I recently saw Missing for only the second time since it came out in 1982. First time, I was an undergraduate at UNC and thought it decent, if not as great as Z. This time, I was riveted not so much by the fact-based front story as I was by the chilling backdrop -- the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, the martial law and the rounding up of dissidents at gunpoint. Costa-Gavras knows how to create atmosphere: every time a burst of gunfire went off in the background, I felt jumpy.
In Missing, it's clear that Nixonian agents are abetting the overthrow of socialist president Salvadore Allende by General Augusto Pinochet. What makes it so pertinent now, of course, is Abu Ghraib, the Bush-Cheney government, the crackdown in Burma and martial law in Pakistan. And, we begin to see why Latin Americans are so willing to look for a new way forward.
In any case, Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek carry the acting; menacing curfew and street scenes do the rest.
Birthday: Bollywood star Sushmita Sen (b. 1975).
Birthday: Sandrine Holt (b. 1972). Superb in Black Robe (1991). See her also in Loving Jezebel (1999).
Today's Rune: Growth.
4 comments:
Never seen this one but it sounds like something I would like.
I need to visit Blockbuster with a list of your recommended titles...especially since I do not have cable or a job at the present moment!
Hope you are well, Erik ;)
Missing is one of those movies I ought to see again. I probably didn't fully appreciate it as a college kid.
Never saw it. Wow you've seen some pretty interesting movies havent you? haha Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
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