Missing - Charles Horman is Us :: Movie Film Essays

Missing - Charles Horman is Us [1] How I came to choose Missing as the focus of my project is as a result of the learning experience I have been engaged in during my college career. Having first seen the film for a class, I thought of it as nothing more than a movie about something monumental that happened in Chile more than two decades ago. I watched it, unhappily, thinking about all the other things I could be doing, and even falling asleep during some of it. In the time between my first viewing of Missing and embarking on this most recent project, I have learned a great deal about history, politics, and people. My views on all three of those subjects are constantly changing, with each new piece of information I receive further complicating my thoughts. Missing has gone from a movie, the title of which I had difficulty recalling, to being a thought provoking exposition that has forced me to examine, evaluate, and reevaluate almost everything that had once been certain in my own mind. [2] Missing is a rather confusing film to follow at first. Admittedly, I had to view it a few times to understand what was happening. Perhaps the initial feeling after seeing this film is confusion. However, after having watched it a second, fourth, eighth time, what I really felt was anger. Each time I watched the film, the anger and disgust would grow, so much so that it pained me to watch it again. However, in identifying the cause of my anger, I began to realize many things. [3] The United States government denied having knowledge of Charles Horman’s disappearance. It denied any accusations, especially those of U.S. complicity in the coup. U.S. government officials seemed accommodating and willing to help. But Charles was still nowhere to be found. Perhaps he was hiding from the government because of his political views. Perhaps he was scared that his activities would cause him harm of some sort. Impossible, his family said. Charlie had nothing to hide and no one to hide from. He was captured and no doubt in a great deal of trouble. The onus was then on the United States to find one of their missing, to come through and protect its citizens from mistreatment by foreign nations.