Monday, August 21, 2006
COUP
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Costa-Gavras'
with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek.
It tells the story of one American family caught up in the American sponsored coup of Chile's Alliendé regime by right wing thugs.
This kind of thing is a staple of Republican administrations. This one happens to be Nixon.
Reagan gave us the Contras and Bush..........well, you know.
The film is quite powerful (despite Ebert's complaints) in the way that it conveys the mendacity of the USA consular / military complex and the family's determination to break through it.
Along the way we are given a devastating view of a coup in progress.
All of the actors are quite competent, even the consular weasels. I forget that Jack Lemmon was quite a serious dramatic actor. His comedy roles stand out. But, in this one, he gets to work his serious chops in a way that provides the strong center of the film.
Costa-Gavras was a specialist in the genré of political coverup films.
His masterpiece was Z but they are all good.
They are guaranteed to stoke your paranoia. Costa-Gavras leftist leanings have prompted criticism for over-enthusiastic condemnation of the establishment. But, us leftists just adore him.
You gotta be vivid to get through the brain dead coverage that most of the our own world's atrocities are filtered.
Yes. We do it too.
This earns a 5 out of Netflix5.
See it.
