This Chilean-Argentinian coproduction is a Chilean story but was filmed in Argentina for reasons its subject matter makes obvious. The military coup in Chile in 1973 that started with the murder of Salvador Allende brought about (speaking with understatement here) such a traumatic time to the nation that the after-effects are still being felt. The Red Hangar shows how one man against but unable to oppose the coup must try to survive without sacrificing either his beliefs or his life. This fictional movie, which uses real names and is based on a nonfiction memoir, examines the immediate aftermath through one simple question: how does a man, caught up in events from which he cannot escape, comply without becoming complicit?
Jorge Silva (Nicolás Zárate, subtle like a knife) is the head of logistics at the air force academy, a reserved and diligent man first seen giving a lift to a chatty junior member of his crew, Hernández (Arón Hernández), who complains that the base is a little slow. The next morning it becomes apparent that Silva knew the coup was happening because the people trying to stop it were also trying to recruit him, but he made the self-preserving choice to keep his mouth shut. The leader of the school, Soler (Marcial Tagle) trusts Silva and they work well together, but they are suddenly both under the thumb of the bloodthirsty Colonel Jahn (Boris Quercia) who has a personal vendetta against Silva. Jahn begins engineering events to harm Silva personally, and this means the danger Silva is in intensifies by the minute. Being shot as a coward is always an option. Certainly it takes about two days for the light to vanish from young Hernández’s eyes. The tortures being delivered to terrified prisoners inside the red hangar are always possible too.
Unfortunately filming these horrors in black and white has the distancing effect of old newsreels, making it tough to feel oneself fully in the moment. It does make things easier to watch, and enables some beautiful shots by Diego Pequeño of the city at night with good use of shadows at metaphor, but it causes modern audiences to feel disconnected from the action. A better choice was showing very little direct violence onscreen, but plenty of implication. Whimpering people lying face down on concrete floors in their own filth or blank-faced women slumped against a wall can be more than enough. It’s the kind of thing which could be shown in schools, although American audiences or anyone who’s watched the news lately will find the events shown here triggering enough.
Where Luis Emilio Guzmán’s script and Juan Pablo Sallato’s direction excel is showing the subtle but very clear ways Silva continues to do his work. He must give his enemies no room to move against him. And this means he must follow orders or, at the very least, he must not defy them, even though his friends well know his true feelings and his enemies can guess. There’s only one moment when he is safe enough to remove his mask: in the arms of his wife Rosa (Catalina Stuardo) which brings a little moment of serendipity between a physical collapse and ash falling off a cigarette. It also eventually becomes clear that Silva’s position is unique in the nation, which both increases and decreases the danger he is in. He is and has always been an example for the others. But a high profile always brings higher risk.
The subtlety in how Silva’s dilemmas are handled might be tough for people without any knowledge of Chilean history to appreciate. But it is good to see a movie lean into depicting the very darkest of days without feeding an appetite for gore. It’s rare so much attention is paid to jawlines and Adam’s apples. Mr. Zárate’s subtle acting as a man who must hide his true feelings or die is a fascinating exercise in restraint. Anyone who feels overtaken by current political events will find it useful to be reminded that in every bleak scenario you still always have a choice. Sometimes the only choice is between the knife and the gun, but The Red Hangar reminds us that a gun to your head is the chance to know exactly who and what you are.
The Red Hangar (Hangar rojo) recently played at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the Berlin site for the title.
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