It's a great shame that this historically significant film is so obscure - it currently has only two reviews, which, unfortunately, miss the point of the the story! This is a devastating and historically accurate tale about what happens when fascism violently comes to power by overthrowing a democratically elected government. And this film gets personal! Anyone who has ever been a political activist will have shivers going up their spine while watching this poignant masterpiece! What's more disturbing is that events happen so fast, it's very hard to process the experience! Disbelief and denial of the magnitude of what is happening interferes with one's ability to make the appropriate decisions. Keep in mind making the wrong decision may cost you your life, or that of a family member. What makes it even more alarming is the realization that given the right set of circumstances, no democracy, including the United States, is immune to a violent fascist overthrow!
While I did not experience the violent overthrow of Salvador Allende's government, I knew someone who was an eye-witness to General Pinochet's crimes while living in Santiago, Chile's capital. This person, who happened to be a Nun, was lucky. She was an American citizen, and a member of a religious order, and was allowed to evacuate to the United States. But before she left, she witnessed the death and destruction first hand! To her, and hundreds of thousands people like her, this was not an abstract experience of watching a movie in the safety of one's home!
While I did not experience the violent overthrow of Salvador Allende's government, I knew someone who was an eye-witness to General Pinochet's crimes while living in Santiago, Chile's capital. This person, who happened to be a Nun, was lucky. She was an American citizen, and a member of a religious order, and was allowed to evacuate to the United States. But before she left, she witnessed the death and destruction first hand! To her, and hundreds of thousands people like her, this was not an abstract experience of watching a movie in the safety of one's home!