Missing

Costa-Gavras strikes gold again, here tackling Augusto Pinochet's brutal dictatorship in Chile. A more conventional and accessible film than his earlier Z, Missing (1982) is no less angry or pointed, though it's arguably better as a character study than a polemic.

Chile, 1973 sees General Augusto Pinochet taking power in a bloody coup d'etat. American journalist Charlie Horman (John Shea) goes missing in Santiago, apparently arrested by police. His father Charlie (Jack Lemmon), a well-connected businessman, and radical wife Beth (Sissy Spacek), seek to find Charlie, but the local authorities - and the American consulate - seem reluctant to help. Ed and Beth discover that Charlie may have known too much about American involvement in the coup, and that the State Department may have sanctioned his murder.

Like Z, Missing retains a sense of down-to-earth realism lacking from most Hollywood conspiracy dramas: Costa-Gavras may stretch some facts here and there, but it retains essential credibility, helped by his restrained, documentary-style direction. Santiago is a chaotic battleground where government troops massacre dissidents willy-nilly, and where police need no cause to arrest or search people. Just going to the grocery store can be fatal in this "state of emergency." The day-to-day terror of Pinochet's dictatorship is graphically portrayed.

Of course, not only Pinochet but the US government comes off badly. American spies and officials gloat about their involvement in the coup to Charlie, assuming he'll be on their side. The embassy officials lead Ed and Beth around in circles until they discover the truth, brushing them off in a remarkably cold-blooded denouement: it's Charlie's fault for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Omnipresent portraits of Richard Nixon quietly remind us that yes, the US government *is* capable of such fiendish behavior. There's no attempt at balance, but Costa-Gavras's palpable moral outrage is a powerful statement on its own, and it's hard to argue with most of his conclusions.

The movie is a top-notch thriller, but Missing also succeeds as a character drama. The interaction between the conservative Ed and left-wing Beth is beautifully portrayed: they engage in some schematic political sparring early on, but believably bond as their hope for Charlie deteroriates. Ed is under the naive assumption that Chile operates under American rules, not realizing until too late that a military dictatorship has its own way of doing things, and needless to say his complacent love of country are resolutely dashed. His disillusionment leads not to a political revelation per se, but to righteous anger, and more productively a closer bond with his daughter-in-law: the one ray of hope in a resolutely grim film.

Jack Lemmon is in top form: I've never especially cared for his comedy work, but he's a really fine dramatic actor and he nails his big scenes. Sissy Spacek (JFK) is equally impressive, and John Shea makes an endearing impression in his small role. The supporting cast is full of fine character actors: David Clennon (The Thing) and Richard Venture (The Onion Field) as American officials, Richard Bradford (The Chase), Charles Cioffi (Shaft) and Jerry Hardin (The X-Files) as spooks, and Janice Rule as a helpful journalist.

Missing is a compelling, eye-opening film. It speaks truth to power about one of our government's most shameful overseas interventions, and remains compelling as a character-driven thriller regardless of politics.