fact that very few had died to prevent a subjugation of a country's freedom; far fewer than ever in history. Actually, all of the students statements were more balanced than the protagonists' and the most honest part of the film.

It's a biased documentary, but there is some interesting historical footage that helps flesh out the conditions of the time.

Wow I had to write in when I read the last review. Saying this movie is a one-sided view of Allende's government is a bit like saying Schindler's List isn't critical enough of Jews during WWII. Its just NOT what the movie is about -- its about how memory can do things politically - both through its repression (keeping a whole generation of Chilean kids in the dark about Pinochet) and its revelation. I saw this in a public theater during a Latin American film festival and I've never seen such an enormous shared emotional reaction to a documentary. The scenes where Guzman (director) shows his earlier film, Batalla de Chile, to young Chileans whose parents told them that Allende was just a stupid commie -- when these kids see for themselves what really happened for the first time, and Guzman focuses the lens on the reactions on their faces - its just unforgettable. Rent it -- you wont regret it.

Patricio Guzman has spent most of his adult life producing film of the fall of Allende in Chile. This film is as pro-left dishonest in its own way as are the pro-right films/books concerning Chile in the 1970's. At no time (perhaps I missed it) did I see any note concerning the fact that the Allende Government was a collaborative government of Socialists & Communists. Without active & massive communist support, Allende would never have been elected.I consider it impossible that one can watch this type of politically generated film and gain an understanding of the complexities of the times. At one point in the film, Guzman states that Allende wanted to make some basic "social changes." A slight understatement of "basic:" (1) Breakup of private land ownership; (2) nationalization of various industries; (3) ousting of all foreign ownership in Chilean companies (as was normal for Socialist/Communist takeovers - no or minimal payout to the foreign owners who has forked over the capital to invest in Chile).......etc.etc.

Not only is the subject interesting but the way the movie has been directed too. The film is built around parallels between today (1997) and Salvador Allende's time in Chile (1970-1973), including Pinochet's coup d'état. We see many people, many places, then and now (Patricio Guzmán was a filmmaker in Chile at that time). We hear all the way Guzmán's uncle trying to play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata with his 80-year-old fingers and his failing memory, which gives a special color to the whole film. We also hear many thoughtful reflections from interesting people about memory. The final part, where we can see students watching the documentary about Allende's time and the coup, and learn and reflect about the history of their own country, is very moving.

One must say however that the way Allende's experience is presented is one-sided. People are correct when they say that Allende and his supporters had a dream about democracy and justice, but nowhere is there any hint that at the time of the coup, the country had been in a social and economic chaos for two years because of Allende's poor results as a government. Of course, that can't excuse Pinochet's regime, but it could have added a useful dimension to the whole story. Anyway, the movie is not an apology for Allende as much as a reflection about remembering painful personal and collective events after almost a quarter of a century.