March 1973. Polarized, the people of Chile head to the ballot box, where the bourgeois right-wing Christian Democrats run in opposition to Salvador Allende’s incumbent leftist party, Popular Unity. Tensions continue to rise in government and on the streets after the votes have been cast and counted.

Patricio Guzmán’s masterpiece begins here, with the social discord that flared at the end of Salvador Allende’s presidential tenure. Immersed in the thick of Chile’s vociferous, divided crowds, Jorge Müller Silva’s camera not only records but actively participates in an explosive historical moment.