The Battle of Chile: Part II

The Battle of Chile surely must be the most interesting from the Chilean troubles from the 70's, handled with style & fervour by the passionate director, who by all accounts is a left-wing sympathiser. The film starts with a roar with the failed coup d'etat, & from there builds up the tragic story of the Allende lead "Marxist" party, telling us who plotted against them & why, all set behind the backdrop of mass public support, eventually quashed by right-wing terror. The film has to be admired also for publicly stating that the CIA helped the bourguoise eventually kill close to 30,000 people, and the fact that this film was a huge risk to the lives of the makers (who had to smuggle it out of Chile and edit it as exiles). Overall it deals with the worker's plight not only in Chile, but as a case study around the world (Brazil & Bolivia for example), and only watching these types of films (this is part 2 of a trilogy) do you sense the realities of this world, and shake off the ideals set by society. Well worth a watch.

The three "Battle of Chile" films are documentaries that were made in a most unusual way. Actual footage (most black & white 8mm) of the overthrow of the Allende government was made and smuggled out of the country. Then, it was pieced together years later and released in three parts. Now they could have probably shoved it all into one film but by stretching it out, you get a very thorough look at the process. However, because the three films were brought out years apart, there is LOTS of overlap--lots. Unfortunately, because the crackdown on the left was so extreme, you also get little footage of the atrocities--but interviews with families whose members simply disappeared.

Part two does NOT pick up immediately after part one--it more runs in parallel at times. It follows the steps leading from government disunity and an initial coup (that failed) to the successful coup only a short time later.

Even if you are more to the right politically, this is an interesting film (as are the other two), as it's rare to see a film document, through live film, the fall of the government. Plus, although I don't think a communist-socialist government is a very good form of government, it WAS legally elected and you can't feel happy about coups and assassinations. It is compelling and makes me, as an American, feel a big sad about our now admitted involvement in toppling the government. And, because it challenges me, I felt it more interesting than a film about something with which I already heartily agree. Well worth seeing as a very interesting history lesson.