The Judge and the General

Elizabeth Farnsworth, Patricio Lanfranco

In 1998, examining magistrate Juan Guzmán was given the task of bringing the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet before court. Considering Guzmán’s long-term support for Pinochet, many people had their reservations about this. Was the scepticism justified? Years after Pinochet had relinquished power, he had still never been brought to book for the human rights abuses
committed under his leadership. The immunity that Pinochet and other key players in the military junta had negotiated for themselves had never been discussed. This changed
in 1998, when examining magistrate Juan Guzmán was appointed to bring the former junta leader to justice. Guzmán’s appointment was controversial: he was a lifelong Pinochet supporter and as a young man he had temporarily worked for the court responsible for the deaths of thousands of opponents of the regime. Scepticism about Guzmán’s suitability for the job turned out to be unjustified. The magistrate investigated the deaths of hundreds of victims
of the military junta and devoted all his energies to getting Pinochet convicted. The makers of The Judge and the General were granted exclusive access to Guzmán’s research into
Pinochet’s crimes. Filmmakers Elizabeth Farnsworth, Patricio Lanfranco and Richard Pearce have been following events in Chile for decades. 

Credits

Director
Elizabeth Farnsworth, Patricio Lanfranco
Year
2008
Country of production
United States
Type
Documentary
Duration
84 minutes
Spoken language
English, Spanish
Subtitles
EN
Production company
West Wind Productions
World Sales
West Wind Productions