A Promise to the Dead Isn’t Set To Look Too Lively At The Box Office

The movie A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman begins with a reminder that the terrorist attacks that took place in 2001 were not the first time that September 11 was forcibly imprinted onto a nation’s collective memory.

On September 11, 1973 military planes which belonged to Gen. Augusto Pinochet launched an attack that annihilated the democratically elected regime of Salvador Allende in Santiago, Chile. Novelist and playwright Ariel Dorfman was living in Chile at the time of the attacks and, fearing for his life after the military coup, he went into hiding and fled the country.

This movie, directed by Peter Raymont, marks Dorfman’s attempt to honour his friends and compatriots murdered by Pinochet’s troops.

Dorfman’s oldest son, Rodrigo appears in the film, as well as acts as an associate producer, but he’s the only family member to offer any perspective on the painful experience of dislocation. The film does seem to lack on other faces and voices beside Dorfman’s. This could quite easily stunt its box office success.

The film creates the feeling that we should be in awe of Dorfman. Of course, he deserves praise for what he has been through but it would’ve been good to see a more rounded portrait of his struggles.

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