The Battle of Chile: Parts 1 & 2

When Patricio Guzmán began filming political unrest in the streets of Santiago in 1972, he had no idea he would capture the destruction of his country’s democracy on film. Widely considered one of the greatest documentaries of all time, parts one and two of The Battle of Chile give a real-time, on-the-ground account of the events surrounding General Augusto Pinochet’s bloody, US-backed coup. Across nine months, Guzmán captures the escalation of right-wing opposition from the polls to the streets, culminating in socialist President Salvador Allende’s last radio messages to the people of Chile and the military assault on the presidential palace.

Fifty years later, BAM presents all three parts of this rarely screened masterpiece about one of the watershed events of the 20th century, meticulously restored for the first time.