In 1976, the Pinochet regime was cracking down on all dissent in Chile, with activists rounded up, tortured, then “disappeared” for keeps. For the affluent, middle-aged Carmen (Kuppenheim) and her family, it seems to be happening just out of view. Then her friend and priest Father Sanchez (Medina) quietly asks her to care for Elias (Sepulveda), a young man who’s wounded and in hiding. Her conscience awakened, Carmen risks her safe, comfortable life to help him recover.

With “Chile ‘76,” director Martelli has fashioned a slow-burn, unnerving exercise in paranoia. The tension builds almost imperceptibly as Carmen digs herself in deeper and realizes her increasing peril. Or is it all in her mind? Kuppenheim turns in a bravura performance as a privileged lady who barely understands why she’s sticking her neck out; she simply must. Faithful costume and set design evoke that far-off time and place so we feel we are there- trapped, like Carmen. As much character study as thriller, “Chile” doesn’t offer outsize drama or shocks, but on its own smart, subtle terms, it’s a winner.