Dispatches from Cannes: Salvador Allende's Widow Speaks in New Documentary
Hortensia Allende lost a husband and a daughter to suicide. Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president of Chile from 1970-73, shot himself just before his palace was captured by the military in the coup that would blight the human rights of the county until 1990. Beatriz Allende killed herself in Cuba. She was in exile, just like the rest of her family. These dramatic and tragic events form the centre of Marcia Tambutti Allende’s debut, Beyond My Grandfather Allende. Marcia’s conversational process of drawing out memories from her stoical family poses the question: is it kinder to let people stay silent on their traumas or is it better in the long run for them to tell their stories?
Hortensia – affectionately referred to as ‘Tencha’ – has a face that is as beautiful as it is sorrowful. “When will this very long interview end?” she asks as the film opens. She is 92 and lives a quiet life in the present. As Marcia determinedly pushes to hear recollections other family members become defensive on her behalf .
“If she’s sealed off, it’s because she’s protecting herself. She’s had a hard life and she’s always needed to protect herself,” says Isabel – Chilean politician, mother to Marcia and daughter of Tencha. It turns out that there was hurt before there was a bloodshed as Salvador was a serial philanderer. All of this is buried. Maybe it should stay buried, is a thought that dawns as the camera captures a beautiful, sad old lady’s resistance to opening old wounds. And yet the very act of filming and recognising a woman that has lived in the shadow of a man, even after his death, is incredibly powerful. And the documentary canon of Chilean history is now richer for her inclusion.
Latest on Huck
Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists
We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.
Written by: Zahra Onsori
In England’s rural north, skateboarding is femme
Zine scene — A new project from visual artist Juliet Klottrup, ‘Skate Like a Lass’, spotlights the FLINTA+ collectives who are redefining what it means to be a skater.
Written by: Zahra Onsori
Donald Trump says that “everything is computer” – does he have a point?
Huck’s March dispatch — As AI creeps increasingly into our daily lives and our attention spans are lost to social media content, newsletter columnist Emma Garland unpicks the US President’s eyebrow-raising turn of phrase at a White House car show.
Written by: Emma Garland
How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography
The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth
Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The British intimacy of ‘the afters’
Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.
Written by: Ella Glossop