Series/Festivals

Week of November 19, 2003

Comments (0) Wednesday, Nov 19 2003

Pinochet's Children. Paula Rodríguez. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival begins with Pinochet's Children,a title referring not to Chilean dictator Pinochet's literal offspring but to Alejandro Goic, Enrique Paris and Carolina Tohá, all directly affected by the 1973 military coup that gave power to the brutal Pinochet and permitted widespread torture, murders and "disappeared ones." In this compelling documentary, director Paula Rodríguez intercuts harrowing news footage and still photographs from Pinochet's state of siege with contemporary interviews with Goic, Paris and Tohá, who were sixteen, twelve and eight, respectively, in '73. They assess their development into student protest leaders and reflect upon the sustaining mutual trust among the determined opposition. Making the political personal, these individuals discuss Chilean successes and failures in the past decades, the still-divided electorate, the surprise and relief at Pinochet's indictment in London, and their current life choices. Their assertion that "the pain has full impact today" comes across with palpable force and immediacy. In Spanish with English subtitles. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 25, in the Moore Auditorium on the campus of Webster University, 470 E. Lockwood Avenue. Call 314-968-7487 for more information. (Diane Carson)