Sweet Country

Michael Cacoyannis closely choreographs the movements of actors in his films and this, in conjunction with his script for this flabbily constructed work, sadly gives the piece a lightweight feel, inappropriately distanced from the genuine citizenry for whom he purportedly feels sympathy, the entire film therefore going down to artistic defeat, not aided by unsuitable casting. Based upon a novel by American Caroline Richards, the setting is Chile in 1973 directly following the assassination of Marxist president Salvador Allende, when General Augusto Pinochet's military cartel, with United States backing, took over from the elected government, the action following events in the lives of a married upper case American expatriate couple, the Willings, and their close friends the Arayas, a Chilean family from the class of moneyed interests. Although highly dramatic socio-political circumstances form a strong background for the storyline, numerous psychosexual relationships among the characters occupy most of the director's attention, and although humiliating treatment of some women at the hands of Pinochet troops provides melodramatic interest, a viewer might wonder at the lack of any attempt to develop insights into the background of a situation that tore the nation apart, impacting the working class native population largely ignored by Cacoyannis. Shot in Greece, the film benefits from able camera-work, but some wayward casting, notably that of Randy Quaid as a goatish army corporal whose risible attempt at speaking Hispanic flavoured English provides one of many elements of the affair that one will prefer not to remember; Franco Nero is the most effective player at handling the stilted dialogue. A harshly cut 120 minute version has been distributed and is best avoided, since it only serves to increase the incoherence rife within this unsatisfying venture.