Salvador Allende (2004)

Director:

Patricio Guzmán

Writer:

Patricio Guzmán

Release Date:

5 September 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

From his childhood in Valparaiso to his death during the Pinochet military coup on September 11, 1973, the life and works of Chilean president Salvador Allende. |

Plot Keywords:

Military Coup | Salvador Allende | U.S. Foreign Policy | 1970s | Socialism

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Salvador Allende	...	Himself (archive footage)
Patricio Guzmán	...	Narrator (voice: Spanish version)
Jacques Bidou	...	Narrator (voice: French version)
Alejandro Gonzáles	...	Himself (as Alejandro 'Mono' Gonzáles)
Ema Malig	...	Herself
Anita	...	Herself
Victor Pey	...	Himself
Sergio Vuskovic	...	Himself
Edward M. Korry	...	Himself
Isabel Allende	...	Herself
Ernesto Salamanca	...	Himself
Carmen Paz	...	Herself
Claudina Nuñez	...	Herself
Volodia Teitelboim	...	Himself
Carlos Pino	...	Himself
Carlos Rossel	...	Himself
Larris Araya	...	Himself
Enrique Molina	...	Himself
Miria Contreras	...	Herself
Veronica Ahumada	...	Herself
Arturo Giron	...	Himself
José Balmes	...	Himself
Gonzalo Millian	...	Himself (archive footage)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fidel Castro	...	Himself (archive footage)
Henry Kissinger	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard Nixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Augusto Pinochet	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
Patricio Guzmán

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Patricio Guzmán

Produced by
Antonino Ballestrazzi	....	distribution producer
Jacques Bidou	....	producer
Marianne Dumoulin	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Jorge Arriagada

Cinematography by
Patricio Guzmán
Julia Muñoz

Film Editing by
Claudio Martinez

Production Management
Andrea Guzmán	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrea Guzmán	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Renate Sachse	....	artistic advisor

Sound Department
Jean-Jacques Quinet	....	sound editor
Jean-Jacques Quinet	....	sound mixer
Álvaro Silva Wuth	....	sound
Yves Warnant	....	sound

Editorial Department
Frédéric Casnin	....	color timer

Production Companies

• JBA Production
• Les Films de la Passerelle (co-production)
• CV Films (co-production)
• Mediapro (co-production)
• Universidad de Guadalajara (co-production)
• Patricio Guzmán Producciones S.L. (co-production)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Canal+ (participation)
• Arte (participation)
• Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) (participation)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (participation)

Distributors

• 1More Film (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Fandango (2005) (Italy) (theatrical)
• First Run/Icarus Films (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Memento Films International (France) (theatrical)
• Memento Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• New Star (2004) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Primer Plano Film Group (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Amazonia Films (2005) (Venezuela) (all media)
• Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2005) (Switzerland) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Salvador Allende" - Greece

Runtime:

100 min | Argentina:100 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Belgium | Chile | France | Germany | Spain | Mexico

Language:

Spanish | French | English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Argentina:Atp | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Santiago, Chile

Company:

JBA Production

The past comes back

Few more interesting political personalities of the 20th century than Salvador Allende, and few has been least debated and spreaded, maybe due to the subversion that yields in his ideas. Patricio Guzman, a Chilean filmmaker, has based almost all his work on him. Allende won clean democratic elections and assumed the presidency with a socialist program, which was deeply resisted by the Chilean bourgeoisie and the United States, afraid of the growing USSR influence on the region. This documentary shows priceless images and details of his life and presidency, for example:

- Direct witnesses of Nixon and Kissinger's meetings planning Allende's overthrown, giving details like Nixon usually referring Allende as "that Son of B*itch". - Extracts of the famous Allende's speech in the UN denouncing the abusive power of multinational corporations, which was his 'death sentence'. - Leonardo Henrikssen, a journalist, filming his own execution by a Chilean soldier.

It is sad how the illegal overthrown is justified and neglected by certain people. I found a typical remark on this in an IMDb's user commentary: "There was abuse of authority, I don't accept it, but try to make understand somebody with a gun or a fusil in his hand that his old lifestyle was over..." Well, I understand somebody who didn't like government's measures, but justifying this way the murder of thousands of people, and the exile of other thousands is criminal. The contrast between the popular political Chilean participation of those days with today indifference and unworthy mere-decorative Latin-American governments is awesome.