The Battle Of Chile (Part 1): The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie

Part 1 of a documentary trilogy on the events in Chile between 1972 and September 1973. One of the last black-and-white documentaries made in Chile, it chronicles the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.

An excerpt from a letter from Chilean director Patricio Guzmán to Chris Marker (Stopover in Dubai, IFFR 2019) explaining the film that would become The Battle Of Chile (Part 1): The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie:

“Our political situation is confusing; the country feels as if it was headed for a civil war situation, which makes us all nervous and tense… The class struggle is evident everywhere… We have to make a movie of all this!… A cinematic mural composed of many chapters whose protagonists are, on the one hand, the people and their leaders, and on the other hand, the oligarchy, its leaders and their connections to the Washington government. An analytical film. A film for the masses and for individuals. A fast-paced film made from daily events, whose final duration is unpredictable… A free-form film, using reportage, essay, still photography, the dramatic structure of fiction, the sequence shot according to the circumstances, as reality proposes…”

– Olaf Möller