Missing (1982) [New]
What an excellent film! I wonder how did I miss it all this time. Missing describes the story of the disappearance of U.S. citizen Charles Horman in the violent aftermath of the the 1973 military coup in Chile. Horman was in Chile at the time along with his wife, Beth Horman, and his friend, Terry Simon. His father, Ed Horman, flew to Chile to join Beth in trying to find Charles. Ed was under the impression the U.S. embassy in Chile would help him.
Here’s the description on the Wikipedia article:
Missing is a 1982 American drama film directed by Costa Gavras, and starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea, Charles Cioffi and Janice Rule. It is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed leftist President Salvador Allende.
The film was banned in Chile during Pinochet‘s dictatorship, even though neither Chile nor Pinochet are specifically mentioned by name in the film (although the Chilean cities of Viña del Mar and Santiago are).[1]
Both the film and Thomas Hauser‘s book The Execution of Charles Horman were removed from the United States market following a lawsuit filed against Costa-Gavras and Universal Pictures‘s parent company MCA by former Ambassador Nathaniel Davis and two others for defamation of character. A lawsuit against Hauser himself was dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired. Davis and his compatriots lost their lawsuit, after which the film was re-released by Universal in 2006.[citation needed]
There is a fascinating interview with Peter Kornbluth, director of the National Security Archive’s Chile Documentation Project at George Washington University, in the 2nd disc. As you can imagine the State Department took issue with the film at the time. When Bill Clinton declassified some relevant documents things changed. Can you imagine Barack Obama doing such a thing? Me neither.
What Do You Think?
5 Responses to 'Missing (1982)'
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Emocrat [New]
Saturday, 9 Jun, 2012 at 10:19 am
Costa Gavras was quite an underrated director, methinks, although he did get nominated for “Z”. I just saw that about a month ago, for the first time in probably 20 years. That film also is still remarkably “fresh” and relevant after all these years. It’s also a masterpiece of editing.
It seems very little really changes. Reactionaries have an uncanny ability to repackage themselves, with only slight alterations in appearance, while still holding on to the same arguments they’ve been using since the time of Burke and Hobbes.
So Missing is still relevant as well. The US just took possession of a new military base in Chile. It seems only a matter of time before history repeats. No doubt our intelligence people are helping the Chilean government deal with their student movement.
Emocrat [New]
Sunday, 10 Jun, 2012 at 12:15 pm
As an addendum, Truthout is running a series that relates specifically to this issue. Here’s a couple snippets, the first relating to the present problem in Mexico and the second revolves around the psychopath Duane Claridge, talking about Chile:
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9685-the-school-of-the-americas-the-cia-and-the-us-condoned-cancer-of-torture-continues-to-spread-in-latin-america-including-mexico
Shades of Darth Cheney. Sadly, this attitude seems to persist in the current administration as well.
Another great film on Chile is Patrizio Guzman’s epic documentary, The Battle of Chile:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Battle-Chile-Augusto-Pinochet/dp/B002EOVWVQ
Sorry for linking to Amazon, but it’s the only place I could find it.
Friday, 22 Jun, 2012 at 7:43 pm
Thanks for the The Battle of Chile recommendation. I checked it out from my public library and it was a genuine masterpiece. Sadly the reactions of a few of the Chilean students after watching Guzman’s documentary were similar to Claridge’s. I couldn’t help but think if there was any way the Popular Union and Allende could’ve gone on and not interrupted. I think if Chile’s political system was parliamentary and not presidential that would’ve helped. If Chile’s Congress had given Allende emergency powers after the failed coup in June of ’73 as he requested, Allende could change the generals in charge of the Armed Forces. But the Congress didn’t have a Popular Unity majority. One of the Chilean people in the film when interviewed before the coup said ‘I remember another revolution that failed because it was unarmed and Allende must give us arms now.’ Could Allende have armed any group?
And, I loved how the people in Chile called the right-wingers: the mummies.
PS. I got tears in my eyes when Guzman returned to Chile and they played Venceremos in the streets of Santiago, the Popular Unity anthem that was banned after the coup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UazI41keDM
Song only:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d02e_QAUMp8
Emocrat [New]
Saturday, 23 Jun, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Yo!
I’m glad you liked it. I rather thought you would. I found it both depressing and inspiring simultaneously, which is no small feat, IMO.
The fact is, without American support for the businesses that literally shut down all delivery of food and fuel, the coup would not have succeeded. The transport companies would have gone out of business and would have been nationalized at that point. The coup would have failed.
On the other hand, PU was really something to behold, weren’t they? Commitment, honor, resourcefulness, creativity, intelligence and an unshakable dedication to a better future and more equal society… they had all that and more. One would be hard pressed to find a more inspiring movement than that one. Seriously.
I too became extremely emotional during the last segment. On the one hand, the mindless support for the coup is deeply disturbing, especially just how easy it is to “socially engineer” such disturbing ignorance and moral apathy. Shades of the US, I’m afraid.
On the other pod, people playing the theme, while some looked on with smiles on their faces, reinforces the notion that good ideas don’t really die… they are just forced underground. If you’re familiar with the work of Inti-Illimani (the Chilean group I’m pretty certain is featured in the segment at the Santiago stadium sequence), that theme is in some of their earlier work. Amazon has some of their stuff, but a lot of it seems out of print. If you’re into South American music, they’re really excellent. After the coup, they were forced into exile and went to Rome, where they were welcomed. That’s where I first heard them, back in the ’80s. In any case, their music is right up there with Mercedes Sosa and others. Just effing brilliant and often inspiring as well.
I don’t know if you noticed some of the parallels between Chile and where we are now here. The Chilean congresso was just like ours today. Enforced “gridlock”, coupled with economic sabotage. It seems the GOP and Dems have barely softened the Chilean version of the march to fascism.
On the other, other hand, if Americans were to start acting like Popular Unity… man, even though I can’t see it happening, that would be amazing.
Sunday, 24 Jun, 2012 at 11:37 am
Yes, as you say depressing and inspirational.
Yeah, if the CIA/US Gov’t hadn’t kept the strikes alive and supported the business that had cut off the goods, the situation would be very different. I don’t think there would be a coup, and if there was one it sure wouldn’t have succeeded.
The PU was something else man. Having so much of the population understand what the right wing is doing and being committed to put an end to it was very inspiring.
Yes, the mindless support was deeply disturbing. The glossing over of the horrendous crimes of the junta was chilling.
No, I didn’t really knew the Inti-Illimani group before. Thankfully Youtube exposed me to their amazing work.
The parallels between the two Congresses are striking. Their behavior is very similar. Manufactured gridlock for the people. Red carpet for Wall Street.
Americans acting like Popular Unity? Difficult to see but I hope it happens in our lifetimes. The current looting can’t go on.