The Subversives
A modest man whose wife cut his hair, Theo van Boven becomes Director of Human Rights for the UN in 1977. No bureaucrat, he battles the most repressive regimes of the late 20th century, beginning with…
The Subversives
A modest man whose wife cut his hair, Theo van Boven becomes Director of Human Rights for the UN in 1977. No bureaucrat, he battles the most repressive regimes of the late 20th century, beginning with Chile and Argentina and opens his UN door for the first time to "subversive" survivors from across the world. Set during the Cold War, amidst intrigue and espionage in the United Nations of the late '70s and '80s, this is the dramatic story of Theo van Boven, as the new Director of Human Rights, his team and the survivors who pushed him to act. Van Boven opened the UN door for the first time to refugees and survivors of human rights abuse from across the world. He began drastic action against the many thousands of disappearances, with the first UN investigation of any country - Chile, then actions against the Argentinian junta, and other military dictatorships, and eventually even into the massive disappearances under Franco in Spain. In turn, the dictatorships fought back. Van Boven confronted not only the Latin American governments but the US Reagan administration and eventually even the UN Secretary General. Van Boven pays the price of his career yet creates changes in the system that last through to today. And the subversives that were tortured turn out to be the democrats. —Ethan Films
The Subversives
Documentary
Film Details
A modest man whose wife cut his hair, Theo van Boven becomes Director of Human Rights for the UN in 1977. No bureaucrat, he battles the most repressive regimes of the late 20th century, beginning with Chile and Argentina and opens his UN door for the first time to "subversive" survivors from across the world. Set during the Cold War, amidst intrigue and espionage in the United Nations of the late '70s and '80s, this is the dramatic story of Theo van Boven, as the new Director of Human Rights, his team and the survivors who pushed him to act.
Van Boven opened the UN door for the first time to refugees and survivors of human rights abuse from across the world. He began drastic action against the many thousands of disappearances, with the first UN investigation of any country - Chile, then actions against the Argentinian junta, and other military dictatorships, and eventually even into the massive disappearances under Franco in Spain. In turn, the dictatorships fought back.
Van Boven confronted not only the Latin American governments but the US Reagan administration and eventually even the UN Secretary General. Van Boven pays the price of his career yet creates changes in the system that last through to today. And the subversives that were tortured turn out to be the democrats.
—Ethan Films.