Director Constantin Costa-Gavras made his English-language film debut with this political thriller, based on a true story. Although the nation depicted is never named directly, the action clearly takes place in Chile after the military coup.
"Missing" centers around the disappearance of Charles Horman, an American expatriate who lives with his wife Beth in South America. One night, armed soldiers enter their home and drag him away. In desperation, Beth decides to contact Charles's father, Ed, and ask for help.
In contrast to his left-wing daughter-in-law, Ed is staunchly patriotic. But as he gets the runaround from both American and Chilean officials, Ed receives a cold, hard lesson in political reality... and learns some ugly truths about US involvement in Latin America.
(31 votes)
2.
The peril facing a lone American amid Third World political turmoil is elegantly communicated in this important film from Costa-Gavras (Z), adapted by the director and Donald Stewart from Thomas Hauser's nonfiction book. The key to its power onscreen stems from the decision not to center the action merely on the disappearance of Charles Horman (John Shea), but also on the search for him by his father Ed (Jack Lemmon)--and on Ed's discovery of a son he never knew. The Oscar-winning script flows freely between that search and Charles's earlier experiences in the unnamed country (in the true account, Chile). Providing a link between those two stories is Charles's wife Beth (Sissy Spacek), who follows her father-in-law around a country in chaos, teeming with reckless authority and disinterested American diplomats (epitomized by ace character actor David Clennon). The film, which was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and won the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, is certainly manipulative, but it works because of its finely detailed human elements. Usually emotionally extroverted, Lemmon gives one of his finest performances playing against that type--here, he's a controlled, intellectual man who learns more about his son, and his country, than he ever dreamed he would. --Doug Thomas
DVD features Debuting on DVD on Universal Studio's budget Studio Selections line, this award-winning film deserves a better home-video fate. With no extras (not even a menu), the budget feel is certainly there, but the DVD does deliver a crisp widescreen presentation (along with 2.0 mono sound). Sometimes fancier--and more expensive--DVDs don't even deliver that much, so the complaining has to be kept to a minimum at this price. --Doug Thomas
(22 votes)
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