It's not only in Argentina where thousands of people have 'disappeared' under a military junta. In nearby Chile it has been the same story for more than eight years. A new film by Costa-Gavras, Missing, examines the Chilean coup afresh. Its conclusions have caused enormous controversy in the United States where the film is packing in record audiences. We reproduce a review from the US socialist weekly The Militant by Holbrook Mahn.
Missing is based on the true story of the disappearance and execution of Charles Horman, an American writer and filmmaker, during the coup in Chile in September 1973. Horman had discovered too much information about the United States' involvement in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. A military coup, promoted by Washington, had led to Allende's ousting on 11 September 1973, and the installation of the murderous military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.
Costa-Gavras, whose other films include Z, The Confession and State of Siege, graphically depicts the vast carnage in the aftermath of the overthrow of Allende. He emphasised this horror by making a central part of Missing the development of a strong emotional relationship between Charles' father, played by Jack Lemmon, and Charles' wife, played by Sissy Spacek, as they search for Charles. Lemmon's and Spacek's riveting performances and Costa-Gavras' masterful direction move the action forward by reconstructing the events surrounding Charles' disappearance bit by bit through flashbacks, the recollections of witnesses, and Charles' notebook.
In Missing, Costa-Gavras drives home the fact that Washington was complicit in Horman's execution by making central to the film the transformation of Ed Horman, a well-to-do businessman who has his faith in the US government shattered as he discovers the truth about the murder of his son.
indifference of US embassy
The Hormans run into the calculated indifference of the US embassy at every turn. The officials are all portrayed as lying bureaucrats whose false sympathy wears thin as the Hormans begin to unravel the truth about Charles' disappearance and murder. At a preview showing, Costa-Gavras answered complaints on this point by the New York Times and the US State Department by explaining that the Hormans said in real life that the American officials were four or five times worse than portrayed in Missing.
One person the Hormans had to deal with was the US Ambassador to Chile from 1971-3, Nathaniel Davis. During his tenure as Ambassador to Guatemala from 1968 to 1971 when 20,000 Guatemalan peasants were massacred under a 'pacification programme', Davis gained some experience in covering up the kind of butchery that Costa-Gavras so vividly depicts in Missing. Davis is currently a faculty consultant at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
A particularly telling scene in Missing takes place at the airport after the Hormans learn the truth about the execution of Charles and are leaving the country. Ed Horman, anxious to leave the nightmare of the last few weeks behind him, is badgered by the US Consul who keeps reminding him that Charles' remains won't be sent unless the charges for the crate and shipping are paid first. (It took seven months for the remains to arrive. by that time they were too badly decomposed for an autopsy.)
US government objects to film
The US State Department and the New York Times have objected to the strong implication in Missing that the US government was involved in both the murder of Charles Horman and in the overthrow of Salvador Allende. As for the assertion of complicity in the Horman murder, if the State Department played no role and had nothing to hide why don't they simply release the documents about the Horman murder that they are hiding behind the phony rubric 'Classified National Security'. They refused to release these materials in a suit the Horman family brought against Henry Kissinger et al.
Thomas Hauser's book The Execution of Charles Horman; an American sacrifice, upon which the movie was based, has been reissued in the USA in paperback under the title Missing. It offers overwhelming proof of the US government's role in the Horman murder and is well worth reading to supplement the movie.
Diane LaVoy was a member of the Senate committee established to investigate covert activity in Chile (the Church committee) and was responsible for investigating the Horman case. She said: 'I don't think Charles Horman could have been killed without some rather full cooperation from some Americans.'
'Film seemed plausible'
After viewing Missing Senator Frank Church said: 'Our hearing dealt with a different time period (pre-coup), but from what we learned then the film seemed very plausible.' Of even greater concern to the State Department than the charge of US complicity in the Horman murder and the overthrow of Allende is the graphic portrayal of the brutal regime that Washington installed in Chile. It is not really a matter of debate that Pinochet was put in power to protect the $1 billion that the US corporations had invested there and to reestablish their right to expropriate 80 per cent of the copper mined in Chile each year. The Church Committee report Covert Action in Chile 1963-73 and Hauser's book Missing provide substantial proof of US involvement in the 1973 coup.
The real worry of the Reagan administration is that the record-breaking audiences seeing Missing will make the connection between the Pinochet regime in Chile and the Duarte [regime in] El Salvador and see the true face of US foreign policy. A further touchy point for [the Reagan] team is [illegible] Democrats [illegible] so closely involved in the coup. One of the key figures in the destabilisation was Deane R Hinton, who was the director of the Agency for International Development in Chile from 1969-71. Previously he held the same position in Guatemala during the 'pacification programme' there. He is now US Ambassador to El Salvador.
One of the strong points about Missing is that the inhumane brutality depicted in it can be generalised to other countries. Chile is not even mentioned by name in the film. Members of the audience who follow world events will know where they are. But there is a [illegible] it could happen anywhere. At any [illegible]. [illegible] Missing will help to fuel the anti-war sentiment in the USA.
Contact the Chile Solidarity Campaign at 129 Seven Sisters Rd, London N7. Ring 01-272 4298.