Pinochet's Last Stand

DVD - APPROX. 77 MINS. - 2006 - US Rating: NR

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It’s not the subject matter which is the downfall, nor is it the acting, the issue in the execution.

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DVD REVIEW
By Jason P. Vargo
FIRST PUBLISHED Feb 25, 2008

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Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte overthrew the ruling Chilean president, Salvador Allende in 1973, putting into place a regime which knew no bounds. Rape, torture, false imprisonment and dozens of other human rights offenses were leveled at Pinochet. It is estimated 27,000 people were ripped from their homes, never to be heard from again. He was deposed of power in 1990, though remained a senator for life. In 1998, he visited the United Kingdom with his wife for medical treatment. Once in the country, a combination of civil rights groups and a Spanish arrest warrant combined to create a political firestorm. Would General Pinochet be extradited to Spain to stand trial for over 300 human rights violations…or would he go free?

It is against that historical backdrop "Pinochet´s Last Stand" (also credited as "Pinochet in Suburbia") takes place. Not a straight documentary, not a completely fictional telling of sixteen months under house arrest, this is a multi-purposed film. Not only does writer and director Richard Curson Smith want to educate the masses about Pinochet, he also seems to want to make a political statement about the general´s intense stubbornness to admit his mistakes and gives voice to pleas from the families of people who are missing. Not nearly long enough to delve deeply into the material or provide anything more than a thumbnail sketch of the events involving Pinochet, there´s precious little to recommend here.

Clocking in at a scant 77 minutes, it´s not the subject matter which is the downfall, nor is it the acting (headed by a blustery stubborn performance by Derek Jacobi), the issue in the execution. Quite simply, if Smith wanted to tackle this subject, give it the justice it deserves. Any sort of history to give the audience perspective on who Pinochet is gets thrown onto the screen in a title card and then interspersed through dialogue. Not a bad way to impart information, per se, though it´s terribly uncreative. Just as the ending of the film uses archival footage of the general arriving back in Chile, the beginning could have utilized news reports to flesh out the story.

Because the production is so incredibly short, the character on screen are never anything more than cyphers, pawns, of the plot. Pinochet is adamant he did nothing wrong, that it was his men and people under his control who committed any crimes. There is never a counter argument, nothing to suggest why he believes this except for a small fragment of an idea: he has never been told he can not do something. In his world, the former general has been free of any constraints, of thinking about someone else, of holding his tongue. There is a moment near the finale where he lashes out at the people trying to help him in which any sympathy built up for this man over the course of the last hour is washed away. He is, in essence, a spoiled brat. We get that part. What makes this man tick? The script never bothers to delve that deeply.

The film makes mention of various judicial rulings in England by the Law Lords designed to dissect Pinochet´s case. These are crucial and pivotal moments in the story, yet nobody bothers to recreate them in any way, shape or form. A brief snippet is taken from the archive to show the ruling, some lip service to a perceived bias and everything keeps moving on. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher shows up to support Augusto for some indiscernible reason, designs a publicity campaign for him…and then we see none of it. What´s the point?

Initially at odds with his guards inside his prison, the general eventually becomes friendly with one, a female. You could say they develop a friendship of sorts. Yet even that sub plot isn´t explored as it should be. A handful of small scenes can´t justify the cop spilling details of her personal life to this man. Yes, they spent 16 months or so together and some form of familiarity is bound to be developed; however, we never see the initial ice being thawed, figuratively speaking.

Juxtaposed with the Pinochet story is Nicole Drouilly (Yolanda Vazquez), a woman closely associated with Amnesty International ever since her sister was taken from their home in Chile. This story is easier to get into if only for the simple fact it is the more human of the two. Also based on real events, it plods along as we expect it to with one major hiccup: the introduction of a sibling, who brings news the kidnapped sister was pregnant. To be honest, real or not, this twist smacks of sentimentality and an attempt to pull on the heartstrings too much for my liking. It´s calculated, cold and a surefire way to keep Pinochet the villain of the piece.