PIn 1973, the film director Miguel Litt#237;n fled Chile after a U.S.-supported military coup toppled the democratically elected socialist governme...
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Oct 23, 2011
AC
rated it: 
There is a brilliant and touching preface by Francisco Goldman that I highly recommend. The book itself, however, is dull. Returning to Pinochet's Chile to produce a clandestine film about the horrors of the dictatorship. the narrator, Miguel Littín, is horrified to learn that Pinochet's Chile (in 1985) was essentially calm (if slightly bullied) and prosperous modern country -- even during the State of Siege.
Having been in Spain during the Franco years, I can attest that the presence More...
Having been in Spain during the Franco years, I can attest that the presence More...
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Jan 05, 2009
Troy
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Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is an odd book for Marquez. It's a straight adventure story, and is a first person account of the adventures of Miguel Littin, an exiled Chilean film director. Littin was a supporter of Allende, and was almost killed as a sympathizer when Agusto Pinochet became dictator after a coup d'etat.
As someone else said, this book is "a scary, exhilarating and sometimes hilarious tale of bizarre coincidences More...
As someone else said, this book is "a scary, exhilarating and sometimes hilarious tale of bizarre coincidences More...
Aug 21, 2011
Emily
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Some of the impulsive risks that Littín takes seem almost as arbitrary and irrational as Pinochet's imposed curfew and los carabineros who demand to see a person's documents (including the clandestine filmmaker's false IDs and legitimate permits) only to give them a dismissive glance. Knowing the danger, why would he go to all the trouble to prepare as thoroughly and with as much innovation as he did only to deviate so frequently and so dramatically from the plan?
CLANDESTINE IN CHILE More...
CLANDESTINE IN CHILE More...
Jan 02, 2011
In the introduction to the NYRB edition of Gabriel Garcia Márquez's Clandestine in Chile, Francesco Goldman makes the claim that the book is most rewarding when read, not as the tale of adventure and political intrigue it seems at first glance, but instead as a study of the times (1985), the place (Chile), and the specific person: Miguel Littín, exiled middle-aged film-director who returns to his native country disguised as a Uruguayan businessman, to film a documentary about life under the Pino
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Nov 04, 2009
Steev
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This is a short but fascinating true story of a film director from Chile, exiled after the Pinochet coup, who sneaks back into the country after 12 years in order to do a documentary about the state of the nation. Despite its factual nature, Garcia Marquez narrates the book in a dramatic first person style and it is a distillation of an 18-hour interview he did with the filmmaker.
Oddly, nowhere in the book is there mention of the name of the film that Littin produced from the 105 th More...
Oddly, nowhere in the book is there mention of the name of the film that Littin produced from the 105 th More...
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Jan 31, 2011
Nancy
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In 1973, Salvador Allende's government collapsed under the weight of a military coup orchestrated by the U.S. and Augusto Pinochet came to power. Immediately on the heels of this coup, any dissidence (or perceived dissidence) was violently repressed, leaving thousands of people dead, imprisoned or just gone without a trace, and the repression went on over the period of Pinochet's reign. Thousands more went into exile to escape this regime and were forbidden to recross the Chilean borders. In
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Jun 30, 2011
Febi Ari
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Ini buku pertama dari GGM yang saya baca. Ini cerita nyata seorang jurnalis Migule Littin yang menyusup masuk ke dalam negara Chili setelah 12 tahun diasingkan, dimana sang diktator Augusto Pinochet masih berkuasa, dan Miguel adalah salah satu orang dalam list yang dilarang masuk ke Chili. Dia masuk ke Chili menggunakan paspor palsu, dan semua samaran lainnya, termasuk istri palsu. Usahanya tidak sia-sia, ketika pemerintah diktator mulai mengendus keberadaanya untuk membuat dokumenter tentang ke
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Aug 02, 2011
Adam
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A brief account of director Miguel Littin's secret return from exile to Pinochet's Chile, as told by Garcia Marquez. There are some good stories here, but I'm pretty sure the real meat is to be found in Littin's 3+ hour documentary film Acta General de Chile, whose making this book tells the story of. This feels almost like an extended introduction meant to accompany the film, rather than a complete story in and of itself. Still, Garcia Marquez's prose keeps things interesting enough, and I enjo
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Oct 21, 2011
Richard
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A satisfying mix of personal and national history, political resistance, and heist film. In this case, the heist is the film, and the crack teams assembled for the job are film crews clandestintely assembled in Chile from all over the world (including the resistance movement in Chile). I don't think I've seen anything by the director, but I'd be interested to see the final film he produced. As a character he was well-rounded - noble, impulsive, and sometimes annoying. Since this book is bas
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Nov 25, 2008
Barbara
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"It's not a roof over our heads or food that we're worrying about. Let them give us back our dignity," the poor say. "All we want is what they took from us: a say in our lives." (Chap. 6 of Clandestine in Chile).
