SHOWCASE
PINOCHET IN SUBURBIA
Sunday October 7
9.30pm
In 1998, General Pinochet, the former dictator of Chile was arrested in Britain whilst holidaying there, courtesy of British Aerospace. He was enjoying the sights, shopping for clothes and planning back surgery. Pinochet was detained for 500 days.
On Sunday October 7 at 9.30pm, SBS Television will screen Pinochet in Suburbia in the Showcase timeslot. The program tells the remarkable story of General Pinochet’s arrest and his fight to avoid extradition to Spain.
Pinochet in Suburbia delicately weaves several narrative strands, including a tense and intricate legal battle that twisted and turned it way through the courts whilst the whole world watched and waited to see what fate awaited the once powerful dictator.
Not since the Nuremburg trials had there been such a significant test of the power of international law. The whole case was given further prominence by the tireless campaigning of former UK Prime Minister, Lady Margaret Thatcher, for General Pinochet’s release.
Writer/director Richard Curson Smith (If, Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures) interspersed the drama with footage of news stories about the General’s time in detention. Pinochet in Suburbia is a powerful human rights story that gets behind the outer armour of the hard and proud dictator to tell the private and psychological story of his own experiences. “The film expertly mixes the passionate drama of those whose lives were forever scarred by that period in Chile and the political machinations of those having to deal with its aftermath.” (The Hollywood Reporter).
Pinoches in Suburbia boasts an all star cast headed by Derek Jacobi (Gladator, Cadfael)as Pinochet, Anna Massey (The Machinist, Miss Marple: Hotel du Lac) as former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Phyllida Law (Miss Potter, Copying Beethoven).
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