275 minutes / B&W
English subtitles
Release: 2023
Copyright: 1976
NOW ON BLU-RAY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! NEW 2K RESTORATION!
On September 11, 1973, President Salvador Allende's democratically-elected Chilean government was overthrown in a bloody coup by General Augusto Pinochet's army.
Patricio Guzmán and five colleagues had been filming the political developments in Chile throughout the nine months leading up to that day. The bombing of the Presidential Palace, during which Allende died, would now become the ending for Guzman's seminal documentary The Battle of Chile, an epic chronicle of that country's open and peaceful socialist revolution, and of the violent counter-revolution against it.
Now restored, The Village Voice called it, "The major political film of our time," and the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "A landmark in the presentation of living history on film."
Also included is Guzmán's debut feature, THE FIRST YEAR, which chronicles the jubilant 12 months following the election of Allende.
About the Blu-ray: The 2-disc Blu-ray release of the new restoration also includes Guzmán's THE FIRST YEAR and a 12-page booklet with articles by J. Hoberman, Devika Girish and Michael Atkinson. The Blu-ray on sale here is the Standard Edition Blu-ray release. For the Limited Edition Slipcover associated with this release, visit VinegarSyndrome.com. Release date September 24 2024.
Click here for Lawrence Van Gelder's New York Times review.
“The Battle of Chile, Patricio Guzmán’s 264-minute account of the social whirlwind that engulfed Salvador Allende’s socialist government in the early 1970s, is an epic documentary, an openly Marxist analysis and a stunning exercise in “you are there” vérité.” —J. Hoberman, The New York Times
"Great films rarely arrive as unheralded as The Battle of Chile." —Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
"Not only the best films about Allende and the coup d'etat, but among the best documentary films every made, changing our concepts of political documentary within a framework accessible to the widest audience." —Time Out Film Guide
Select Accolades
Special edition 4-disc DVD box set! The epic chronicle of Chile's open and peaceful socialist revolution, and of the violent counter-revolution against it in 1973.
Patricio Guzmán | 1998 | 263 minutes | Spanish | English subtitles
Patricio Guzmán's jubilant record of the 12 months following the election of Chile’s first socialist president, Salvador Allende.
Patricio Guzmán | 2023 | 96 minutes | French; Spanish | English subtitles
An explosive social revolution brought 1.5 million Chileans to their feet. It was the event Patricio Guzmán had been waiting for.
Patricio Guzmán | 2022 | 83 minutes | Color | Spanish | English subtitles
