Patricio Guzmán’s landmark documentary film, The Battle of Chile (1976), screens tomorrow, Monday, March 2nd, 7 PM, at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario. Considered among the best documentaries ever made, The Battle of Chile chronicles the country’s open and peaceful socialist revolution, and of the violent counter-revolution against it.
The film is divided into two parts:
The Battle of Chile (Part 1): The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie (96 minutes) examines the escalation of rightist opposition following the left’s unexpected victory in Congressional elections held in March, 1973.
The Battle of Chile (Part 2): The Coup d’Etat (88 minutes) opens with the attempted military coup of June, 1973 which is put down by troops loyal to the government. The film’s dramatic concluding sequence documents the coup d’etat, including Allende’s last radio messages to the people of Chile, footage of the military assault on the presidential palace, and that evening’s televised presentation of the new military junta.
Patricio Guzmán and five colleagues had been filming the political developments in Chile throughout the nine months leading up to that day. By the time of the coup, 42,000 feet of film had been shot. The raw footage had to be hidden in the Swedish Embassy; eventually, it was smuggled out of Chile as diplomatic material, and the film was finished in Cuba and France.
“Great films rarely arrive as unheralded as The Battle of Chile.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“The major political film of our times – a magnificent achievement.” – Tom Allen, Village Voice
“A landmark in the presentation of living history on film.” – Judy Stone, San Francisco Chronicle
The trailer (above) is from another Guzmán film, Chile, Obstinate Memory, which visits with Chileans who experienced the coup first-hand (some of whom are seen in The Battle of Chile).
