Pinochet and His Three Generals

Three years after the military coup in Chile, José Maria Berzosa gained exclusive access to the General and three members of the Junta elite. He filmed them in their own homes waxing lyrical over subjects ranging from their political views, artistic tastes and leisure time, to their views on happiness. He shows them relaxing with their wives and grandchildren, entirely unaware that they are the foolish victims of satire and their every word highlighted as a lie or contradiction in terms. Berzosa is a director known for his own brand of irreverent humour, stylistic techniques and impossible set-ups. Here he intercuts the inanities uttered by the bombastic generals with the testimony of the loved-ones of those who disappeared. Just as Pinocchio’s nose reveals that he lies by deforming his face, Berzosa paints an increasingly ridiculous portrait of Pinochet and the Junta. Tearing down the façade of their public image to reveal them as responsible for the murder and torture of their political opponents that took place under their regime. (DOK.fest München)