When in 1998 Chilean Judge Juan Guzmán was assigned to investigate the first criminal cases against ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet, no one expected much. Guzmán had supported Pinochet's 1973 coup — waged as an anti-Communist crusade — that left the democratically elected president Salvador Allende and thousands of others dead or “disappeared.” The filmmakers trace the judge's descent into what he calls “the abyss,” where he uncovers the past and confronts the truth about his own role in the tragedy. The Judge and the General, a story of transformation and redemption, tells a cautionary tale about violating human rights in the name of a war on terror.

The Judge and the General is a co-production of West Wind Productions and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), in association with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB). Additional funding provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Bernard and Barbro Osher, the Fleishhacker Foundation and Stephen Silberstein.

TRT: 84 minutes