NEW FILM BY COSTA-GAVRAS EXAMINES THE CHILEAN COUP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890045-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2010
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: February 7, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890045-6
ARTICLE 4PP E?RED
ON PAGE
1] ical technician," he szid suer a show
1 rag here. "Either you give two points
of view, or you say. `Here's what I,
}., think- Idraw myownconclusion'"
Cos La"Gav a
That is the problem. Tne :flip gives
s
NZ-1 YORK TIES
7 FEBRUARY 1.982
the course of an inte-'view Mr. Costa
Gavras didn't oretend that it is..
' Horman's,-but its claim to present a
1~,,, j ~~~ ? ~(~ 'i..~ pique whiclr-?raises serious ethical,
By FLORA LEWIS
lance writer named Charles anthe Secretary or Defense (them
cials he portrays nor to consult the Melvin Laird). It was an extraordi?i
Borman was killed during- records? particularly of the Senate In. . ,
g.
the.-1973 clam that hrnnir}t.i narymeetin
7 Y Mr. Costa.Gavras says he collabo??
rated closely: with the author of the
?, . book and spent a good deal of;time
h th
"
wit
so,I could
e Borman family
PARIS,! reproduce them-" But he made no ef.
I theftxxbet etc -------___..~ _ ..., ..,.... ? r:' .
in Chile. , regimPoore for Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho,
r Y which zpade extensive investigations . Nonetheless, Allende was elected.
Fact: His father, a New York idnex.. and issued a report on "Covert Action After that, according to the Church
trial designer, was told that his sga in Chile.1963-1973." Committee and statements by Nathan.,
was missingand went to Chile in.what "The director can't do everything." iel Davis, who was Ambassador in j
became a desperate search to- ."find he said. "Hauser did the research and Santiago from 1971 until shortly after
Charles. Edmund C. Horman, th&,,far? saw all those people, ? and . I went the 1973 coup, the United States cyan-(
ther, gradually became eonvlneed.: 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.
tiago rot only knew about the murder:" United States in Chile remains an ex- away from violent right .wingers and
from the start but was Intent on: can, tremely'controversial, emotional sub- milita yplots
cealing it because It shared respokb< ' ject. A good deal has been made public
?bility. He later sued 11 high United, anditdocumentssome nasty episodes, The thesis,
Mr. Davis wrote in the
Pfi
St
i
l
t
f
accepted an offer from. Universal .tb
make a movie from the Hauser book.
It is called "Missing," stars ? Jack
Lemmon and Sissy Spacek and. iv
opens in New York an Friday at: tile.
Beekman theater. It is. tautly,. weI14
missed for lack of evidence..;;
Fact:- A lawyer named Thomas.
Hauser was drawn into the Horma$
family's crusade and wrote a. book :
about the incident called "The Execu;.
of Charles Horman: An American
Sacrifice," published ia1979.
Fact: Costa-Gavras, the
based Greek ..director ::who-' made'
powerful political films about cases in'
Greece, Czechoslovakia and Uruguayti'?
,
u
a(
.
a year and a half the case was. ds-
a
c
a
ee
s
urs! million
b
t
t
When Salvador Allende's regime was Foreign Service Journal in 1978, was
-overturned by Gen. Augusto Pinochet that the Allende Government was put-
in avast, murderous rampage, many ting such intense pressure on the oppo..
people, particularly French Socialists, sition's capacity to survive that it
felt it showed the United States would mlght.be unable to contest the next
go to any length to prevent the sur ? election scheduled for 1976. The secret
vival of another leftist government be. subsidies, he said, were to enable op- I
sides Cuba in the' Western Henri- position parties and distributors of in-,
sphere. The French left. indentified formation to compete with Govern-
their own aims with Allende. The coup .inept-Supported parties and press.:..
became a kind of litmus test for the y, r x. i
Parts intelligentsia, a sequel- to the "We still have not, as soclety,
Vietnam war thought through the practical and ethi.
cal implications of covert action,; Mr
Newspaper reports, especially those' Davis said: He pointed.- out, and the
of Seymour M. Hersh in The New York record confirms, that he successfully
Times, and lengthy records.?of the - opposed C.I.A. suggestions to support
Church - Committee in 1975 and .19761 strikes and demonstrations to under-
showed that the United States had in,: mine Allende
madeandcinematically coavindn
deed been involved in Chilean politics.....
Fiction: "This film' 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
ffl
c
,
.
.
. o
, were
on-
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. i 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 197Q. And there was
? - American agents with violent right- the extraordinary Nixon order to
he film. In many cases.re%1 Z%miW;
are used, real.Vver"-areevoke&rsaf
lenceWIters' ptat ayi . These, dev1cej .
and the ilibeoctor's-vat:are combine-to?1
& States helped pLm the -cop in -Chile-
: aad sanctiotied the murder of Charles.
that plot. Credibility became a serious
issue in disentangling the.Chile story.. .
CONTINUPL~ .
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890045-6
. "`t11MNG"