MissingThe world is a dangerous place--it is all the more dangerous when we cannot trust the government established ostensibly to protect us. Missing is the dramatized account of the disappearance of Charles "Charlie" Horman (John Shea in the film), an American citizen who had vanished in the aftermath of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état by Augusto Pinochet. The search for Charlie is spearheaded by his wife, Beth (Sissy Spacek) and his father, Ed (Jack Lemmon), two people who both love Charlie very much, even if their own political ideologies are radically different at the start.
|
|
Sometimes we can forget just how horrifying events around the world really are from the comforts of our recliners, viewing the war reports between commercials from our flatscreens, oblivious to the political machinations in action. This is a point emphasized as an argument toward Ed by the ambassador to the "unnamed" nation (read: Chile) in Missing, during one of the confrontations about the whereabouts of Charlie, and the lack of transparency on the part of the United States government and its representatives and agents. The accounts of the Americans who were involved in the days of the coup--everyday people like you and me, save that they lived abroad--makes their testimonies and portrayals all the more shocking. It is unconscionable to think of military trucks loaded with machine guns firing into crowds in broad daylight, of women pulled from bus lines to be re-educated about what they must wear going forward, and of squads of soldiers of the junta storming into houses to seize people for execution...but it happened, if the testimony of those whose names have "been changed to protect the innocent" can be believed. Certainly, the United States government claims that the events portrayed in Missing were inaccurate, but how much faith can we have in such an assertion? Missing remains a convincing condemnation of American exceptionalism--an idea that America is different (or superior) to other nations, at least to the extent that we have the the right (or responsibility) to intervene in affairs in the world abroad to protect American interests. The question becomes: just what are "American interests"? The aftermath of the junta is a towering mass of corpses, with the implication that the coup was engineered (or at least facilitated) by elements of the American military, and not a natural extension of a revolutionary effort on the part of the people of Chile. The notes Charlie takes recounts events prior to the coup about his--and his friend, Terry's--stay in Viña del Mar, where they chanced upon a couple of noteworthy agents who allude to the premeditation of the coup, and how this instance does not stand as an isolate--or even final--incident in America's crusade to protect its interests across the globe. When Ed arrives in Chile, his attitude is one of cooperation with authority, for he is a believer in the straight path where if you follow the rules and do not attempt to cause disruption out of recklessness, the order of the world is maintained. Ed is no coward, nor is he weak--in fact, he is an intelligent (if stubborn and judgmental) man, who is worried for his son's safety, but believes that Charlie must have done something to get into trouble. His attitude is the kind of product which the film implies is the natural result of one who has accepted that the government is working to serve each and every American, and can be trusted. These events serve as a rude awakening for Ed, who discovers that--according to the ambassador--that "you can't have it both ways". He fights with Beth initially, blaming her for condoning or endorsing "anti-establishment paranoia", which must have been the catalyst for Charlie's endangerment in his view. Ed is a devout Christian Scientist, who rankles under Beth, such as when in her frustration she takes the lord's name in vain. His faith is one he proclaims is a faith in search of truth; when the truth of his own findings does not align with his faith in country, something must fall away.
The depiction of a nation under the military junta is harrowing, with atrocities carried out as if they were everyday affairs, juxtaposed with moments of decadence; Charlie witnesses the elite of the new regime are partying in style, absurdly and inappropriately dancing to Chuck Berry's "My Ding-A-Ling" across the street from his hotel. The horrors hearken back to the events of World War II and the Nazis, although it does raise the question about what other nations were less public in their genocides (like Russia), and even more disturbing that if America had any bona fide involvement in this coup, they are complicit in similar atrocities--a brutally dark parallel for us to face as a nation. One of the most disturbing scenes in the film is when Ed and Beth visit one of the hospitals to view the corpses for the off chance that they will find the body of Charlie. They are led through room after room of corpses stacked high, until they reach the last room where the bodies of the unidentified are being kept. After Beth and Ed search the room, their eyes gaze upward, and the camera pans to view a clouded glass ceiling with the silhouettes of various corpses strewn across it, a moment which up until that point seemed to be as grim as it could get, and then escalated. It seems impossible to believe that something like the Pinochet coup could happen in our own country, but Missing illustrates just how easy it is for society to slip from freedom into tyranny literally overnight; even if it isn't in our country, is it any better that it happens in someone else's? Missing raises the question about what the United States' ultimate role is in the world, what kind of responsibility it has to protect its citizens and what kind of responsibility is right for the country to engage in with regard to other nations' sovereignty. If the film has any message, it is that each American life is important, but more than that, each life is important, and our horror over the coup is broadened in that perspective. The film's musical score is composed and performed by Vangelis, giving a combination of tender sorrow and heart pounding intensity between the moments of longing to reclaim Charlie and the dangers of this political hotbed. One of the most important themes in Missing is the role of family, by birth and marriage, as both apply to Charlie. Ed and Beth gradually grow to understand one another and listen and empathize, becoming closer as they commit more and more to discovering where Charlie has gone. Their love for Charlie keeps them strong in both the dangerous country they are forced to inhabit to seek him out, and in coping with the betrayal of a government that cannot (or will not) aid their efforts. It is chilling when Capt. Tower (Charles Cioffi)--a high-ranking official working with the U.S. government during the transition (and a creep)--gives Ed an analogy about Charlie, one designed less for comfort, but as a warning, about comparing the junta with the mafia in the United States. The big problem with this analogy is that it implies that the U.S. government had some kind of investment in installing the mafia to do its dirty work for them...now there's a scary thought. At a glance, Costa-Gavras' Missing might appear anti-American, but I believe that this is as far from the truth as possible. Yes, the film is critical of the U.S. government and its exceptionalism and involvement abroad--a political hot-button far too big for this humble essay, but through Beth, Ed, and Charlie, it extols virtues of freedom and what it is that makes the American ideal for freedom so great: the ability to speak freely, to oppose oppression, and also the pursuit of truth.
