QUE HACER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300190002-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 25, 2004
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 5, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

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Film
d'Amour." Since that contro-
versial debut Landau has
enhanced his reputation for
controversy with a film
about Fidel Castro, another
about alleged victims of tor-
ture by the Brazilian gov-
ernment (\Vexler, who pho-
tographed the Allende int.er-
.iew, also photographed this
one) and with a few seg-
ments produced for the late
"Great American Dream
Machine."
While both films will be
of interest principally to
people who share the politi-
cal bias of the filmmakers,
the Allende interview is con-
siderably more compelling
and incisive than "Que pa-
cer" and stands a better
chance of holding hostile or
apolitical viewers as well as
socialist ones.
The reason is simply the
force of personality. Allende
is an impressive figure, an
articulate, tough-minded
and likably sardonic
politician; and the experi-
ence of watching and listen.
ing to him proves both in-
formative and fascinating.
People who think of them-
selves as politically in-
formed owe themselves
this brief session with Al-
lende, glimpsed shortly after
his election, outlining his
socialist program for Chile
and shrewdly assessing the
odds against socialist re-
forms; odds that haven't
shortened since he took of-
fice.
realized.
The conception is ambi-
tious, encompassing several
contrasting characters
whose activities run parallel
and then intersect: a Chilean
intellectual just ' returned
from Cuba, a Communist of-
ficial and his son, a member
of a left terrorist group, a
radical priest in the mining
town of Copiapo, in Ameri-
can Peace Corps worker
who finds herself more and
more in sympathy with Chi-
lean revolutionaries; and a
sinister American agent,
presumably on assignment
from the CIA,
The problem with the
scenario is that it fails to
sustain any particular rela-
tionship or subplot; the film
seems to be constantly intro-
clueing people and situations
only to let them evaporate
or die of dramatic malnu-
trition.
The film is also marred by
several streaks o:: expedi-
ency and, s?ntlmentality.
Richard Stahl, who plays
the sneak from iVashiii ton,
looks trans-patently sneaky,
as if he were cast to encour-
age semi-facetious hisses
from audiences of the faith-
ful. Sandra Archer, who
plays the heroine from the
Peace Corps (a few people
may recall her as the girl
Peter Bonerz became in-
volved with at the end of
"Funnyman"), is such a
looker that she can't help
but make The Quest for
Revolutionary Conscious-
ness appear hopelessly gla-
morized. For example, In
the closing scenes are we
supposed to be impressed
with her political sincerity
but blind to that great-look-
ing pantsuit she's wearing
out in the countryside?
Landau shows a certain
naturalistic flair with minor
characters-Elizabeth Frans-
worth rings true as another,
more contented Peace Corps
yyorker, and the Americans
at a dinner party who of-
fend the archly disapprov-
ing, Miss Archer with their
casually superior small talk
seem right: callous yet
lively and rather persona-
ble. Unfortunately, the ma-
jor character seem as over-
simplified as the worst of
Hollywood. Landau's con-
ception may have been
doomed from the start by
limited resources and the at-
tempt to juggle too many
protagonists too sketchily
imagined, but the Beauty-
and-the-Creep casting does
more than its share to com-
promise and trivialize the
film.
'Que
Hate ,1
By Gary Arnold
"Que pacer," a feature-
length film matte in Chile
by Saul T.andau, a leftist
producer-director-docunten-
tarian, is getting its first
commercial showing in the
United States this week at
the Inner Circle. As it hap-
pens, Landau's feature is
.upstaged by the film on the
bottom half of the bill: a
half-hour interview Landau
conducted in January, 1971,
with Chilean President Sal-
vador Allende, who seems to
say point-blank what "Que
hacer" tries to say circui-
tously.
With the collaboration of
several Chilean and Ameri-
can friends and colleagues
(Chilean filmmakers Nina
Set-ratio and Haul Ruiz re-
ceive co-directing credits),
Landau attempted to use
the Chilean national elec-
tions of September, 1970, in
the way Haskell 1Fexler
used the Democratic Party's
convention in Chicago in
1908 for "Medium Cool"-as
a dramatically real back-
drop for a semi-improvised
fictional film.
Ideally, the authentic po-
litical drama of the country
will be illuminated by the
.political or romantic melo-
drama played out by the ac-
tors. In practice, the made-
up stuff tends to be woe-
fully inadequate to the docu-
mentary reality surging
-around and through it; :,t;d
"Que hater" (rendered
somewhat awkwardly, "What
Is to Be Done") proves as
vulnerable on this score as
"Medium Cool"-and less
exciting to watch simply as
a movie or an experir.,ent.
Saul Landau first bocarne
Students of rnl.itical
star appeal and personality
projection should find Al-
lende a remakable and per-
haps refreshing subject,
since there is no air of elu-
siveness or equivocation
about him. It's also amusing
to note that Allende, once
the dean of the Chilean sen-
ate, hears a sirong resem-
blance to Sen. Hugh Scott of
Pennsylvania.
The best idea would be
to see the Allende interview
first and then as much of
"Que hater" as you find
interesting or intriguing.
"Que hacer" is a movie
that never quite gets out
of the discussion stage. It
has good moments and sev-
eral viable story ideas and
famous/notorious in movie characters, none of which
circles back in the early '1307, truly typify or summarize
for a non-political enter- Chile as of September, 1970,
prise: He was one of the The intention is epic, a pan-
distributors of thcApprovedifroii.Reteasle'20041?1'1/01 : CIA-RDP88-01365R000300190002-5
Genet film, "Un Chant but the intentions aren't