A Cordilheira dos Sonhos

I went into last night's screening of "The Cordillera of Dreams" hoping to learn about Chile - its people, geography and history. Sadly what I endured was a sequence of monologues from various artists speaking vaguely about the mountainous backdrop to Santiago along with a history lesson on Pinochet's military junta.

Don't get me wrong. There were plenty of atmospheric shots of the mountains and my eyes were opened to the murderous regime that overtook the country in 1973. There's no doubt that the authorities repressed, tortured and killed thousands of people who stood against the military coup. However footage of demonstrations does not, by itself, make for a compelling documentary.

Impressive movie of a real artist. Poetic reflection on the years of Pinochet's dictatorship and its consequences to this day. The Cordillera are the Andes of Chile which are shown with beautiful images serving to present the real Chile. These majestic mountains hovering over Santiago have seen 20,000 years of human history and not only the last 500 years. Between these nature images the history of Pinochet's years are shown with archive footage from another documentary maker who comments in person on them. His story and that of others describe how Allende's dream came to an end by the brutal introduction of the liberal market, which to this day oppresses the Chilean people, making the poor poorer and the rich richer. Stated is in the comments that there is no regret among the oppressors but only the conviction that they did the right thing. The thought and think to make the country healthy murdering their opponents like the Nazis did to make Europe healthy by cutting out the Jewish part. To express regret by them would mean guilt and remorse to which they are incapable. That's all expressed in the commentary and interviews. The oppressors themself do not speak and I would have found that interesting. They are only accused in the movie. Not that I think the accusation is not justified according to what they did in the past. But thinking that they are incapable to have regret is something I would like to be seen checked by interviewing the oppressors. The Cordillera as a metaphor or witness works well as images in between the interviews and archive footage, processing the inflicted emotions and thoughts with impressive but neutral nature images, music and commentary. It also works very well when the exploitation by copper mining of the Cordillera mountains is shown as a exploitation of Chili by mostly foreign capitalism. And it works wonderful when if the street pavement stones from the Cordillera are shown lying around next to the small copper placates in the pavement with the names of the victims who's blood flowed on these black stones while they screamed for justice.

The third part of Guzman trilogy still works like an open book of history, but of a more reasonable history. Through his personal experiences -not just political but in the whole as an observer- tries to explain the brutal Chilean Juda of Pinochet and and how it's still hovering above his beloved country. The documentary is shaped in the hands of its creator to become a warning, a very poetic warning, that uses the tradition of the land and the people as the only true factor of nation's reconstruction. Hope this documentary and its true meaning reach big audiences and spark a flame in our minds and lifestyles cause we still give in the wrong social systems.

The Andes serves as a framework to lie and tell a fake story about victimizers turned into victims. Only 1 view, left-wing extremists, fans blinded by hate, communists talking about a dream (a nightmare) that was demolished by common sense (Pinochet). Only delirious characters speaks, like Baradit, who omitted on purpose, the causes, and the disastrous project that the extreme left wanted to impose in Chile, by the force, on Allende´s rotten government. A collection on wretches.

Patricio Guzmán, has spend around 50 years only talking about Pinochet, Allende and all the communist imaginary that collides with reality.

It's incredible, how the extreme left, sees the sins of others without even mentioning his own atrocities, a disgusting director, a miserable being, a story full of lies.