Pinochet's Last Stand (2006) (TV) Pinochet in Suburbia (original title)

Director:

Richard Curson Smith

Writer:

Richard Curson Smith

Release Date:

26 March 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In 1998 former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet visits Britain for medical treatment. On being tipped off...

Plot Keywords:

Augusto Pinochet | House Arrest | Extradition | Suburbia | Human Rights

Cast

Derek Jacobi	...	Senator Pinochet
Phyllida Law	...	Lucia Pinochet
Peter Capaldi	...	Andy McEntee
Yolanda Vazquez	...	Nicole Drouilly
Anna Massey	...	Baroness Thatcher
Patricia Villa	...	Cleaner
Daniel Cerqueira	...	Victor Jobim
Tim McMullan	...	Di Parfrey
Pip Torrens	...	Michael Caplan
Michael Maloney	...	Jack Straw
Alex Blake	...	Adam
Susan Wooldridge	...	Pam Harris
Natasha Williams	...	Nurse
Gethin Anthony	...	William Straw
Vincent Curson Smith	...	Antonio
Jessica Hynes	...	WPC Broughton (as Jessica Stevenson)
Fabio Cardascia	...	Chilean Officer
Richard Rees	...	Steve
Hugh Ross	...	Magistrate
Arturo Venegas	...	Ernesto
Javier Alcina	...	Tony
John Albasiny	...	Media Exec
Susan Brown	...	Female Lawyer
Sally Rowe	...	Second Female Lawyer
Martin Ball	...	Jonathan Powell
Vicki Pepperdine	...	Interviewer
Jane How	...	Local Resident (as Jane Howe)
Anna Nicholas	...	Michele Drouilly
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Augusto Pinochet	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Curson Smith

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Richard Curson Smith

Produced by
Foz Allan	....	executive producer
Charles Brand	....	executive producer
Richard Curson Smith	....	producer
Victoria Goodall	....	line producer
Lucy Hetherington	....	executive producer: BBC

Original Music by
Jeff Beal
Andrew Phillips

Cinematography by
Jeff Baynes

Film Editing by
Amanda Baxter
Michael Brown

Casting by
Andrea Clark
Jeremy Zimmermann		(as Jeremy Zimmerman)

Production Design by
Jennifer Kernke

Art Direction by
Debra Overton

Costume Design by
Katy McPhee

Makeup Department
Jo Evans	....	hair designer
Jo Evans	....	makeup designer
Claire Jones	....	hair stylist
Claire Jones	....	makeup artist
Sandrine Mugglestone	....	hair stylist
Sandrine Mugglestone	....	makeup artist
Jane Walker	....	hair stylist
Jane Walker	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jeremy Campbell	....	production manager
Janet Fries Eckholm	....	post-production supervisor
Mark Grimwade	....	unit manager
M.J. McMahon	....	post-production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jonny Benson	....	second assistant director
Clare Glass	....	third assistant director
Ben Hughes	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Sarah Finlay	....	art department assistant
Kay McGlone	....	props buyer
Jeremy Pegg	....	property master
Mirko Sekulic	....	set dresser
Lucienne Suren	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Rick Ash	....	sound re-recording mixer
Alex Ashcroft	....	sound assistant
Nick Beljic	....	adr mixer
Robert Brazier	....	sound effects editor
George Foulgham	....	dubbing mixer
Avram D. Gold	....	supervising sound editor (as Avram Gold)
Chris Gurney	....	boom operator
Lisa-Marie McStay	....	sound editor (as Lisa McMahon)
Sonny Pettijohn	....	assistant sound editor
Rosie Straker	....	production sound mixer
Afshin Tirabady	....	dialogue editor
Martin Thomson	....	boom operator: second unit (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
David Davies	....	best boy
Andrew Fleming	....	focus puller
Nick Green	....	gaffer
Chris Vile	....	additional photography

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Katarina Borosova	....	costumes
Tabitha Doyle	....	costumes
Yvonne Duckett	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Nick Anderson	....	on-line editor
Joe McJimsey	....	assistant editor (as Joseph McJimsey)

Music Department
Evyen Klean	....	music supervisor (as Evyen J. Klean)
Sharon Smith	....	music editor
Michael Vickerage	....	composer: additional music

Transportation Department
David Barry	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Natalie Allin	....	production assistant
Maggie Boden	....	script editor
Julie Daly-Wallman	....	script supervisor
Anna Harrington	....	production accountant
Helene Lenszner	....	location manager
Aileen McAllister	....	archive researcher
Emma Pacilli	....	production coordinator
Sarah Sapper	....	production executive

Production Companies

• Tiger Aspect Productions
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (for)

Distributors

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2006) (UK) (TV)
• HBO Films (2007) (USA) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2007) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Molinare Studio  post-production facilities

Also Known As:

"Pinochet in Suburbia" - UK (original title)

Runtime:

USA:77 min | UK:90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Tiger Aspect Productions

noble effort to reveal an impenetrable personality

The film has value as an effort to reveal the character of one of one of the most notorious perpetrators of crimes against humanity of the last quarter century. Having evaded prosecution for murder, torture, corruption, and other crimes in Chile, Pinochet remains a mystery to most people in his own country as well as to the world. (Contrast him with, say, Slobodan Milosevic, whose appearance in the World Court showed much of his personality and warped intelligence.) Jacobi's capable portrayal casts Pinochet as an ideologically blinded individual whose utter lack of remorse is evident in his failure to perceive the obvious ironies of the situation and the indignities he faces. Those ironies are the source of much of the film's humor as well as its insights.

Another good performance comes from Anne Massey as Lady Thatcher, who shows how atrocities happen with the active or tacit approval of leaders of so-called democracies. (That said, the nation that in fact helped bring Pinochet to power and kept him there goes unmentioned.)

The film's weakness lies in its story line, particularly its scatter-shot efforts to coax drama out of events that are already known. There are several threads here: Home Secretary Jack Straw's rebellious son, who urges him to extradite Pinochet to Spain, a young female police officer who abides the General's imperious attitude and his macho posturing, and Chilean refugee in England Nicole Drouilly (a consultant to the film), still trying to find out what happened to her sister who disappeared 24 years earlier.

Despite its flaws, this film is valuable as a character study, letting us into--if only in a limited way--the mind of a dictator and exploring the personality traits that would lead someone to rise to a position of power and then remorselessly order the murder and torture of his own people.