Missing Description

Missing was co-written and directed by Costa-Gavras in 1982. This film earned four nominations for the 1983 Academy awards and won in the "Best screenplay based on a book" category.

The movie, based on actual events, takes place in Chile in 1973 (note the dates mentioned in the movie - the coup took place on September 11), during the weeks immediately after the coup led by Augusto Pinochet. Charles Horman is a young American citizen arrested by the Chilean military a few days after the takeover. Charles's father, Ed Horman, arrives in Santiago in order to help his daughter-in-law (Spacek) find Charles back. At first, Ed Horman has total confidence in the officials of the American embassy who assure him they are trying to find Charles. But, after a few days, Ed Horman starts his own inquiry, and comes to understand that Charles may have been arrested because he was a little too curious about the role played by the U.S. during the military takeover - and that embassy officials may not be all that interested in finding him back. The events shown make evident the violence of the coup and the newly imposed military regime. Missing alludes to the US support for the coup, which is still a controversial issue. Some of the elements of this support, as shown in the movie, have been confirmed by further evidence, while others have been refuted (for more details on this issue see [link to NSA declassified documents]. The 1973 coup in Chile was part of the wave of authoritarian regimes that were imposed in the region starting with Brazil in 1964, which included coups in Argentina (1966 and 1976), Uruguay (1973), and many others. Many of these coups were as violent as Chile's, if not more so, as we will see. The region continues to grapple with the legacy of these coups and their human rights violations.