Icarus Films will release a new 2K restoration of The Battle of Chile (La batalla de Chile, 1975-1979), by master documentarian Patricio Guzmán. The film chronicles the political developments and the escalating conflicts in Chilean society that led up to and ended with General Augusto Pinochet and his army’s coup, overthrowing the democratically elected president Salvador Allende.
Opening on Friday, September 8, three days before the 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile on September 11, 1973, The Battle of Chile will have a weeklong run at BAM Rose Cinemas in New York City, followed by other cities.
Part One, “The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie,” and Part Two, “The Coup d’Etat” examine the growing right-wing opposition following the left’s unexpected victory in the March, 1973 parliamentary elections. The film shows a left divided over strategy, while the right methodically lays the groundwork for the military seizure of power. The dramatic concluding sequence documents the actual coup, including Allende’s last radio message to the people of Chile, footage of the military assault on the presidential palace, and that evening’s televised presentation of the new military junta.
Part Three, “The Power of the People,” circles back to the Allende years and follows the creation by ordinary workers and peasants of thousands of local groups of “popular power” to distribute food, occupy, guard, and run factories and farms, oppose black-market profiteering, and link together neighborhood organizations.
After being held by the military in the National Stadium for ten days Guzmán fled Chile into exile. He completed the editing in Havana, Cuba, and the first part premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975; the second premiered there in 1976, and the third in 1978.
This meticulous new restoration of the film, five years in the making, is presented as part of the retrospective series “Dreaming of Utopia: 50 Years of Revolutionary Hope and Memory”—a New York City-wide event marking the 50th anniversary of the coup and celebrating the award-winning filmmaker Patricio Guzmán’s longtime commitment to documenting Chile’s history.
Co-presented by Icarus Films and Cinema Tropical, this unprecedented retrospective series, taking place in three NYC cinemas simultaneously, begins September 8 and includes nine films by Guzmán, along with special conversations and guest speakers.
Anthology Film Archives will premiere his first feature-length film from 1972, The First Year, also in a new restoration, and screen Salvador Allende (2004), and the IFC Center will host screenings of Guzman’s four most recent films: Nostalgia for the Light (2010), The Pearl Button (2015), The Cordillera of Dreams (2019), and last year’s My Imaginary Country (2022).
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