The Battle of Chile: Part I

The Battle of Chile: Part I, directed by Patricio Guzmán, is the first film in a three part Chilean-Cuban documentary series; filming began in Santiago on October 15, 1972, and continued through the day of the military coup on September 11, 1973. After the coup, all the film negatives were smuggled out of Chile in secret via the Swedish embassy and sent to Sweden; the film was ultimately edited in Havana with support from a Cuban institute. The film's cinematographer, Jorge Müller Silva, was arrested and disappeared by the Pinochet regime's secret police on November 29, 1974, and never found; the entire trilogy is dedicated to his memory. The film screened at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Who it's for: anyone curious about a documentary shot in the middle of a military coup, whose negatives were smuggled out of the country and whose cinematographer was disappeared by the regime. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a neutral, detached political account, since the film was shot from directly inside the unfolding events.