Machuca

Although i was not old enough to live through these events, its repercussions are still felt today. Its interesting to see this movie in the theater and hear older people in the audience booing and cheering at the different scenes and historical characters in the movie, meaning that it accurately depicts the events. The movie is excellent in the way it portrays the everyday life experienced back in those days. The movie is apolitical in the way the main characters are children, so the focus is everyday life more than taking an actual view. The great special effects used, increase the realism and makes the movie so much better, and you don't even notice they are being used.

I recommend this movie 100% both to Chileans, and foreigners that want a glimpse on the life of the upper/middle classes in Chile back in 1973.

I live in Chile, where the movie happens. I have also followed Andres Wood in his career as a Director and I must say that this is his most mature, rounded and strong piece of work.

The Movie is centered in the social phenomena that happened in the last days before the Coup in 1973. Now the movie is incredibly accurate from the Costume Design, the Cars's License Plates, the expressions, the product brands and graffitis, to the social polarization, violence and killings. As remarkable as the Production is the honesty of the director, who could have easily fall into contaminating his movie with political propaganda, instead he kept delightfully accurate.

Even though for those who knows the history, the devastating feeling is all around, the movie centers in the social experiment led by a priest who was the principal of a high class school, who takes into the school some poor mestizo children.

Machuca is one of this children's who begins a friendship with a white rich children.

The story itself works as a metaphor for the innocence of the people in that time. innocence that was lost over and over.

This film reaches back and looks at history in a very intimate and personal way. Its young protagonist is shown, growing up, not quite understanding what is happening around him. His own life is the middle of a crisis, and suddenly he is in the middle of his own country's political storm. Gonzalo is one of the lucky ones, a young man who escaped the horrors while he learned how to become a better human being.

Andres Wood's direction is assured and gentle. He shows his love of his country, its main characters, his own history (there are strong hints at this being at least auto-biographical). His film is beautifully scored and photographed; in addition to having one of the best performances ever by a group of children. The movie moves along quietly, touching us, teaching us, and taking us along in an unforgettable study of humanity at its worst and its best.

In 1973, in Santiago of Chile of the first socialist president democratically elected in a Latin-American country, President Salvador Allende, the principal of the Saint Patrick School, Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran) makes a trial of integration between students of the upper and lower classes. The bourgeois boy Gonzalo Infante (Matías Quer) and the boy from the slum Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) become great friends, while the conflicts on the streets leads Chile to the bloody and repressive military coup of General Augusto Pinochet on 11 September 1973, changing definitely their lives, their relationship and their country.

"Machuca" is a touching and realistic tale of friendship and coming to age in times of military coup in Chile. The Chilean director Andrés Wood made this fantastic movie following the political genre of Costa Gravas, but with a subtle drama with two children getting conscience of the fight of classes and the changes in their country by force and violence. The story in some moments seems to be a documentary so perfect the direction and acting are. The debut of the two lead actors, Matías Quer and Ariel Mateluna, is awesome: the eyes of the silent Matías Quer disclosing reality and the facial expression of Ariel Mateluna are amazing. "Machuca" is a highly recommended movie, and for the younger generations slightly see what happened in the 70's in South America and particularly in Chile. A few figures about Pinochet's dictatorship: 30,000 Chileans were killed; 100,000 Chileans were arrested without a trial; 22,000 students were expelled from the universities; 150,000 Chileans were exiled. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Machuca"

I watched the film with my mother, who lived through the coup d'etat in Chile. The events depicted in the movie were so realistic, they transported her back to that era. She cried as we watched and explained all of the small details I wouldn't have gotten being someone who didn't experience these events for myself. With this in mind, I have to think this movie was meant to be watched by a Chilean audience to be fully understood and "felt". Someone like my mother, who has seen the atrocities that occurred in Chile in the mid-seventies, would be a more appropriate critic of this film.

Regardless, I think everyone should watch this movie. It is a touching story about friendship, growing up, social classes, and politics. The acting was exceptional. The plot was well- written. The sets, props, and costumes were accurate. It has a lot to offer as an enlightening and educational film since the story of Chile's own 9/11 has not yet reached the general masses. Because the story is told through a sentimental child's perspective, you are drawn yet closer to the characters and their emotions. Some have criticized this film harshly, stating that Wood couldn't make up his mind whether this film is a political story or a child's coming-of-age tale. Why can't it be both?

As a Chilean, I am extremely proud of this film, in its quality and accuracy. It is powerful, bold and touched me to my very core. I strongly recommend it to all, especially all of you Chilean-Americans born during this era. Ask your parents to tell you their own story, and you will see that Machuca is more than a piece of cinematic brilliance and a milestone in Chilean film. It is a film you will never forget.