Missing [DVD] (1982)

Product Description ------------------- Based on a true story, this is a political drama set during a coup in South America. American political activist Charles Horman (John Shea) suddenly disappears. His wife Beth (Sissy Spacek) and his her Ed Horman (Jack Lemmon) go in search of their husband and son, but Ed soon realises that the family has been betrayed by their own government. .co.uk Review ------------- The peril facing a lone American amid Third World political turmoil is elegantly communicated in this important film from Costa-Gavras (Z), adapted by the director and Donald Stewart from Thomas Hauser's nonfiction book. The key to its power onscreen stems from the decision not to center the action merely on the disappearance of Charles Horman (John Shea), but also on the search for him by his her Ed (Jack Lemmon)--and on Ed's discovery of a son he never knew. The O-winning script flows freely between that search and Charles's earlier experiences in the unnamed country (in the true account, Chile). Providing a link between those two stories is Charles's wife Beth (Sissy Spacek), who follows her her-in-law around a country in chaos, teeming with reckless authority and disinterested American diplomats (epitomised by ace character actor David Clennon). The film, which was nominated for a Best Picture O and won the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, is certainly manipulative, but it works because of its finely detailed human elements. Usually emotionally extroverted, Lemmon gives one of his finest performances playing against that type--here, he's a controlled, intellectual man who learns more about his son, and his country, than he ever dreamed he would. --Doug Thomas

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