La batalla de Chile: La lucha de un pueblo sin armas - Tercera parte: El poder popular (1979)

Director:

Patricio Guzmán

Release Date:

15 March 1979 (Cuba)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Completed two years after _Batalla de Chile: La insurrección de la burguesía, La (1975)_ and _Batalla de Chile: El golpe de estado...

Plot Keywords:

Chile | Strike | Nationalization | Military Coup | Coup

Cast

Abilio Fernández

...

Narrator

Directed by
Patricio Guzmán

Produced by
Federico Elton	....	executive producer
Chris Marker	....	producer

Cinematography by
Jorge Müller Silva

Film Editing by
Pedro Chaskel

Production Companies

• Equipo Tercer Amo
• Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC)

Distributors

• CeroFilm (2009) (Chile) (all media)
• Unifilms (1980) (USA) (subtitled)
• VideoFilmes (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"The Battle of Chile: The Power of the People" - Sweden (English title) (imdb display title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Chile | Cuba | Venezuela

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Equipo Tercer Amo

Movie Connections:

Follows La batalla de Chile: La lucha de un pueblo sin armas - Primera parte: La insurreción de la burguesía (1975)

A far less universal message than in the previous two films.

"The Battle of Chile" consists of three films created using footage that was smuggled out of Chile after the ouster of the Allende regime as a result of a coup d'etat in 1973. The three films all tell a different version of events and so they are NOT films that must be seen in sequence. As for the first two, they made a very persuasive argument against the rightist government that replaced it and emphasized the legitimacy of the Socialist Allende presidency. However, in the third film, the ouster of the Allende government isn't even mentioned and the tone is very different. Whereas in the first two, the coup was to circumvent the wishes of the Chilean people, part three is much more a propaganda piece extolling the virtues of a communist/socialist Chile and a takeover by 'the people'. And, in one portion, the film admits that less than the majority of Chileans want this sort of state and so it is up to the followers of Allende to force this change. As for me, listening to comments which seemed right out of Marx about the evil bourgeoisie, class struggle, the frequent use of the term 'comrades' as well as referring to the right as 'mummies' seemed to lose my interest. Had I only seen part three, I would have thought that the Allende government NEEDED overthrowing! What a difference another focus can bring to the same issue. Now I am not saying that it was good that Allende and thousands of his followers were killed or that the Pinochet regime was wonderful--they were monstrous. What I am saying is that for the average non-communist and person who knows little of history, part three is not a persuasive argument--whereas parts one and two are because they avoid the Marxist rhetoric and focus, instead, on the underhanded way the Allende government was toppled as well as the atrocities of the new government--none of which get mentioned in part three. Overall, part three looks like a communist propaganda piece--and not an especially persuasive one. My advice is to definitely see the first two films first--then, if you feel the need, to see the last.