Missing Film Review

Febraury 12, 1982,
The movie "Missing," directed by Costa Garvas was released today in New York City. I've been waiting to see this film for quite some time now. This movie took place in Chile, during the civil war years in the country. Two American citizens, Charles and Beth Horman, live in Chile during this time. These two Americans feel as though they are going to go wherever life takes them. Charles is a writer and the two live their lives enjoying the Chilean atomosphere and culture.

As the military coup becomes more intense and dangerous, Charles who is a very curious person, begins to take notes about the situation. Charles and his friend Terry Simon, who is also American travel around Chile enjoying all the country has to offer. As the two of them start to head back to Beth, they begin to see troops along the road as corpses liter the streets. Though this was not an everyday experience, Charles felt that the strangest thing about the situation was the increase in U.S. military officers in areas of the country in which no one would expect them to be.

As Charles and Terry made their way back home they met one of these U.S. military officals. The mans name was Carter Babcock, and as Charles and him spoke about the situation in the country Babcock seemed to act as if he knew a lot more about the situation than he was willing to tell Charles. As the level of violence rose in the country, Charles and Terry became more and more desperate to get back to Beth. They became more and more worried that something bad had happened to her. Though they should'nt have worried as much about Beth because just days after meeting Babcock, Charles was arrested and taken away. His arrest came just before they could fly back to Beth. When Beth finds out about the situation and Charles's arrest she starts by visitng the U.S. embassy, hoping that they could figure out what had happened to Charles and could find his where abouts. Though you would think that the embassy would be a great help to Beth and her situation, they provide Beth with very little help.

After a few weeks of Beth having to deal with incompetent people at the embassy, Ed Horman, Charles's father, travels down to Chile from New York to try and find out what happened to his son and why the embassy was giving little help to the situation. Though Ed had tried pushing the situation back in the States, he realized that the only way he could do anything about his sons dissapearance was fly down to Chile to look for himself. As Ed arrives in Chile you begin to notice hostility between Beth and him right from the start. Ed feels as though Beth and his son Charles were wasting their time living in Chile. He felt as though they should be back in the States with a job, living the American dream. The dissapointment in his son is quite evident when Ed first arrives in Chile.

Due to the fact that Ed had not been dealing with the U.S. officials and Chilean military for the past few weeks, like Beth had, Ed felt as though he and Beth could trust them in finding out what happened to his son. As he puts the situation in their hands, Beth becomes quite angry because she knows that all they were doing was wasting their time because nothing was going to come out of putting them in charge of finding out where Charles was. Ed felt as though the Chilean and U.S. officials would do anything in their power to find Charles.
As the time passed by, nothing changes and the chances of finding Charles begins to dwindle away with every passing day. Every time they visit the consulate it seems as though they are promised action will be taken and yet the officials and military never seem to make any progress.

They finally become tired of the antics used by the officials, and begin visiting eyewitnesses on their own just trying to find some information on Charles's disappearance. They begin to make a lot of progess and start investigating the disappearance without having to rely on the U.S. officials. As they talk to people they begin to realize that Charles may have gotten himself in trouble when writing notes about everything and asking questions about things that he should'nt have poked his nose in. They begin to realize that his disappearance was due to the fact that he knew too much about the United States involvement in Chile and with the military coup. As they visit buildings where people who were arrested during the coup were taken, they begin to get the feeling that Charles was gone forever.

The two eventually find out that Charles was murdered just days after his arrest. Though Charles was gone it seemed as though a few postive things came out of the situation as terrible as it sounds. As Ed and Beth worked together to find Charles, Ed began to understand exactly why Charles left everything to be with Beth. Ed began to realize just how brave and amazing Beth was during this hardship. The relationship between the two became stronger and the two became much closer. Though it took them loosing their loved one, atleast the two of them had eachother to help get through the situation.

Not only did the relationship between Beth and Ed grow stronger, but the love Ed had for his son grew tremendously. Ed felt negatively about Charles and his lifestyle when he heard the news of his arrest. When he first came to Chile he blamed his arrest on Beth and Charles for making the decision to leave the States to live in a foreign country that was'nt completly friendly with Americans. But as he learned more and more about the things his son did, and the person who his son really was, he realized just how much he loved him. He realized that Charles had grown up to be a great man and was very proud of him.

So though this movie ended with the realization of Charles's death, the movie almost had a double meaning to it. Ed's love for Charles grew and the relationship between him and Beth grew strong as well. All in all i feel as though this movie really touched the emotional side of the horific situation in Chile.

This has been "Missing" film review, By Matt Slaby, Journalist for New York Times.