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The Battle of Chile, Part 3 (1979)
Chile, Obstinate Memory (1997)

Chile, Obstinate Memory (1997)
April 30, 2011 - 7:30 pm
Billy Wilder Theater

The Battle of Chile, Part 3: The Power of the People (La batalla de Chile: El poder popular) (1979)

Directed by Patricio Guzmán

The final part of Guzmán’s verite triptych may also be its most essential. Completed a year after the first two segments, Part Three: The Power of the People shifts focus from the forces working against Allende to the people who supported his vision for a new Chile. Guzmán captures the faith and commitment of students, farmers and the working classes to defend Allende’s social and economic reforms as they rally in the streets and organize neighborhood militias to counter rightist thugs. Though their efforts were ultimately doomed, Guzmán never surrenders to cynicism or despair, choosing instead to celebrate the spirit of justice that motivated Allende’s supporters regardless of the cost.

Producer: Chris Marker. Screenwriter: Patricio Guzmán. Cinematographer: Jorge Müller. Editor: Pedro Chaskell. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. DigiBeta, Black and White, 78 min.

Chile, Obstinate Memory (Chile, la memoria obstinada) (1997)

Directed by Patricio Guzmán

Guzmán has spent his career capturing powerful images but in Chile, Obstinate Memory he also steps back to explore the complex and contradictory power of images. One of his most thematically significant films, it is also a deeply personal account of Guzmán’s return to his native country in 1997, after the official government ban on The Battle of Chile was lifted. In living rooms and classrooms, Guzmán screens the film for those who lived through the 1973 coup and those too young at the time to remember it. As they watch, we witness the flood of recollections and emotions it triggers in young and old alike, every frame validating a long suppressed truth and intensifying the loss of a history denied.

Producer: Yves Jeanneau, Éric Michel. Editor: Eric Pittard, Hélène Girard. Presented in Spanish dialogue with English subtitles. DigiBeta, Color, 58 min.

Part of: 
Patricio Guzmán: The Watchful Eye