Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher are reborn as bloodthirsty vampires in a biting satire by Chilean director Pablo Larrain, presented in competition Thursday at the Venice Film Festival.
In El Conde (The Count), Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile with an iron fist until 1990 after overthrowing socialist President Salvador Allende in 1973, is portrayed as a vampire who feeds on the hearts of his victims. passed through the blender. The film’s voiceover narrating the dictator’s journey, from his origins to his struggles with his family, is that of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s “iron lady” in power from 1979 to 1990, who appears in the final part of the film, she too as a vampire.
“There was a whole process to find the best way to present this man. He had never been the subject of a portrait before, whether in cinema or on television”, explained during his press conference Pablo Larrain, praised for his biopics of Jackie Kennedy (Jackie with Natalie Portman) and Princess Diana (Spencer with Kristen Stewart). “A mixture of farce and satire was probably the only solution. By avoiding satire, the risk was to fall into a form of empathy, and that was not acceptable,” he added.
Asked about his choice to present Pinochet as a vampire, he justified himself by pointing out that the dictator “never really faced justice”. “He lived and died in freedom, while being rich. This impunity has made it hellish,” he added.
Under his regime, thousands of opponents were executed, others were imprisoned and tortured, alongside a vast campaign of corruption. Supported implicitly by the United States, which considered him a bulwark against communism in South America, he was also an ally of Margaret Thatcher against Argentina during the Falklands War in the 1980s.
“It’s great that Netflix has funded a bold and unique film like this,” he said, as the platform faces criticism from supporters of the historic strike by actors and writers. going on in Hollywood.
