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The Battle of Chile: Part 1

Play trailer Poster for The Battle of Chile: Part 1 Released Jan 12, 1978 1h 40m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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89% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 87% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán documents the military coup's campaign to overthrow the government in 1973.

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The Battle of Chile: Part 1

Critics Reviews

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Michael Atkinson Village Voice In the running for the most riveting and vital historical document ever put on celluloid. Sep 7, 2010 Full Review Fernando F. Croce Slant Magazine A present-tense record of nation-splitting turmoil, Patricio Guzmn's monumental documentary The Battle of Chile remains a landmark of activist cinema. Rated: 4/4 Dec 29, 2009 Full Review Armond White National Review Guzmán does what today’s media don’t do: His overarching hard work satisfies our interest in being informed and a nonpartisan dedication to inquiry and investigation. Sep 21, 2023 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills Epic in an entirely different way... Sep 19, 2023 Full Review Robin Clifford Reeling Reviews “The Battle of Chile,” despite the dated look of a 70’s documentary, has a currentness to it that makes it fresh to this day. Rated: A- Sep 1, 2023 Full Review Laura Clifford Reeling Reviews If ever there was a case for studying history to understand the present, “The Battle of Chile” is it. Rated: A Aug 22, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (5) audience reviews
Audience Member year s/b 1975 not 2009 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Historic documentary is riveting from start to finish. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member "Like writing history with lightning," as Woodrow Wilson once put it. Guzman delivers a harrowing blow-by-blow of the period immediately leading up to the '73 coup, the coup itself, and the period immediately following the coup, all with remarkable, how-did-they-get-that footage of events as they were occurring. Part 1, in particular, runs the gamut, beginning with revolutionary optimism and ending with... oh, man, I can't even begin. Astonishing, disturbing, that's what it is. Part 2 is a bit more repetitious: as the nation is divided by the extreme right-wing National Party's machinations, discourse is reduced to sloganeering, sound bites, and smugly proffered opinions masquerading as fact. (Sound familiar?) It all ends with the infamous coup d'etat, the institution of a military tribunal as the heads of state (televised, with some truly frightening cognitive dissonance/doublethink on display i/r/t "democracy"), and the systematic hunting and slaughter of the proletariat. There's also a Part 3 that documents the aftermath of the coup. I've not seen that yet. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member An epic, outstanding examination of class struggle. A demonstration of the creativity, responsibility, humanity of the proletariat and the destructiveness, irresponsibility, inhumanity of the bourgeoisie (i.e. the "mummies"--"Wrecking the country and getting well paid to do it!"). Absolute, damning proof that the bourgeoisie (agents of capitalism and imperialism) don't respect their own official political, legal, economic rules, that they don't really value freedom, democracy, or even "homeland". Next time smash the bourgeois state (parliament, the judiciary, the military, the universities, the media--depending of course on circumstances). Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Tim G Wow this is long. Two hours about the struggle of the workers might have been okay, 5.5 hours is just too much. And, amazingly, there isn't enough context provided in those many hours, just talking and talking and talking. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 06/03/10 Full Review Read all reviews
The Battle of Chile: Part 1

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Cast & Crew

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A Grin Without a Cat 92% 87% A Grin Without a Cat Watchlist Unzipped 78% 78% Unzipped Watchlist Cuba feliz 63% 67% Cuba feliz Watchlist Microcosmos 97% 91% Microcosmos Watchlist Get Bruce! 72% 45% Get Bruce! Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán documents the military coup's campaign to overthrow the government in 1973.
Director
Patricio Guzmán
Screenwriter
Patricio Guzmán
Distributor
Miramax Films
Production Co
Miramax
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Spanish
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 12, 1978, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 17, 2015
Runtime
1h 40m
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