| Director | Costa-Gavras |
|---|---|
| Genre | biographical film, drama film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 122 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $9.5 million |
| Box office | $16 million |
Ed Horman, a conservative businessman from New York, arrives in Chile to search for his son Charlie, a journalist who disappeared during the recent military coup. Ed meets his daughter-in-law, Beth, with whom he has a strained relationship, and they argue over politics. Ed blames his son and daughter-in-law's radical political views for Charlie's disappearance, while Beth blames the American government. Ed leverages his connections to meet with various government officials to uncover the truth about his son's vanishing.
As he investigates, Ed discovers that the American embassy is not as helpful as he expected and suspects them of concealing information about Charlie. One U.S. diplomat is polite and friendly but consistently lies to him; a high-ranking American military attaché is blunt and tells Ed that whatever happened to Charlie was his own fault, stating, "You play with fire, you get burned." Together, Ed and Beth learn that the U.S. had many interests in the country that were enhanced by the coup and its aftermath, and that many military officials aided Pinochet in the coup. As Ed becomes disillusioned with the American government, he comes to respect the work Beth and Charlie were doing, and he and Beth reconcile. When they receive proof that Charlie was murdered by the junta and that the U.S. allowed it to happen, he tells the embassy officials, "I just thank God we live in a country where we can still put people like you in jail!"
The film concludes with a postscript stating that, after Ed's return to the United States, he received Charlie's body seven months later, making an autopsy impossible, and that a subsequent lawsuit against the U.S. government was dismissed. It also adds that the State Department denies its involvement in the Pinochet coup, a position maintained to the present day.