Missing

I have to admit with shame that I have hardly followed the strongly social and political filmography of the Greek-French director Costa-Gavras. Last Saturday they were screening Missing in the American Cosmograph (they mainly play recent movies, but they always leave some room to allow people to discover and enjoy some classics), so it seemed like a great plan.

Indeed it was. "Missing" is an excellent movie. A gripping story about the dissappearence of a young USA left activist in Chile during the days following Pinochet's coup d'etat, and the ensuing desperate search conducted by his wife and his father. It's even more passionate when you bear in mind that it's based on painfully true events.

Contrary to the recent Colonia film, where the Chilean horror regime is mainly the backdrop for the story, in "Missing" the story and the depiction of horrendous USA supported regime play an equal part. We are exposed to a clear view of the murdering and torturing perpetrated by the far-right military and we can see how the USA government officials helped with the assasination of the "Chilean dream". Most people only know of one September 11, that fateful day in 2001 when horror unleashed on USA soil, but few know that on that same date in 1973, the USA backed the assasination of the elected Chilean president Salvador Ayllende and the start of a inhuman regime that would end up with the lives of thousands of innocent Chileans (and the selling out of the country powerful economy to USA companies). This film acts then as a powerful and necessary reminder of how the USA have sponsored the most bloody regimes and dictatorships on every corner of the world (but particullarly in South America) for all these decades. When Trump threatens to "Make America great again" one should only expect the worst...

The film also explores the difficult relation between the conservative father and his daughter in law, a human rights activist living the painful wake up from the dream of freedom and equality that Allende's Chile represented. Over time, as the father discovers what his government has done and the cruelty of the regime, he'll end up admiring this corageous woman and the work that she and his son were doing. In a sense, we could say that he has lost a son but gained a daughter.

To sum up, an essential film to rediscover history and understand the present.

One day after the death of Fidel Castro, I can't find a better way to finish this post that putting up this picture of Allende and Castro. One can sense the intelligence and honesty on both faces. Probably Castro did some wrong things and made some mistakes, but he aimed to construct a better society and strove for it until his last breath.