(La batalla de Chile: La lucha de un pueblo sin armas) The Battle of Chile. The struggle of a people without weapons - Documentary film on Chile during the government of the Unidad Popular from January 1973 until the military coup on September 11, 1973.

"The battle of Chile did not just start with Salvador Allende's election in 1973. Already since 1963 the CIA had been organizing covert operations to prevent Allende's presidency. The secret service operations aimed at destabilizing the left-wing parties, for instance by manipulating the media.
Allende was still elected. Afterwards the USA and their allies in Chile initiated a military coup - which was finally successful. Under the newly established military dictatorship thousands of alleged members of the opposition disappeared. According to surveys of the International Human Rights Commission, in the first four weeks of the dictatorship alone 4,000 people were murdered. Today, the full number of deaths is estimated at 5,000. Tens of thousands were arrested and tortured." (Laika Verlag, publisher)

The film is over six hours long and has three parts: The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie, The Coup d'état, Popular Power.

The central topic of the films is the question of the arming of the people. When it became clear that the military would stage a coup, the poor people from the slums and a part of the self-organizing working class asked the government for weapons so it could defend the "rule of the people". However, Allende did not respond and left the people without weapons during the armed intervention on September 11, 1973.

"The Battle of Chile" is one of the most important documentary films of the 20th century.