The Judge and the General
Encyclopedia
The Judge and the General is a 2008
feature-length documentary
film about Juan Guzmán
's attempts to bring Augusto Pinochet
to justice for human rights
crimes.
Appeals Court Judge Juan Guzmán opposed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
and supported General Pinochet until being assigned in 1998—by judicial lottery—the first criminal cases against him. (Judges in Chile investigate, prosecute, and try cases.) Filmmakers Elizabeth Farnsworth
and Patricio Lanfranco follow Guzmán's investigations as he solves cases of murder and kidnapping and considers whether to indict Pinochet.
Viewers watch as Guzmán confronts his past collusion with the military government and faces his own doubts about whether Pinochet should be indicted or not.
The documentary begins with Judge Guzmán’s expressions of anguish, as he watches supporters of Pinochet taunt opponents during the general’s funeral in Santiago in December 2006. The taunts – which laud the killings of the Pinochet years—take Guzmán back to the hatred and chaos of the Allende period, the 1973 Pinochet coup, and ensuing terror. The film flashes back briefly to those years, as Guzmán and others recall that time.
The film then follows two investigations which take viewers deeply into the story.
Manuel Donoso was a young sociology professor killed just after the coup. The documentary cuts back and forth between a disinterment of Donoso’s remains and his wife’s story, as she recounts his arrest, torture and death. The case widens out as the documentary moves between past and present, and other characters place the crime in context.
The other key case features Cecilia (Chechi) Castro, whose mother, Edita, faced a ghastly “Sophie’s Choice.” She led Pinochet’s secret police to her daughter’s hiding place in order to save a granddaughter’s life. Judge Guzmán and detectives investigate this case from, among other locations, a boat off the Chilean coast, where underwater cameras capture the shocking images of divers bringing up rails that had been tied to bodies of political prisoners thrown into the sea.
Guzmán is, perhaps, “the good German,” a citizen blind to the crimes around him until chance forces him into an investigation he never sought and didn’t want. As a young man he had served briefly as a clerk in the Court of Appeals during the worst years of repression under Pinochet. Judges of that court had to decide on thousands of habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of victims, many of whom had disappeared into secret detention centers. Nearly all the petitions were denied, and Juan Guzmán wrote some of those denials. Had they been granted, many lives would have been saved. Viewers watch as he struggles with this memory and describes how his investigation made him realize how “blind” he had been. “ I would say it opened the eyes of my soul,” he says.
Guzman’s colleagues–-attorneys and judges—had doubted Guzman’s competence and his willingness to pursue Pinochet. By the end of the film, viewers will know whether they were right or wrong.
for excellence in broadcast journalism. It also gained an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Historical Programming and a Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary.
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
feature-length documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
film about Juan Guzmán
Juan Guzmán Tapia
Juan Salvador Guzmán Tapia is a retired Chilean judge who gained international recognition for being the first judge to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on human rights charges, after Pinochet's return to Chile following more than a year of house arrest in London, in...
's attempts to bring Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
to justice for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
crimes.
Plot
The Judge and the General tells a story of personal transformation, as a Chilean judge descends into what he calls the "abyss" of investigating crimes committed by the government of General Augusto Pinochet during the 1970s and 1980s in Chile.Appeals Court Judge Juan Guzmán opposed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
and supported General Pinochet until being assigned in 1998—by judicial lottery—the first criminal cases against him. (Judges in Chile investigate, prosecute, and try cases.) Filmmakers Elizabeth Farnsworth
Elizabeth Farnsworth
Elizabeth Farnsworth is an American television news anchorwoman.Born in 1943 Elizabeth Fink in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to a family of farmers, teachers, doctors and railroad executives....
and Patricio Lanfranco follow Guzmán's investigations as he solves cases of murder and kidnapping and considers whether to indict Pinochet.
Viewers watch as Guzmán confronts his past collusion with the military government and faces his own doubts about whether Pinochet should be indicted or not.
The documentary begins with Judge Guzmán’s expressions of anguish, as he watches supporters of Pinochet taunt opponents during the general’s funeral in Santiago in December 2006. The taunts – which laud the killings of the Pinochet years—take Guzmán back to the hatred and chaos of the Allende period, the 1973 Pinochet coup, and ensuing terror. The film flashes back briefly to those years, as Guzmán and others recall that time.
The film then follows two investigations which take viewers deeply into the story.
Manuel Donoso was a young sociology professor killed just after the coup. The documentary cuts back and forth between a disinterment of Donoso’s remains and his wife’s story, as she recounts his arrest, torture and death. The case widens out as the documentary moves between past and present, and other characters place the crime in context.
The other key case features Cecilia (Chechi) Castro, whose mother, Edita, faced a ghastly “Sophie’s Choice.” She led Pinochet’s secret police to her daughter’s hiding place in order to save a granddaughter’s life. Judge Guzmán and detectives investigate this case from, among other locations, a boat off the Chilean coast, where underwater cameras capture the shocking images of divers bringing up rails that had been tied to bodies of political prisoners thrown into the sea.
Guzmán is, perhaps, “the good German,” a citizen blind to the crimes around him until chance forces him into an investigation he never sought and didn’t want. As a young man he had served briefly as a clerk in the Court of Appeals during the worst years of repression under Pinochet. Judges of that court had to decide on thousands of habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of victims, many of whom had disappeared into secret detention centers. Nearly all the petitions were denied, and Juan Guzmán wrote some of those denials. Had they been granted, many lives would have been saved. Viewers watch as he struggles with this memory and describes how his investigation made him realize how “blind” he had been. “ I would say it opened the eyes of my soul,” he says.
Guzman’s colleagues–-attorneys and judges—had doubted Guzman’s competence and his willingness to pursue Pinochet. By the end of the film, viewers will know whether they were right or wrong.
Awards
The Judge and the General won a duPont-Columbia AwardDuPont-Columbia Award
The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award is an American award that honors excellence in broadcast journalism. The awards, administered since 1968 by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, are considered a broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, another...
for excellence in broadcast journalism. It also gained an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Historical Programming and a Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary.