My Life with Carlos

Question 1

My Life Director

Answer 1

Germán Berger-Hertz

Question 2

My Life w/ Carlos about German ______

Answer 2

His family history, sequester and disappearance of his father Carlos Berger

Question 3

My Life co-written by

Answer 3

Roberto Brodsky

Question 4

first democratically-elected Socialist President (1970) in the Americas

Answer 4

Salvador Allende

Question 5

Coup

Answer 5

US-backed coup Sept 11, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet deposed Allende

Question 6

US and Chilean economy

Answer 6

US had begun by weakening Chile’s economy under Allende

Question 7

VIolence Coup included

Answer 7

Aerial bombing of presidential palace

Question 8

Who came into power after coup`

Answer 8

Dictator Pinochet for 17 years

Question 9

How did Pinochet come out of power

Answer 9

referendum ousted him in 1988 (but still “senator for life”)

Question 10

Caravan of death and character of My Life

Answer 10

Carlos Berger was dissapeared

Question 11

The work of Germán’s mother

Answer 11

Carmen, a lawyer, with the Vicaría de la Solidaridad (collecting documentation of the abuses) served as evidence against Pinochet in Caravan of Death Case

Question 12

What is My Life for family

Answer 12

memory exercise for Germán’s family and Chile.

Question 13

What is My Life for Carlos?

Answer 13

The film is a wake for his father Carlos.

& a direct letter to him

Question 14

Documentary is in _____ person

Answer 14

The documentary casts the spectators in the role of dissidents by breaking the 4th wall (we are sprayed) and addresses us (“you”) as if we were Carlos.

Question 15

Grandparents floating in the water scene

Answer 15

Family photos of grandparents who died tragically do not appear at rest, but rather floating in purgatory.
Committed suicide

Question 16

Carlos picture in desert (meaning)

Answer 16

The film literally and metaphorically unearths Carlos (Carlos’s photo) at the Atacama desert, his (extensive & imprecise) final resting place.

Question 17

Caravan of death

Answer 17

The caravan of death was a squad (post-coup) tasked with “disappearing” and murdering dissenting people; they were also the group that killed Carlos.

Question 18

My Life compared to Nostalgia

Answer 18

There are more first hand accounts and people in the shots in My Life with Carlos. In Guzman’s film we see more of the desert, telescopes, artifacts and other non-living things with an emphasis on narration.

Question 19

My Life compared to Machuca

Answer 19

My Life with Carlos is a documentary that occupies a space of memory & reflection decades after these events, Machuca is a narrative that takes place before and during the first actions of Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Question 20

How does the film engage in/with memory?

Answer 20

The film surrounds the murder of Carlos who has been not spoken of much since his death, the film is a brutal face to face with that memory (and a dark point in history_ that much of Chile is actively trying to forget.

Question 21

How and to what effect does the film manipulate home video and family photos?

Answer 21

The film uses home videos to recount stories with a strong visual motivation and to show you what characters we see in the present were like in the past. We also see Carlos the only way his son ever got to (on film).

Question 22

What do you make of Berger’s choice to shoot in film (celluloid) rather than digital?

Answer 22

It gives the film a more nostalgic feel and the look of a time it remembers and recounts.