Allende en su laberinto (2014) Reviews

• "¡Allende no se rinde!"

  icsalgadomayorga2015-03-28

  When I was a kid and my dad talked to me about the last hours of President Allende on La Moneda, I thought to myself: "Wow, there should really be a movie about that", and here it is. First of all i'd like to talk about the acting, Daniel Muñoz gives an excellent performance as Allende, as well as the cast, which was also very great. The direction is very good too, Miguel Littin does a great job on that. You can really feel the sense of hopelessness and betrayal that surrounds the attacks on La Moneda. The film is shot really well too, the sets, the makeup, everything is well done. My only issues with the film is that sometimes the dialogue seems a little bit unrealistic and that the CGI looks fake, but they don't use it too much though, so it's not very much of a problem. That aside, "Allende En Su Laberinto" is a very good movie with great performances, definitely worth your time. 8 out of 10

• An action-filled and historical based film.

  rrobert-182772017-02-01

  Allende, directed by Miguel Littin, is a historically accurate film that covers the events of the Chilean revolution in 1973. It follows Allende, the president of Chile, and his defense of the capital against the Chilean military and the U.S. government. This film is produced for those that are looking at it through a historical lens, and is made from the perspective of someone who knows history well. Littin directed this film to display bias in favor of Allende and the Chilean government. Littin wanted to shed light on the different perspectives of the Chilean revolution. This of course is not specifically stated. The viewer is left on their own to determine whose perspective the film is looking at. The director shows the film through Allende's perspective by focusing the camera on him and on what he says. Allende is perfect for educational purposes. It is historically accurate while providing high-quality acting and camera-work. The only criticism one might have is that the whole film is in subtitles, which while it might not pose a problem to some, to others it could be a turn-off. In summary, Allende is the perfect film for the classroom.

• Chilean Downfall!

  paolo-rosse882015-03-31

  This movie premiered on last thursday, and i went to watch it today at Cinemark Alto Las Condes. This movie is about the last 7 hours of the former president of Chile Salvador Allende and shows us how Salvador and his collaborators experienced the coup d'etat inside "La Moneda" (Chilean Government Palace) and how they tried to resist the bombing done by the Air Force ordered by the Junta Militar. I have to say that Daniel Muñoz did a very good job acting as Salvador Allende and also Aline Kuppenheim did a great acting too, but i was really disappointed when i saw the supporting actors and actress, when they were saying the lines they didn't sound real at all. Miguel Littin has good directing skills, i'm not sure if he wanted to, but this movie is a little bit similar to Der Untergang (downfall), which shows Hitler's last hours inside the Bunker before the allies bombed Berlin. It's great that this movie finally could be filmed in La Moneda, that made it a little bit more realistic, the problem is that the visual effects aren't good at all, the bombings looks very fake, the fire and the smoke too, and the camera movement is annoying sometimes. I gave this movie 6 stars out of 10. If you are chilean or you are interested in Chilean history, you should definitely watch it, but don't expect a very good movie.

