Missing (1982)

The '80s were good for popular comedies, fantasies, and adventures on screen, but only a handful of serious works from the decade enjoy esteem to this day. Checking out an '80s drama I never hear about is a slight gamble. But this one got a lot of honors back in the day and retains high marks across rating sites. That plus its basis in a true story drew me in.

In what is implied but never specified to be Chile during Augusto Pinochet's '73 coup, Charlie Horman (John Shea) and his wife, Beth (Sissy Spacek), find their lives as American migrants disrupted. Charlie's activist journalism may have caught up with him, because he disappears. Beth can't find out where he was taken or whether he lives, tho she refuses to believe he'd go into hiding without ever notifying her. Charlie's estranged father, Edmund (Jack Lemmon), flies in to help with the search for answers.

Edmund seems a bit like an Archie Bunker type. He hates the politics of his son and daughter-in-law and thinks them ingrates for leaving the U.S. At times, he or Beth wishes he hadn't come, and he barely even cares whether Charlie lives as long as they get closure. Of course, the more evidence Edmund uncovers that the U.S. government had a part in supporting the local violence if not enacting it directly, the more disenchanted he gets.

That seems to be the main purpose of the film, which explains why some people deny its factuality. Director Costa-Gavras, whom I had previously known only for Z, sure likes to depict oppressive governments. Missing doesn't have as much action as I seem to recall from Z, but every time someone turns around, gunfire can be heard. The characters learn to ignore it, and even corpses stop capturing their attention unless they see a familiar face.

I might as well tell you now that the mystery was never solved. The end of the film reports the delivery of a body beyond autopsy; years after the film, a DNA test indicated that it wasn't Charlie. At least it's easier to guess what happened to him than what happened to the kids in Picnic at Hanging Rock.

To me, the low and potentially misleading information is not the worst part. It's just a terribly bitter, depressing picture. I can appreciate sad movies, such as Lemmon's Days of Wine and Roses, but this one basically never gets lighthearted. The few signs of happiness or humor we see are already in the past and thus not uplifting.

There's a reason I waited nearly a week to report on Missing. It's hard to talk about something I hardly care to think about.