NEW FILM BY COSTA-GAVRAS EXAMINES THE CHILEAN COUP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500150036-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2005
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: February 7, 1982
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/01/12 : CIA-RDP91-00901
A t's" C I, , P/;~~ZPRED
ON ?J1~1E x_'//~~/~~/[[- yv.Z-
tcI iISS NGr"
NEW YORK TIMES
7 FEBRUARY 3.992
':,-..But it isn't a documentary, and in- "''EC.c
the course of an interview Dir. Costa..Amb
Gavras didn't pretend that it is., wasi
ica1 technician," he said after a shnw to p
tag here. "Either you give two points powe
.of view, or you say. 'Here's what I : ebr
think- Idraw myowrconclusion "? lens
Los- .-- avra Ttzatfis the problem. The film gives' ing h
??
only oni3 t e
point of view, essentially Ed ting t
Horman's,'but its claim to present a . A
basic historical truth puts it in a differ- clud,
ent category from other dramatiza-
tions and political thrillers. It is a tech-
nique which raises serious ethical, Bu
moral and political as well as artistic dent
question&:t.,- z',T ' ~tirPi
By FLOR; %LEWI3 14ttw ~.iwciy wiui tat! auuwr u1 U1C miry,
TM r f book and spent a good deal 'of time to wi.
consul
d ai
ra s
lance w
...
. y ,
Melvin Laird). It was an eitttraordi-,
was killed during. i
retards
particularly of the Senate In-
.
nary meeting
the "?1973 coup that brought telligence Committee headed by Sena-
thePinochetregimetopowepr for Frank Church
Democrat of Idaho
,
,
in Chile, } 'which made extensive investigations Nonetheless, "Allende was elected.
Fact: His father, a New York iadz -: and issued a report on "Covert Action After that, according to the Church
trial, designer, was told that his sgg in Chile: 1963-1973. Committee and statements by Nathan
was missing-and went to Chile in.wl'iat. "The director can't do everything," iel Davis, who was Ambassador in
became a desperate search to find; he said. "Hauser did the research and Santiago from 1971 until shortly after.
Charles. Edmund C. Horinan, thefa,. saw all those people, and I went the 1973 coup, the United States clean-l
ther, . gradually , became convinced through all his notes." Haled funds to political parties, press
that the American Embassy hi San._y The difficulty is that the role of the . and radio stations in Chile but stayed
from the start but was {meat on:ecp. tremely controversial, emotional sub- Military plots.
?bility. He later sued 11 high United:, anditdacumentssome nasty episodes, The thesis, Mr. Davis w rte in the
States officials for $4 million, but atte When Salvador Allende's regime was Foreign Service Journal in 1978, eras
a year and a half the case 'was? dis overturned by Gen. Augusta Pinochet that the Allende Government was put-
missedfor lack of evidence. in a vast, murderous rampage, many ting such intense pressure on theoppo-
? Fact: A lawyer. named Thomas., people, particularly French Socialists, sition's capacity to survive that it
Hauser was drawn Into, the I3orma$l felt it showed the United States would might be unable to contest the next
family's crusade and wrote a. book go to any length to prevent the sur. ? election scheduled for 1976. The secret
about the incident called "The Execu;. vival of another leftist government be- subsidies, he said, were to enable op-
tion of Charles Norman: An American. sides Cuba in the - Western Henri- position parties and distributors of in'-
Sacrifice,"published inl979. sphere. The French left indentified "formation to compete with Govern-
Greece, Czechoslovakia and Urn
SuaYti ? Vietnam war
thought through the practical and d ethi,
accepted an offer from. Universal tb s ; . cal implications of covert_action,'. Mr
make a movie from the Hauser book. Newspaper reports, especially those.' Davis said: He pointed -out, and the
It is called "Missing," stars, Jack of Seymour M. Hersh in The New York record confirms, that he successfully
Lemmon and Sissy Spacek and.. it Times, and lengthy records of the opposed C.I.A. suggestions to support-
opens in New York On Friday at"tne Church Committee in 1975 and 1976 strikes and demonstrations to under-
Beekman theater.' It Is. tautly, well ;- showed that the" United States had in-; mineA.llende: -mss:
made and cinematicallyconvincuig.w deed been involved in Chilean politics.
I --j -
Fiction: "Tliis film' is based on a The most damaging evidence related However, Richard Helms and Hal i
true story. The incidents and facts are l to C.I.A. activity attempting to pre- Hendrix, an I.T.T. official, were con- ?
documented. Some of the names have ' vent Allende's election in 1970. At that : victed of perjury for their testimony,
been changed to protect the innocent. time, it was revealed, an infamous . before a 1973 Senate committee" on
and
and also to protect the film."
. operation called . "Track " II" linked what happened in 1970. And there was
American agents with violent right- ? the extraordinary Nixon order to'
I,icmcacc~aaicafinvmabfhocfart .C -minoamima .. r?._r___ _
are used, realver., ?areevoked..t .i
tenet?rs' pertrayed. These devlcei
C ,and the di s or's izrt,are.eombired.?tci.!
;persuade the.aied rovt i9
T .story arid. its, ck~*8e t :3s;
et -Statue helped plan the -coup in -Chile
t^ :and sanctioned the murder of Charles-
Korry and two too cabinet members of
that plot. Credibility became a serious
issue in disentangling the Chile story.
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