The First Year
Patricio Guzmán / CL, 1972 / 90 min.
In 1970—President Salvador Allende’s first year in office—miners, fishermen, workers and indigenous people speak in unique recordings about their hopes for this political breakthrough in Chili, in Patricio Guzmán’s first feature-length documentary.
In 1970, Salvador Allende came to power in Chile as the first socialist president. In his first year in office, Patricio Guzmán films the consequences of this political earthquake and its impact on the population. Allende nationalizes the mines in defiance of their very wealthy owners; his supporters are delighted, but the stock market plummets and the wealthy upper class leaves the country.
Guzman takes to the road for his first feature-length documentary: interviewing original owners who demand their land back, and miners, fishermen and factory workers who talk forthrightly about their working conditions, and shows the renewed hope for a better life.
The First Year was the first part in a trilogy (with October’s Response and The Battle of Chile) about Allende’s government, ending with the 1973 coup. Guzmán shot the film on a very modest budget, on 16mm without synchronous sound. His unique recordings shot from close by reach a climax with footage of the visit of the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whom we see casually chatting, and of the enthusiastic reactions of the Chileans who flock to see him.
This is part of
Details
Director
Patricio Guzmán
Production year
1972
Country
CL
Length
90 min.
Language
Spanish
Subtitles
NONE
Format
DCP
Part of
IDFA 2023
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