Missing
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Movie Reviews of Missing
Movie Review: corruption and its many destructive depths........
Summary: 5 Stars
MISSING, based on the book by Thomas Hauser, examined the fated journey that Ed Horman and his daughter took, as well as the strides they made in attempting to locate his son, Charles, a missing journalist who disappeared in Chile, during the height of Allende's dictatorship in the early 1970s. Though, this film adaptation does not mention Chile directly, you don't have to read between the lines too closely to know what country it is alluding to. Director Costa-Gavras powerfully directed this piece, and his cast works brilliantly together. Jack Lemmon is stoic and very believable as Ed, Sissy Spacek is chilling as Charles Horman's wife, and John Shea does a great job in portraying the missing journalist.
I couldn't help feeling a sense of profound rage as I watched the horrible political corruption that existed in 1970s Chile, and how seemingly apathetic the United States government appeared, especially when they were called upon to search for and follow up on the case of Charles Horman. It was almost as though one human life was of little or no interest to those in political office, perhaps due to the fact that it wasn't significant or "high profile" enough to earn their compassion. This is definitely a film worthy of its critical acclaim and will really make you think.
Movie Review: Questions? Not As Many As You May Think.
Summary: 5 Stars
The reviewer who wrote a wonderful summary of this film but had reservations about the veracity of its political claims might like to check out the State Department's FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) website. Since 1976 the State Department, the US government bad guys in the movie, have secretly concluded that the CIA had olayed an "unfortunate role" in Mr. Horman's death. The document wherein their investigators report this has finally been declassified and is available on the website. In addition, the Chilean Supreme Court has named former US Consul Fred Purdy (Phil Putnam in the movie), who lives as a private citizen in Chile, as a suspect. The film turned out to be far more accurate than even Costa-Gavras would have imagined.When pondering anti-Americanism, watch this film again: it shows how peoples from other nations become anti-American. Fifteen years ago I was in Chile, talking to someone who had been imprisoned by the military. He told me: "We don't hate Americans. We hate what your foreign policy does to our country." We need intelligence operations and foreign policy; perhaps they just need to be a little more carefully considered and reflective of our values. That is the message I got from Missing.Movie Review: Powerful & realistic
Summary: 5 Stars
I was living in Lima, Peru at the time this went down in Chile. Peru also had a military junta in control, and I experienced much of the same behaviors seen in the film (although few juntas were as bad as Pinochet's): strict curfews, censureship of the media (most of what we knew about what was happening in Chile was by word of mouth), the strong anti-American feelings that were prevalent at the time - even the ineptitude of the people who work at US embassies and consulates.
Yes, Charlie was dumb, but that's part of being young. One shouldn't have to die for being young and dumb - especially when the American government was involved.
If you want to know what the period was like in South America (historically and culturally), and what it was like to be an American living there, this is a film you need to see. That there were some great actors partipating in the project is icing on the cake. :) I bought this movie on DVD to share with my Spanish classes. It definitely leaves an impression on them!
Movie Review: TRAGIC, DISTURBING BUT EXCELLENT FILM!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was riveted to the screen from the very start! Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek give Oscar worthy performances in one of the finest films of their careers. They were both nominated for Oscars and the screenplay won! I won't go into the specifics of the story...there are plenty of reviews here that do that. Just watch the film and you will see what is confirmed in most of the reviews here. The direction is crisp and taut with no lulls but this is to be expected when you have actors of the caliber of Lemmon and Spacek. The supporting cast is equally fine but it really is Lemmon and Spacek's picture all the way. The DVD, unfortunately has no extras...nothing...nil...and this is a shame. The film is worthy of the five stars because of its excellence. The DVD transfer is also excellent; the audio and picture are great; I give the DVD 3 stars for its lack of any extras which would have been great....at least a chapter selection or subtitles. Nevertheless this is filmmaking at its very best!!Movie Review: Hoping for the full ending...
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie in the theater when it was released and was incredibly moved by it.
When I saw the movie years later on TV, the ending I remembered was conspicuously absent, likely due to scheduling timeslots. In the theater ending, Jack Lemmon does a voice-over explaining what happened after he and Beth left Chile. I do hope that the DVD will include this original ending because it really "puts a period on the end of the sentence" and invites the viewer to open their eyes just a little bit wider to the world in which we live. MISSING will give viewers a sense of what it's like to live in a country that doesn't have the same freedoms we do here in the US but does not shirk its responsibility to identify why we do business in these countries.
It's a very sobering film and I would recommend it to high school age and up. Great cinematography, haunting music, lots of tension.