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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows the former dictator of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet, while he was still in power, as well as opposition to his rule. It begins with scenes of Pinochet at a military parade in honour of his birthday. The brass band starts playing 'Happy birthday to you’ and Pinochet smiles. He salutes and hugs officers. The voice of David Bradbury states that Pinochet has been in power since 1973. This is followed by the voice of a woman speaking of those responsible for the death of her son and others. The woman speaking is then shown at a microphone addressing an unseen audience and accusing Pinochet of being a murderer.

Educational value points

• The clip depicts General Augusto Pinochet, a central figure in recent Chilean political history, in 1985. When a coup d’etat in 1973 overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende, Pinochet (1915–2006), as chief of the army, became head of the ruling junta. The junta suspended the constitution and dissolved Congress. It also tracked down, imprisoned, tortured and executed political opponents. Pinochet was made President in 1974. A 1988 plebiscite rejected the extension of his presidential term and in 1990 Pinochet left the presidency, remaining as head of the army and then senator for life, a position that afforded him immunity from prosecution until 2004.

• The clip shows Pinochet at the height of his power, but later he was to face prosecution for human rights abuses. In 1998, at the age of 83, Pinochet travelled to England for medical treatment and was arrested under an international arrest warrant. After he had been in detention for 16 months, the British Home Secretary overruled the House of Lords and determined that he should not be extradited; he returned to Chile in 2000. In 2004 Chile’s Supreme Court ruled he had no legal immunity against prosecution for human rights abuses. Pinochet successfully used appeal processes to avoid standing trial.

• The clip is from a significant and notorious period in Chile’s history, during which Pinochet’s regime was responsible for the deaths through execution of about 3,000 people; 27,000 more people were incarcerated and many of those were tortured. Thousands fled the country as political refugees and in addition to the approximately 3,000 people executed, more than 1,000 people, perceived to be opponents of the regime, 'disappeared’. In many cases their fate is still unknown. In comparison with other Latin American countries, Chile had had a long tradition of democratic civilian rule prior to the military coup d’etat. Opposition to Pinochet’s regime began to build from May 1983, when demonstrations and strikes were organised.

• A representative of a powerful group existing in both Argentina and Chile, the Mothers of the Disappeared, features in the clip. The 'disappeared’ is the name given to those who were abducted and murdered under military regimes in Argentina and Chile in the 1970s and 80s. The Mothers of the Disappeared, a women’s human rights movement, started in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in April 1977, when four mothers demonstrated to draw attention to the plight of their children, who had disappeared under the military dictatorship of the time.

• The clip is from the award-winning and secretly filmed Chile: Hasta Cuando? (1986). Directed, produced and narrated by David Bradbury, the film was made in secrecy during a three-month visit to Chile in 1985. While supposedly visiting for the purpose of filming a music festival, the filmmaker recorded aspects of General Pinochet’s regime. The film contains footage of street demonstrations and interviews with supporters and opponents of Pinochet, and also traces the history of the regime following the 1973 coup d’etat that brought the dictator to power. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1987 and in the same year won the Special Jury Prize and a cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival.

• The work of award-winning Australian filmmaker David Bradbury is exhibited here. An early job as a radio journalist with the ABC quickly led Bradbury (1951–) into a career as a freelance journalist covering revolutions in Portugal and Greece. He made his name through a first-ever interview with members of the Free Papua Movement in 1977. His first documentary films depicted the lives and careers of two independent and uncompromising Australian journalists, Neil Davis and Wilfred Burchett. Other films have exposed political corruption and injustice and supported popular causes. Much awarded, his films have gained him an international reputation for fearless reporting and partisan standpoints on particular issues.

This clip starts approximately 20 minutes into the documentary.

General Pinochet is at a military parade in honour of his birthday. The brass band plays 'Happy Birthday to you’ and Pinochet smiles. He salutes and hugs officers.
David Bradbury (as narrator) General Augusto Pinochet has ruled Chile since 1973, when a military coup brought him to power.

A woman addresses an audience from a stage.
Woman (speaks Spanish) Those responsible for the death of my son and so many others, are the murderers who rule this country at this moment. We have to finish with a government made up of murderers. The first of these murderers is Augusto Pinochet! This I say and I’ll continue to repeat it until the last minute of my life.