Caliche sangriento
1969 film by Helvio Soto
Caliche sangriento (i.e. Bloody Nitrate) is a Chilean movie of 1969 and the first one directed by Helvio Soto. The plot takes place in 1879 through 1880 during the War of the Pacific, when Chile, Bolivia and Peru fought over control of the sodium nitrate deposits in the Atacama Desert. The film decries the cruelty and absurdity of war and the disunity among the peoples of Latin America. The style of the movie has been compared to that of Western and Spaghetti Western movies.
Plot
A group of 17 Chilean soldiers is marching through the baking hot desert, led by a captain who demands rigid discipline. One at a time, the men fall victim to the overwhelming drudgery and engagements with irregular troops.
Release
The film was initially rejected by the Chilean Censorship Board but was later passed after it was cut by the producer, without consulting Soto, to remove:
a credit thanking the army for their collaboration and advice
an announcement at the end of the film stating that 25,000 soldiers died so that foreign economic interests could take over the nitrate fields.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Caliche sangriento” as 1969 film by Helvio Soto. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1969 film by Helvio Soto. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q285651. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1969, 1879 and 1880.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Caliche sangriento”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Caliche sangriento primary sources, Caliche sangriento archive and Caliche research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Caliche sangriento”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Caliche sangriento” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.