*A present-tense record of nation-splitting turmoil, Patricio Guzmán’s monumental documentary The Battle of Chile remains a landmark of activist cinema.*
http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/the-battle-of-chile
I am at a loss how to translate meaningfully the phrase "present-tense" given the context of the sentence. Initially I thought that I can paraphrase it as "A record that presents account on tense events that occured in Chile…". But I am not sure at all now. Can you tell me the exact meaning of the phrase?