NEW FILM BY COSTA-GAVRAS EXAMINES THE CHILEAN COUP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201460007-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: February 7, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201460007-3
ASkTiCoax, 'i EP.RED
ON PAGE
NW YORK TIMES
7 FEBRUARY 1.982
I`? But.itisn't a documentary, and in- A E
Gavras didn't pretend that it 15. %ya
b
a
pout
"Don't ask a film director to De a
'~,"~ ~,~, ~~ ~~ ical technician," he said after a show-' to
, ,` bg here. "Either you give two points; po
1:of view, or. you- say. `here's what I, Fe
len
' "
: ;~
think- I draw my owe conclusion
Thatis the problem. The Will gives e
th.
ay one point` )f view, essentially Ed
Horman's,'but its claim. to present a
basic historical truth puts it in a differ- - clu
ent category fro m other dramatiza- 'yn
g
ions and political thrillers. It is a tech
nique which-raises serious ethical,
moral and political as well as artistic d
Mr. Costa-Gavras says he coilabo. Ho
I
By FLORA LEWIS ; ? book ands-pent a good deal of - time to q
act: A young American frees S ? fort to speak with the government offi- and the secretary or Defense (then,
lance writer named Charles' dais .he portrays nor to consult the Melvin Laird). It was an extraordi
Harman was killed during.; -records, particularly of the Senate In- nary meeting '
the: -1973 coup: that brought-.,' telligenee Committee headed by Sena-)
the Pinocbet regime to payer, for Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho,
in Chile. Nonetheless, "Allende was elected.I
which made extensive investigations After that; according to the Church
Fact: His father, a New York uadu and issued a report on "Covert Action
trial. designer, was told that his sggr: in Chile: 1963.1973." Committee and statements by Nathan-
was nissingand went to Chile to what. "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. Harman, therfa,~' saw all those people, -and I went the 1973 coup, the United-States clan-
ther, . gradually , became convinced:. 'through all his notes." neled funds to political parties, press`
that the American Embassy in; San,' ... The difficulty is that the role of the . and radio stations in Chile but stayed,
from the start but was Intent on con - tremelycontroversial, emotional sub- nnilitaxyplots r:. z
States officials for $4 million; but aft o : When Salvador Allende's regime was Foreign Service Journal.in 1978, was
a year and. a half the case was. djs- overturned by Gen. Augusta Pinochet that the Allende Government was put-
missed for lack of evidence..",- in a vast, murderous rampage, many ting such intense pressure on the oppo.
Fact:.. A lawyer. named Thomas.: people, particularly French Socialists, sition's capacity to survive that it
Hauser was drawn Into. the Hormax 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 1970. The secret
'about the incident called "The Exec_ vival of another leftist government be. subsidies, he said, were to enable op- f
tion of Charles Harman: An American sides Cuba in the ' Western Hem!- ? position parties and distributors of
Sacrifice," published in 1979. ?:.' sphere. The French. left indentified formation to compete with Govern-
Fact: Costa-Gavras, the Paris; their on aims with Allende. The coup went-supported part es and pre
powerful political films about cases in, Paris intelligentsia, a sequel to the { "We still have not, ash a sock 1
Greece, Czechoslovakia and Uruguay% Vietnam war. though tthrough the practical and ethi~
accepted an offer from. Universal
-t b: cal implications of covertaction,' 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 3n Friday at tiro Church>Committee in 1975 and 1976 strikes and demonstrations to under-1
Beekman; theater.' It Is tautly well,`. .showed that the United States had in- mineAllende
made and cinematically convincrng.k deed been involved in Chilean politics
Fiction: "This filar is based on a The most damaging evidence related 'However, Richard Helms and Hal
true story. The incidents and facts are, to C.I.A. activity attempting to pre- Hendrix, an I.T.T. official; were con
documented. Some of the names have i vent Allende's election in 1970. At that ? victeci of perjury for their testimony
been changed to protect the innocent.1 time, it was revealed, an infamous before a 1973 Senate committee. on,
and also to protect the film." - "! operation called . "Track ? II" linked what happened in 19741. And there was '
. e - American agents with violent right- 'the extraordinary Nixon order to
.This message is shownat the start , win w .__ _ - _?--
g~: ? g groups. Helms not to .inform Ambassador
-the film. In many cases.'real:Csssstxai Korry and two top cabinet members of
'are used. zeal?~werk, areevokecl, t*aI that plot. Credibility became a serious
kenoetmt&rs''pertrayed. These devlee s Issue in disentangling the Chile story .. {
l and Lie dzi~egtor's.~ert; are cor;bir eEiato i}
4, lr~l
'I Z
ersuiade the atrdieoee'that. ttw le
iorY wed 3LS$s +'
44 ON
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,;mina Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201460007-3
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