• Allende was pretty good, but can be improved

  nagrinzone2017-02-01

  The film "Allende en su laberinto", the main subject at hand is the war between Chile and the United States and the eventual death of the first elected president, Salvador Allende. The director, Miguel Littin, created this film in order to give perhaps an American audience a Chilean viewpoint of the event and how the United States and Chilean Army betrayal hurt Chile as a whole. Miguel seems to direct a lot of documentaries with works such as; Acta General de Chile, Crónicas Palestinas, and compañero presidente. Him creating a pro-Chile movie about the possible assassination of President Allende is not surprising as all due to his film background in his pride with his country, Chile. The main focus of the film was to highlight how, in Littin's perspective, President Allende was sabotaged by his own army and the United States, despite his desperate efforts to do what was best for his own people and carrying the honor of the first elected president. The reasoning behind the film is practically screaming in your face, due to scenes of Allende crying or becoming anxious to portray him look like a victim and how the opposing side, the Chilean army and United States, is shown to be savages through screaming and starting gunfire. The director did an amazing job on emphasizing the trauma Allende's death created, by making the scene where he finally dies be completely silence to show complete focus on his lifeless body and show a sign of respect for the either murder or suicide of President Allende. I am not very educated on this specific topic, so I do not believe that I am the qualified to judge the historical accuracy of the film, however there is a huge amount of bias within the film. The only perspective shown was that of President Allende, so therefore anyone else's thoughts such as the United States's reasoning for invading Chile and what made the Chilean army go against it's own fairly elected president is completely eliminated. I'm not saying that the film is completely bias, however the reasoning behind the whole attempted assassination was never clearly said so there may be some information that the director purposely or unknowingly left out. Either way, I believe the film would have personally had more impact on me if there were scenes that focused more on the United States or the Chilean army and how they were feeling or what they were thinking as they were hunting down President Salvador Allende. Some other films that relate to this topic are "Salvador Allende" and "The Battle of Chile" by Patricio Guzman. Although they both are about the same subject, the two styles of film are completely done. The works by Patricio Guzman are more documentary style, which usually only relate to the stone cold facts of what actually occurred, while Miguel Littin made his film more cinematic and dramatic. Lattin's film brought more emotion than the documentaries would have; putting the audience into a Chilean perspective and having them feel like they were actually in the Palace at the time of the attack. Guxman's films may be more historically accurate, however people are more prone to watch Littin's version because of its entertainment factor; which may actually be a disservice to President Allende as his story is being dramatized to suit the general public. The filmmaking of this film was absolutely brilliant in my opinion. The opposing angles it had, such as Allende's point of view or how the Chilean army and United States firing was shown, really showed an impact on me personally since I am an aspiring filmmaker. The actors were good for the most part; Salvador Allende was a bit overdramatic at some parts and his face didn't resonate with what was going on, however his mistress produced really great emotion for despair and distraught. The technique that really impressed me the most was when they completely eliminated the sound when President Allende was officially dead, showing a "moment of silence" and the respect that the president had with not only the director, but his people as well.

• Allende Film Review

  memons-837052017-02-01

  The movie "Allende en su laberinto" directed by Miguel Littin, the main subject is that there is a dispute between United States and Chile and the taking over of the President's Palace. The director, Miguel Littin, is a Chilean film director, screenwriter, and a novelist. He created this movie because it relates to his background. Back when he was young he was exiled in Mexico after the military coup in Chile took over, which ousted President Salvador Allende back in September 11, 1973. So with this memory he wanted to create a movie that captured that day which changed his life and other Chilean people. He is a renowned director that created many famous films but this film was not one of them. It made America look bad and there was not much history behind this event. The history part of it was that Allende was a socialist and America didn't want a person in office that helped Russia with the idea of communism in the Cold War. The main points in this film was that President Allende got word that the military is going against Chile and siding with the US. They want the President dead and to do that is to storm the president's palace. Allende and his men defended it as long as they could and refused to give up even them knowing they will probably all die if they keep resisting. Many people come and go in this film and stand by Allende and his men. In the end the palace is breached and the president is dead. The final scene is the original footage of the palace burning down. One thing that left the audience wondering was how did he die. Did he get shot by the military? Did he commit suicide? (Spoilers) The film just ends with him on the floor dead and the audience has to guess. The reasons on why the military is doing what they are doing is right in the beginning because Allende describes the situation and blames Nixon. The director is biased in this situation because he is from Chile and even if this was made in the US. it would come from the Americans side. This time it is from the Chilean side which makes the event look 100 times worse than it is. People for sure have to look up the history behind this film because if not, they will question why this is all happening and hate the people and countries that were involved in it. This film builds up the pride that the Chilean people have and showing that they don't give up like in one scene when the President is yelling he won't give up. The movie is classified as a historical film, but there are some things they did good and bad. The director showed the bombing which happened and the whole movie is the military trying to invade the palace. But, some things are not correct. The film didn't show Allende killing himself. It was confirmed that he shot himself in the event back in 1973. Also, the boy that died in Allende's arms was made up for the purpose of the story. This moves into the special effects, performance, and the time period and the setting. The special effects were horrible. There were bombs going off and none of the windows were breaking even though they had glass breaking. Also, there was just random fire in spots and no one cared that it was there. There was one scene when the kid dies in the arms of Allende and the audience wondered where the bullet came from because the room was secured. The performance of the actors was really good. The guy who played Allende was okay and there was some cheesy parts to the acting. The setting and the props were on point because they didn't show any cell phones and had landlines and old school recorders. The scenes and the directing style was good, they showed the last part with Allende in the hall at the beginning and they showed what lead up to that. Therefore, the movie "Allende" was okay, but not the best move that he made. It was on the low scale for special effects and the history.