Recommended for: Fans of a tense political thriller which also deals very touchingly with the family of one who has been discarded by his country. Based on a true story, Missing is even more horrifying if you do a little digging to research exactly how bad this situation really was, and how little was actually dramatized.
The depiction of a nation under the military junta is harrowing, with atrocities carried out as if they were everyday affairs, juxtaposed with moments of decadence; Charlie witnesses the elite of the new regime are partying in style, absurdly and inappropriately dancing to Chuck Berry's "My Ding-A-Ling" across the street from his hotel. The horrors hearken back to the events of World War II and the Nazis, although it does raise the question about what other nations were less public in their genocides (like Russia), and even more disturbing that if America had any bona fide involvement in this coup, they are complicit in similar atrocities--a brutally dark parallel for us to face as a nation. One of the most disturbing scenes in the film is when Ed and Beth visit one of the hospitals to view the corpses for the off chance that they will find the body of Charlie. They are led through room after room of corpses stacked high, until they reach the last room where the bodies of the unidentified are being kept. After Beth and Ed search the room, their eyes gaze upward, and the camera pans to view a clouded glass ceiling with the silhouettes of various corpses strewn across it, a moment which up until that point seemed to be as grim as it could get, and then escalated. It seems impossible to believe that something like the Pinochet coup could happen in our own country, but Missing illustrates just how easy it is for society to slip from freedom into tyranny literally overnight; even if it isn't in our country, is it any better that it happens in someone else's? Missing raises the question about what the United States' ultimate role is in the world, what kind of responsibility it has to protect its citizens and what kind of responsibility is right for the country to engage in with regard to other nations' sovereignty. If the film has any message, it is that each American life is important, but more than that, each life is important, and our horror over the coup is broadened in that perspective. The film's musical score is composed and performed by Vangelis, giving a combination of tender sorrow and heart pounding intensity between the moments of longing to reclaim Charlie and the dangers of this political hotbed. One of the most important themes in Missing is the role of family, by birth and marriage, as both apply to Charlie. Ed and Beth gradually grow to understand one another and listen and empathize, becoming closer as they commit more and more to discovering where Charlie has gone. Their love for Charlie keeps them strong in both the dangerous country they are forced to inhabit to seek him out, and in coping with the betrayal of a government that cannot (or will not) aid their efforts. It is chilling when Capt. Tower (Charles Cioffi)--a high-ranking official working with the U.S. government during the transition (and a creep)--gives Ed an analogy about Charlie, one designed less for comfort, but as a warning, about comparing the junta with the mafia in the United States. The big problem with this analogy is that it implies that the U.S. government had some kind of investment in installing the mafia to do its dirty work for them...now there's a scary thought. At a glance, Costa-Gavras' Missing might appear anti-American, but I believe that this is as far from the truth as possible. Yes, the film is critical of the U.S. government and its exceptionalism and involvement abroad--a political hot-button far too big for this humble essay, but through Beth, Ed, and Charlie, it extols virtues of freedom and what it is that makes the American ideal for freedom so great: the ability to speak freely, to oppose oppression, and also the pursuit of truth.
Recommended for: Fans of a tense political thriller which also deals very touchingly with the family of one who has been discarded by his country. Based on a true story, Missing is even more horrifying if you do a little digging to research exactly how bad this situation really was, and how little was actually dramatized.