The First Year

In 1970, Salvador Allende came to power in Chile as the first socialist president. In his first year in office, Patricio Guzmán films the consequences of this political earthquake and its impact on the population. Allende nationalizes the mines in defiance of their very wealthy owners; his supporters are delighted, but the stock market plummets and the wealthy upper class leaves the country.

Guzmán takes to the road for his first feature-length documentary: interviewing original owners who demand their land back, and miners, fishermen and factory workers who talk forthrightly about their working conditions, and shows the renewed hope for a better life.

The First Year was the first part in a trilogy (with October’s Response and The Battle of Chile) about Allende’s government, ending with the 1973 coup. Guzmán shot the film on a very modest budget, on 16mm without synchronous sound. His unique recordings shot from close by reach a climax with footage of the visit of the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whom we see casually chatting, and of the enthusiastic reactions of the Chileans who flock to see him.