Chavín de Huántar, el rescate del siglo

Diego de Leon's 2025 Peruvian film recounts the hostage crisis that began on 17 December 1996 at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima. MRTA members stormed a reception and took hundreds of people hostage, among them ministers and senior military officers. The crisis lasted a hundred and twenty-six days. The film concentrates largely on the preparation of the rescue: tunnels dug beneath the residence, rehearsals on a full-scale replica, and the maintenance of secrecy. Those details explain why the operation took as long as it did. The account looks openly from the army's side and builds the soldiers as heroes. Claims that some MRTA members were killed after surrendering were the subject of legal proceedings in Peru for many years; the film does not enter that argument. That absence is worth knowing about before watching. Who it's for: those interested in recent Peruvian history and in hostage rescue operations. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a many-sided assessment of the event; the film stays inside the official account.