Documentary: The Judge and the General

Our usual discussion following the film will be led by Andres Cediel, co-producer of the film. A graduate of UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Cediel is a filmmaker and journalist, currently producing documentaries for Frontline/World.

As everyone with much knowledge of Latin American history knows, the 1973 military coup in Chile sent reverberations throughout the hemisphere. Abetted by the CIA, the IMF, and Nixon administration, Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power, killing elected socialist President Salvador Allende in the royal palace. Sixteen horrific years later, sensing the waning of their brutal military rule, Gen. Pinochet and his cronies negotiated a transition to civilian government intended to guarantee them a heavy hand in succeeding governments — and immunity from prosecution.

The Judge and the General is a profile of inspirational courage, the unusual story of the man who challenged that immunity and literally unearthed evidence of the "disappeared." Juan Guzman, a modest, conservative judge who had long been a Pinochet supporter, was also an idealist with a commitment to justice, however delayed. His fortitude in finding out the truth about the Pinochet regime — including his own blindness to that truth — has unleashed a whirlwind of repressed emotions in Chile and written a new chapter in human rights law.

This event is a collaboration with P.O.V., the PBS award-winning nonfiction film series.

Admission free. Wheelchair accessible.