We buy Chile grown grapes at the local market, with scant awareness that, disguised by rising prosperity, its citizenry was - and I assume still are - living under an oppressive dictatorship. Not surprising is that Marquez does an excellent job of present More...
We buy Chile grown grapes at the local market, with scant awareness that, disguised by rising prosperity, its citizenry was - and I assume still are - living under an oppressive dictatorship. Not surprising is that Marquez does an excellent job of present More...
Dec 07, 2011
Natacha
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Miguel Littín é um dos mais conceituados realizadores chilenos e que, por ser apoiante declarado de Salvador Allende, viveu exilado durante os anos da ditadura de Pinochet. Em 1985, após 12 anos no exílio, Miguel Littín, entrou clandestinamente no Chile, onde permaneceu seis semanas, durante as quais filmou o documentário "Acta General de Chile". Uma reportagem emocionada de um regresso à muito desejado e não satisfeito na totalidade por não poder ser ele próprio no seu país, continuan
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Sep 16, 2011
Rodrigo
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As pointed out in his own synopsis, this book is not a traditional novel but a historical reconstruction of the clandestine operation that Michael Litín carried out in his native Chile, to make a movie, during the dictatorship period of Augusto Pinochet.
For those, like me, unaware of the recent history of Chile, this book turns out to be an excellent documentary, which portrays the difficulties of the chilean people after the coup d'etat carried out by the military, lefting Augusto Pinoche More...
For those, like me, unaware of the recent history of Chile, this book turns out to be an excellent documentary, which portrays the difficulties of the chilean people after the coup d'etat carried out by the military, lefting Augusto Pinoche More...
Aug 28, 2011
Isabel
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Gabriel García Márquez pegou no relato real de Miguel Littín, um realizador chileno, e escreveu este livro em forma de reportagem. Littín é, como disse, um realizador chileno e um opositor ao regime de Augusto Pinochet, facto que o fez exilar-se e lhe valeu a proibição de entrada no país. Com o objectivo de filmar a realidade do Chile sob a alçada de Pinochet, Littín assume a personagem de um burguês uruguaio que tem como objectivo filmar um spot publicitário usando imagens do país. São montadas
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Apr 20, 2011
Don
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This book is pretty incredible. Going in, I knew only the most basic details about Pinochet's coup, along with the portrait painted in Bolano's 'By Night in Chile', and now I know a lot more.
I really want to track down this documentary now. The Allende cult of personality stuff is not very interesting, but the madness of Littin's provocation would make for an amazing film. Littin's behavior is so bizarre throughout the whole thing, and he repeatedly puts himself and others in danger. R More...
I really want to track down this documentary now. The Allende cult of personality stuff is not very interesting, but the madness of Littin's provocation would make for an amazing film. Littin's behavior is so bizarre throughout the whole thing, and he repeatedly puts himself and others in danger. R More...
