Hawker Hunter jets bomb the presidential palace in the Chilean capital, Santiago, setting it ablaze. It is 11 September 1973, and General Augusto Pinochet’s bloody coup against Salvador Allende’s socialist government is under way.
These are the dramatic opening images of the documentary film trilogy La Batalla de Chile (The Battle of Chile), directed by Patricio Guzmán. The three films detail the struggles of the Allende government to stay in power and promote what it termed “the peaceful road to socialism”. Filmed at the time with interviews, direct footage of demonstrations, debates about how to take the Allende government forward and opposition attacks that eventually led to Pinochet’s brutal seizure of power, it had a hard-hitting immediacy that brought Guzmán a huge audience and reputation outside Chile – although the three films remained banned for many years in his own country.
