The invisible uprising
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The invisible uprising |
| Original title | État de siège |
| Country of production | France , Italy , Germany |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1972 |
| length | 121 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Constantin Costa-Gavras |
| script | Constantin Costa-Gavras Franco Solinas |
| production | Jacques Perrin |
| music | Mikis Theodorakis |
| camera | Pierre-William Glenn |
| cut | Françoise Bonnot |
| occupation | |
| |
The invisible uprising (original title: État de siège ) is a French-Italian (west) German film by Constantin Costa-Gavras from 1972. Together with the film Z by the same director from 1969, The invisible uprising is considered a genre-defining film Classics of politically engaged cinema (see political thriller ).
Film background and intention
Similar to Z , the invisible uprising thematizes the conditions in an authoritarian regime shortly before a military dictatorship , here in relation to Uruguay in 1970. And similar to Z, the film is based on real events, which here the case of the as Development aid workers disguised US agent Daniel Mitrione , who in 1970 had been assigned to the Uruguayan government in an advisory capacity until he was kidnapped and murdered by urban guerrillas .
As well as ten years later turned by Costa-Gavras as US production film Missing (German title missing persons ) that the ratios of the Chilean military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet immediately after the coup against the democratically elected prime minister of Salvador Allende addressed is, State of Siege headed from the intention of criticizing the political practice of the USA to support authoritarian dictatorships close to fascism for their own interests .
The film puts the agent's hostage-taking by the Tupamaros resistance movement and the ensuing government crisis at the center of its plot, with a critical focus on exposing the background to the hostage-taking and the government's anti-human rights policy; a practice that crystallizes for the viewer in the course of the film, when the guerrillas interrogate the abductee and his actual activity for the rulers, which includes training the police in modern interrogation techniques using torture , becomes increasingly clear.
action
The film begins with the discovery of a suspicious car parked in a suburban area. In the back of the vehicle, the police found the body of the wanted "development worker" Philip Michael Santore (portrayed by Yves Montand), who had been kidnapped by urban guerrillas with a foreign diplomat a week earlier. The government orders a state funeral to be broadcast on state television. Then the events that led to the man's murder are shown in flashbacks.
In addition to the alleged development aid worker who was shot while kidnapping, the Tupamaros kidnap a Brazilian consul and a secretary of the US embassy who was released shortly afterwards. Santore and the consul are taken to a secret hiding place in the basement of an apartment building. The masked kidnappers keep them prisoner there and question them about their activities over the next few days. An ultimatum calls for the release of political prisoners for the life and freedom of the hostages.
The rash activities of the regime, which begins with an intensive manhunt and acts particularly repressive against opposition members with kidnapping and murder by so-called death squads, draws the attention of the liberal and respected journalist Carlos Ducas (portrayed by OE Hasse) to the case. He begins researching Santore, who until then was considered a rather inconspicuous official, as an employee of a development aid organization called AID (Agency for International Development ).
Ducas finds out that it is actually a cover job, behind Santore was an American specialist in fighting guerrilla. Santore himself had trained high-ranking police cadres of Latin American military dictatorships in training camps in the USA and was also on site as police advisor to various authoritarian regimes with which the USA is allied. Among other things, his duties included instructing police officers in covert investigations and torture practices with electric shocks against system oppositionists and other politically unpopular people.
During the interrogation of the hostage-takers, Santore is confronted with the relevant information, which he can no longer deny after initially denying and relativizing.
The gradual uncovering of the repressive and human rights-hostile practice of the dictatorship leads to a state crisis, against which the real background of the hostage-taking becomes more and more clear for the journalist Ducas. But shortly before the government's resignation and the prospect of free elections, the police succeed in a successful manhunt that leads to the arrest of the most important leaders of the underground movement. Thereupon the written negotiations with the remaining hostage-takers are broken off, and the killing of the hostage, which has now lost its meaning for the rulers, is accepted.
For the hostage-takers, whose main aim was to get the government to resign by exposing the regime's domestic political practice, their action has failed. The murder of the hostages remains only a tactical question of one's own consistency, which leads to controversial discussions among the kidnappers. Ultimately, through a questioning of sympathizers, carried out in subversive meetings during night bus rides, a vote, like a jury, decided that Santore should be shot. The Brazilian diplomat and an employee of the British embassy who has since been kidnapped are released.
The initial funeral scene is repeated at the end of the film, the coffin is loaded onto the plane for air transport. Santore's successor gets out of the arriving machine.
reception
- film-dienst (also lexicon of international film ): “... the film deals with the situation in Latin America, with social grievances, corruption and cruel police terror. Largely differentiated in the representation of the injustice problems, he ultimately justifies all too partisan violence as a means of resistance. Worth discussing as an ambitious contribution to the formation of political opinion for a fairer world. "
Film music
For the composition of the soundtrack, Mikis Theodorakis used partly melodic material, which later flowed into his oratorio Canto General . The music was played by the group Los Calchakis on traditional instruments of Andean music .
Awards
The film was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for best foreign film. He received the United Nations Award of the British Film Prize and the French Louis Delluc Prize of 1972.
Web links
- État de siège in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Short description of the film on kino-zeit.de
- The invisible uprising at moviemaster.de
- Film overview and picture of the film poster
- idiosyncratic review and interpretation of the film on textem.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Lexicon of international films, Volume TU , 1995 edition, Rowohlt Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-16357-8 , p. 5993
- ↑ The Invisible Revolt. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .