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Missing
Atmospheric direction, an uncompromising, Oscar-winning screenplay, and a pair of breathtaking performances by the leads anchor a devastating 1982 docudrama called Missing that tells a disturbing story against an equally disturbing canvas that aggravates in the circles the story travels and kept this viewer's stomach tied in knots.
This story takes place during the military coup d'edat that took place in Chile in 1973 and how a young American journalist named Charlie Horman and his wife, Beth have found themselves in the middle of this revolution and how Charlie's investigation to what exactly might be the cause of this revolution that is leaving an unprecedented body count in its wake, might have led to Charlie's disappearance. Beth initiates a search for her husband but things don't really start happening until Charlie's father, Ed, flies from New York to Chile and connects with his daughter-in-law to find out exactly happened to his son.
The monster share of the success of this film must go to the legendary Costa-Gavras, who has not only co-wrote an effective recreation of real events that is equally as aggravating for the viewer as it is for Ed and Beth, who as they delve deeper into their search for Charlie, can't get a straight answer from anyone about what happened. I did find it interesting that for almost the entire running time, the theory that Charlie might be dead is never mentioned by anyone on either side of the investigation.
Costa-Gavras' direction is just as compelling as his screenplay. Not since The Killing Fields, have I seen a more disturbing and unsettling use of human carnage as a storytelling tool depicting the ugliness of what is going on here. There are bodies everywhere here and it seems so odd watching characters in the story step over bodies everywhere without a thought of it. The scene where Ed and Beth are brought to a large warehouse basement filled with dead bodies looking for Charlie is something that will be burned in my memory forever. And that scene in the football stadium filled with political refugees just stopped me cold. Another effective tool in establishing the atmosphere was the sound of gunshots punctuating just about every scene in the movie, sometimes deeply in the background, but no less chilling. A military truck providing gun fire while puling up right next to Ed and Beth's cab in one scene was another dramatic highlight of this disturbing story.
Jack Lemmon received his 8th and final Oscar nomination for his stunning performance as Ed Horman and he is beautifully complimented by Sissy Spacek, who received her thir nomination. I loved that the relationship between Ed and Beth was not at all what I was expecting. There is a viable tension between Ed and Beth from the first time they share the screen that brings a complexity to their mission that we really don't see coming. In the first scene, Ed implies that Beth is somehow responsible for what happened to Charlie which galvanizes the viewer to this story, wondering where it could go from here. This a bold and adult cinematic experience that foreshadows but never provides answers while riveting the viewer to the screen, demanding the same answers being sought onscreen.
Atmospheric direction, an uncompromising, Oscar-winning screenplay, and a pair of breathtaking performances by the leads anchor a devastating 1982 docudrama called Missing that tells a disturbing story against an equally disturbing canvas that aggravates in the circles the story travels and kept this viewer's stomach tied in knots.
This story takes place during the military coup d'edat that took place in Chile in 1973 and how a young American journalist named Charlie Horman and his wife, Beth have found themselves in the middle of this revolution and how Charlie's investigation to what exactly might be the cause of this revolution that is leaving an unprecedented body count in its wake, might have led to Charlie's disappearance. Beth initiates a search for her husband but things don't really start happening until Charlie's father, Ed, flies from New York to Chile and connects with his daughter-in-law to find out exactly happened to his son.
The monster share of the success of this film must go to the legendary Costa-Gavras, who has not only co-wrote an effective recreation of real events that is equally as aggravating for the viewer as it is for Ed and Beth, who as they delve deeper into their search for Charlie, can't get a straight answer from anyone about what happened. I did find it interesting that for almost the entire running time, the theory that Charlie might be dead is never mentioned by anyone on either side of the investigation.
Costa-Gavras' direction is just as compelling as his screenplay. Not since The Killing Fields, have I seen a more disturbing and unsettling use of human carnage as a storytelling tool depicting the ugliness of what is going on here. There are bodies everywhere here and it seems so odd watching characters in the story step over bodies everywhere without a thought of it. The scene where Ed and Beth are brought to a large warehouse basement filled with dead bodies looking for Charlie is something that will be burned in my memory forever. And that scene in the football stadium filled with political refugees just stopped me cold. Another effective tool in establishing the atmosphere was the sound of gunshots punctuating just about every scene in the movie, sometimes deeply in the background, but no less chilling. A military truck providing gun fire while puling up right next to Ed and Beth's cab in one scene was another dramatic highlight of this disturbing story.
Jack Lemmon received his 8th and final Oscar nomination for his stunning performance as Ed Horman and he is beautifully complimented by Sissy Spacek, who received her thir nomination. I loved that the relationship between Ed and Beth was not at all what I was expecting. There is a viable tension between Ed and Beth from the first time they share the screen that brings a complexity to their mission that we really don't see coming. In the first scene, Ed implies that Beth is somehow responsible for what happened to Charlie which galvanizes the viewer to this story, wondering where it could go from here. This a bold and adult cinematic experience that foreshadows but never provides answers while riveting the viewer to the screen, demanding the same answers being sought onscreen.