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Courtesy of The Cinema Guild
The Judge and the General
I have viewed more than 500 documentary films. Although I have discovered value in each and every film, I have found a few films that 'stick to the ribs,' films that haunt me, films that are 'evergreen'—their stories will always be relevant, if not crucial.
Produced and directed by Elizabeth Farnsworth
and Patricio Lanfranco Leverton, The Judge and the General is one of those films. It tells the story of the 1998 investigation of Chile's brutal dictator
Juan Guzmán was born into a conservative wealthy family. He aspired to be a diplomat. That aspiration was dashed when Salvador Allende was voted into power in 1970, and proceeded to create a 'Marxist' government. Guzmán found himself in the position of a judge.
During the early years of the Pinochet regime Guzmán states that if he was a lieutenant or captain in the army ordered to shoot Chileans, he would have done so. He rose to the rank of appellate judge.
Judges in Chile are assigned to cases on the basis of rotation. When papers were filed against Pinochet, in 1998, Guzmán’s number was up. He was perceived as a ‘right-wing’ judge skeptical of the charges of violence described in the filings. However perceived, he took his job seriously. Accompanied by body guards and sporting protective gear, Guzmán investigated hundreds of murders throughout Chile. Back at the office, his peers attempted to hinder the investigation.
Like the Daniel Ellsberg documentary, The Most Dangerous Man in America, we follow a protagonist’s discovery of horror—including his own culpability. By the time Guzmán files indictments against Pinochet, the Judge is a transformed man.
The Judge and the General is available from PBS Home Video and The Cinema Guild.
Don Schwartz