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The Motherland

1986, English. Directed by Juan Downey.

The Motherland is an ironic parable of Downey's native Chile. Returning to Santiago, he finds a society in the grips of the military dictatorship of General August Pinochet. In a scenario that suggests the "magic realism" of Latin American fiction, Downey visits the suburban house of his youth and stages a surreal re-enactment of the Motherland "giving birth" to a duck, while the crucified Prophet looks on. This overtly symbolic scene is intercut with the spectacle of General Pinochet and his troops in full regalia. In an unsparing indictment of the economic and political reality of the dictatorship, The Motherland offers the Prophet as a sacrifice to the goose-stepping ranks of Pinochet's junta. This savage allegory, in which church and state conspire to oppress society and the individual, merges the subjective and the cultural, the autobiographical and the political.

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Runtime
0h 7m
Post-credits
None listed
Language
English
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The Motherland isn’t streaming on any OTT platform in India yet; it released on 1 January 1986.

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Released
1 January 1986

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The Motherland runs 7 minutes (0h 7m).

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Which OTT platform is The Motherland on?

The Motherland isn’t streaming on any OTT platform in India yet; it released on 1 January 1986. (Checked 12 November 2026.)

What movies are like The Motherland?

If you liked The Motherland, try The House of the Spirits, Barbie, A House of Dynamite.

Who directed The Motherland?

The Motherland (1986) was directed by Juan Downey.

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