Aug 07, 2011
Cameling
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez, famous for his books, 'A Hundred Years of Solitude' and 'Love in the time of Cholera' puts on his journalistic hat again, and produced this summary of 18 hours of interview with Miguel Littín, a famous Chilean film director who had returned to Chile during Pinochet's regime of terror to film the condition of the country and the effects on the people. Miguel Littín had fled Chile after Pinochet toppled Allende in the coup and remained in exile, being on Pinochet's list of
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Sep 19, 2008
حکایت کتاب ( ماجرای اقامت پنهانی میگل لیتین در شیلی) از این قرار است که در آغاز سال هزار و نهصد و هشتاد و پنج-میگل لیتن- که نامش در فهرست پنج هزار تبعیدی شیلیایی است که ورودشان به کشور اکیداً ممنوع است، پنهانی وارد شیلی میشود و شش هفته در شیلی به سر میبرد و در این مدت میتواند بیش از سی و دو هزار متر فیلم دربارهی واقعیت زندگی کشورشٰ دوازده سال پس از برقراری دیکتاتوری نظامی، تهیه کند. لیتین، پس از تغییر قیافه ، تغییر شیوهی پوشش و گفتار، با در دست داشتن اوراق هویت جعلی و به کمک سازمانهای دموک
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Apr 19, 2008
Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea
rated it:
This was a quick and interesting read. Chile, overthrown by Pinochet and his military thugs backed by the US on September 11, 1973, has been of interest to me since the September 11 that happened in the US. I remember reading a book called "Other September 11ths" or something to that effect by Ariel Dorfman.
A friend recommended Marquez so I picked some up and this was one of the books. As I mention above, Chile has been of interest to me so I decided to read this book. It' More...
A friend recommended Marquez so I picked some up and this was one of the books. As I mention above, Chile has been of interest to me so I decided to read this book. It' More...
Jul 21, 2011
Lamski Kikita
rated it:
Who would have been able to write Miguel Littin's story of sneaking back into Chile under-cover while on the blacklist than Littin himself?
To topple a dictatorship, a country needs not only its political activists and underground resistance movements, but it also needs its poets, its writers, its actors, and movie directors. After all, if it takes a whole village to raise a child, it takes 3 clandestine film-crews to expose a dictator to the world.
Amazing read.
To topple a dictatorship, a country needs not only its political activists and underground resistance movements, but it also needs its poets, its writers, its actors, and movie directors. After all, if it takes a whole village to raise a child, it takes 3 clandestine film-crews to expose a dictator to the world.
Amazing read.
Jan 03, 2011
Ryan
rated it:
A true story of Miguel Littín, an exiled Chilean film director, who re-entered Chile in disguise during the late years of Pinochet regime. He undertook this clandestine mission to shoot a documentary that exposes life under the military dictatorship. It's a candid and nostalgic look at losing one's own identity and being a stranger in one's own homeland.
My full review here: http://booktrek.blogspot.com/2010/12/cla...
My full review here: http://booktrek.blogspot.com/2010/12/cla...
Sep 06, 2011
Jean
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Not the traditional Marquez...wouldn't recommend it to someone as thier first. There is no magical realism, no fictional love story. This is a non-fiction biography, telling a fascinating tale of a heroic and dangerous act, done for well, the love of one's country. I take back my earlier statement. There is a love story here, but Marquez does a brilliant job of simply telling Littin's story clearly, letting his voice come through. Marquez's voice is relatively silent, but comes through, ever
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Mar 07, 2011
David
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One marvels at how easy Garcia Marquez can tell someone else's story. Although not as good ad as the Shipwrecked Sailor, its still points out the intrigue of how they managed to get around. very touching scene when he meets his mother. One for the collection.
Nov 12, 2010
Liska
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Miguel Littín, a filmmaker permanently exiled under Pinochet's dictatorship, returns to Chile to make a clandestine documentary about daily life. This book is more than a little awesome.
Jul 14, 2011
Joseph
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A fun romp through Pinochet-era Chile and a few tense moments, but the writing isn't Marquez-ian and the story itself ultimately isn't really that interesting.
Dec 30, 2010
Lizzie
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Riveting chronicle of Miguel Littin's film exposing the Pinochet regime. Told in the first person, this was an engaging read that kept me invested.
Dec 16, 2010
Cassie
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Marquez's first attempt at non-fiction... I much prefer his magical realism, but this was an interesting view of the Pinochet dictatorship.
Aug 20, 2010
Amanda
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I've always liked Garcia Marquez's reportage works....this is no exception, but I still prefer "Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor" over this one.
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Aug 24, 2009
Matt
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I really enjoyed this...of course, a lot of this is due to the fact I was traveling through Chile when I read it.
