A Darkly Comedic Portrayal of Pinochet’s Blood-Soaked Legacy 

“El Conde” (Pablo Larraín, 2023) depicts former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) as a still-living 250-year old vampire. In the film, “the count” has his real origins in France, where he became the sworn enemy of all revolutions after he deserted the army of King Louis XVI to flee the revolution of 1789. In the present day, Pinochet is finally ready to die, feeling humiliated by his country’s hatred of him, but finds himself unable to do so. What ensues is a properly gruesome dark comedy for its subject matter, at its best when it leans into the lurid behavior of its bloodthirsty main character and his vain, money-grubbing family.

Jaime Vadell portrays Pinochet as simultaneously terrifying and pathetically self-pitying, an apt metaphor for the state of the far right in Chile and beyond. Fyodor (Alfredo Castro) is another vampire, and Pinochet’s sadistic right-hand man turned butler. His origin as an anticommunist “white Russian” gestures toward the international dimension of right wing terror. The introduction of Paula Luchsinger’s character, a nun sent undercover to kill Pinochet, is sometimes confusing for both the plot and the themes of the film, but the scenes of her interviewing the Pinochet family about their many crimes really shine. Her fanatical desire to not only defeat the Devil, but to “humiliate” him, is a clear stand-in for Larraín’s aims with the film, and makes her a compelling protagonist.

Politically, “El Conde” has something to say about more than just Pinochet’s atrocities. The film dramatizes how living off “the blood of the workers” turns the ruling class into monsters. As the mysterious narrator (Stella Gonet) observes, “When one samples the succulent muscle of a still palpitating heart, it’s hard to go back to being a normal person.” This corruption then pervades all of society. As the action reaches a crescendo, with Pinochet’s indolent children fighting over their inheritance, the narrator points out that “This was the count’s achievement. Beyond the killing, his life’s work was to turn us into heroes of greed.” The film’s final twist (which I won’t spoil here) connects Pinochet’s reign of terror with the broader structure of imperialism and neoliberal globalization, and warns that the demons of the dictatorship have not yet been exorcized.

Zack Frailey Escobar is a communist dock worker and sociology student living in San Diego. You can find more of his work at redhorizon.home.blog.