Film Review

September 11, 1984: Film Review by Maria Gonzalez
I have just been fortunate enough to have recently watched the new film, here in the United States, Missing. The film is about an idealistic American writer, Charles, who disappears in Chile. The writer is there with his wife, and later with his father from the United States. There is romance woven into this film, with action and political situations. This historical film involves the coups in Chile, and especially of the infamous September 11, 1973. More-so, corruption and noncooperation are implied into the scenes involving the American embassy and consulate. Watching the film, many of my American friends, have had the reaction, “why was the American consulate so stubborn and unhelpful?” Beth and later Ed went back to the embassy many times, trying to receive answers. Yet, it seemed as if the consulate was no help whatsoever, almost as if he wanted Charles to remain missing, and did not care.
My answer to their questions: as a Chilean these scenes were actually represented quite realistically. I remember about ten years ago, these events happening. We had curfews on the streets. It was a very stressful and scary time. I remember that day, September 11, quite well. It was the day of the infamous coup, in which the junta was established, essentially throwing out our constitution. The government was run by a new, radical “organization” leading to a terrible atmosphere. The scene in which Charles, Beth, and their friend Terry are waiting at the bus stop was quite similar to something I witnessed when I was fifteen or sixteen years old. When Terry and Charles are waiting for a taxi, the soldiers take away a woman because she is wearing pants, and must be wearing a skirt. They strip away her pants in front of many citizens, only to embarrass her, but to also implement into people’s minds the degree to which this new government was acting.
I did not understand why they were doing this. The government and political system was changing. There were many radical opinions. Charles was in essence, taken away, gone “missing,” because he was a rightist writer. He had an opinion about things and was questioning the authority of the government and governmental figures. With a new leader, after Allende was overthrown, was not to let people like this run his society. I was only a teenager; yet, I understood that what was happening was not leading to a happier, more equal nation. We were rushing to get home at 17:00 PM so we were not harassed or tortured by the soldiers.
Although, those were bad times, I can say that I was a very lucky Chilean girl. My father had family connections here in the United States. My two brothers, mother, father, and I were eventually able to make it up north to America in 1975. Our family has been living here since. It has been difficult for me, being of quite a good age, to remember all those great times I had growing up in my birth country. Yet, those times changed quite rapidly to cause us to run. Of course, I think about returning. In some ways, ten years does not seem like enough time for Chile to have advanced and changed. My brothers, one older and one younger than I, have had the same feelings as me. However, we have been able to start much of our life here in the States. I know that my mother and father often times think about the chaos that took hold of Chile, and often reminisce about the good times, and how they would love to someday return to their homeland.
This film, Missing, was a reminder to me to what I as well as my family, and all other Chileans went through. The first time I saw the movie was with my friends. I did not know what it was about, but they thought it would be fun to see a film one Friday night. When the movie was over, all I wanted was to go back to my family, discuss the horrible times, and reminisce about the good from our native land. In the ten years I have lived here, some of those memories had been dismissed from my memory. Missing was a recap of those couple belligerent years.