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Missing
First Published: 1978
253 pages
 About the Book
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About The Movie
The Greek-born filmmaker Constantin Costa-Gavras (known simply as Costa-Gavras) made his reputation with political thrillers, most notably Z, an indictment of the right-wing junta that controlled his native country, released in 1969. So it is no surprise that the director would be attracted to the story of a liberal young American journalist named Charles Horman, murdered by a right-wing Chilean dictatorship with the apparent backing of the CIA. Since the international acclaim for Z, Costa-Gavras had directed a series of acclaimed, politically controversial, fact-based films -- The Confession, about the Communist witchhunt in Czechoslovakia; State of Siege, about a CIA agent meddling in internal affairs of Uruguay; and Special Section, about the Vichy government in German-occupied France. Missing fit neatly into his oeuvre.
In adapting Thomas Hauser´s The Execution of Charles Horman to the screen, Costa-Gavras collaborated with writer Donald Stewart and assembled a powerful cast with Jack Lemmon as Ed Horman, the father of the missing journalist (played by John Shea), and Sissy Spacek as Charles Horman´s wife Beth. Melanie Mayron, later to appear on the television series thirtysomething, plays Charles Horman´s friend Terry Simon, with a powerful group of character actors playing the vaguely sinister Americans in Chile. Ricardo Aronovich shot Missing, and Costa-Gavras´ longtime collaborator, Françoise Bonnot, was the film editor. Vangelis wrote the film´s score.
Reaction to Missing was swift and powerful when it was released in 1982. So compelling was the drama that an embarrassed U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig issued outright denials of the film´s allegations of American involvement in the Pinochet coup of 1973. Critics praised the film as another example of Costa-Gavras´ ability to find powerful human drama in real events. Missing was selected for the main competition at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the Palme d´Or with Yol. Jack Lemmon´s performance won him the Best Actor prize. The film later received four Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. The screenplay won an Oscar and England´s BAFTA award.
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