Machuca

Plot synopsis:
The film is from the perspective of Gonzalo Infante, a privileged Chilean boy, during a time period in which the lower classes are politically mobilized, demanding more rights and forcing fundamental change. At the same time the upper middle class, including Gonzalo's own family, grow fearful of the growing socialist movement and plot against the country's elected president, Salvador Allende. Gonzalo's father, while sympathetic to the poor and not part of the right-wing movement, wants to leave the country to Italy, where he frequently travels for work, to avoid the Socialist policies. Sra. Infante is having an affair with a wealthy older gentleman, who gives Gonzalo gifts to keep him quiet. Gonzalo is sometimes bullied by his sister's boyfriend, who is a violent anti-Allende right-winger who uses nun-chucks to intimidate people. The family often buys products off of the black market, due to rationing and shortages.
Gonzalo Infante attends a private school where the principal, Father McEnroe, introduces five new, poor students. Gonzalo refuses to bully one of these boys, Pedro Machuca, when encouraged by his peers. The two boys become friends. Infante accompanies Machuca, and Machuca's cousin Silvana, as they sell flags at rival political protests. Despite Silvana's initial resentment of Infante's upper-class background, she eventually befriends him and they even exchange kisses. Infante and Machuca visit each other's homes, and meet each other's families.
However, as political unrest grows throughout the movie, the boys' friendship begins to be tested. Machuca's drunk father taunts him, telling him that while Gonzalo and his friends will grow up wealthy, he will be stuck in the lower class cleaning toilets. The upper-class parents of the students at the school are divided on the issue of the new poor students. While some, such as Sr. Infante, support Father McEnroe's policies, many, including Sra. Infante, think that the classes should be segregated. Sra. Infante also encounters Silvana while at a political rally. Although she initially defends the girl from her friends, she eventually is provoked into attacking her. Meanwhile, the school's farming project fails, meaning that they will not be able to keep paying for the poorer students. As class tensions increase, Infante and his friends get into a fight and are driven apart.
The boys witness their country's military coup, where Salvador Allende commits suicide and Augusto Pinochet takes over. Father McEnroe is fired from the newly militarized school, and Machuca is expelled for leading the other students in honoring the priest. Infante tries to visit the shantytown where Machuca and Silvana live, but arrives to find it being destroyed by the soldiers. He then witnesses a soldier murdering Silvana. Infante manages to convince a soldier that he is not from the shantytown due to his nice clothing and fair complexion, and is forced to abandon his friend. He returns to his family's new home, which is now even more opulent thanks to his mother's lover and the new system of government. He remains distraught over the events he has witnessed as he remembers his friends as he stares down at the ruins of their homes.

Tags: violence, autobiographical, murder

Review:
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.
In 1973, the Chilean military, under the direction of General Augusto Pinochet and backed by the CIA, overthrew the shaky socialist government of democratically elected President Salvador Allende.
Set against the background of the political instability that led to the crisis, Andrés Woods' Machuca is the moving story of the friendship between two boys from different sides of the social spectrum.
Voted the most popular film at the 2004 Vancouver Film Festival and a major box-office hit in Chile, the semi-autobiographical film succeeds on both a human and a political level, the different elements coming together in a final conflagration.Gonzalo Infante (Matias Quer) is a chubby, red-faced 11-year old who attends St. Patrick's private school.
His life changes, however, when Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran), the priest who runs the school, opens St. Patrick's to those who are unable to pay, and Gonzalo develops a friendship with Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mataluna), a youngster who lives in a nearby shantytown.
The onset of revolt is signaled by the arrival of two jets flying towards the Presidential Palace, a seminal event in Chile's history that marked the end of their democracy.One of Chile's most successful young filmmakers, Woods lets the facts speak for themselves, and Machuca makes its points with an emotional power unencumbered by bias or simplistic messages.
Although Machuca may ultimately have more of an impact for Chileans who experienced the coup directly, its theme of young people caught in the swirl of events beyond their understanding resonates far beyond the details of this single tragic moment in history..
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..
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.
"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.
This is an absolutely wonderful film that captures a very interesting period of history told as a coming-of-age tale from the perspective of three pubescent school children.
The film portrays many Pinochet supporters either as rich and corrupt or as small-minded, reactionary bullies (which is not entirely inaccurate), but it certainly doesn't shy away from the dark side of the Allende revolution( Allende supporters are shown accosting middle-class Chileans in the street, Allende himself appears in actual TV footage of his notorious meeting with Soviet leader Leonid Breshnev).
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.
This movie tells a tale on the eve of the darkest hour in Chileann history, where two boys of different social background become friends.This is a very powerful film, especially for Chileanns and many Latin Americans that suffer the prejudice of classicism (the racism of Latin America) and their ideals being beaten away from them.You will notice many resentments and insults on this message board as the film gets more exposure due to the fact that some people still live in the past.I hope this film brings everybody together and shows that no matter what race, religion, sexual orientation or social class, children do not discriminate, everybody feels the same emotions.Hate is learned by the actions of role models..
Giving one a better understanding of why things happened how they happened.I have to say, most movies with kids actor are major garbage in my opinion, but Machuca was a great film, with a great plot..
Obviously, if you were born in a fascist world, things may appear a little mixed up when you start growing up and begin to understand that a lot of people who "protect you" are just thieves of power who think square and don't understand basic concepts such as human rights or tolerance.So I felt a little bit of healthy envy when I saw the main characters of this film, because despite all of the political and social chaos that surround them, they know the world as it was.
They lived their innocence, they discovered the power of friendship until everything was destroyed.That point of the film is unbearable.Machuca is a very good motion picture.
Made on an apparently tiny budget with help from the UK and Spain, it is anything but small budget in appearance (money from the industrialised European countries goes a long way in Chile!) The story is engaging throughout, and for the Westerner the glimpses into the political history are a window onto a different world.As there are so many myths surrounding both Allende and Pinochet, I've added a short synopsis that might help as background (and with respect to Chilean scholars  I am no expert in the field  this sort of information can be gleaned from Amnesty International, recently released USA documents and scholarly sources.Allende was popularly elected to implement an 'anti-imperialist' program of building socialism within a democratic and constitutional framework in November of 1970.
!. "Machuca" is an excellent film for all ages made by Chilian filmmaker Andres Wood.The best thing which can be said about "Machuca" is that it is one the those rare films which are a superb visual statement on human condition.It is true that young children will surely have a lot to learn from this film but adults can also learn a thing or two if they make up their minds to reduce conflicts in the world.Some of the major issues discussed in this film are about friendship,sexual awakening,class differences,trouble at home,trouble with church and trouble with military.In this film it is nice to see how two young boys tackle above mentioned themes with courage,determination and dignity.A moral lesson to be learn from "Machuca" is that weak souls are strong in dealing with all kinds of emotional adversities.Although films featuring young protagonists are a common trend in the annals of world cinema nevertheless Muachuca remains a totally different film as it is about self discovery,knowing one's limitations and keeping one's head straight even in the times of adversities.This is a must see film for all admirers of serious cinema,meaningful films and Latin American history..
The conflicts that Gonzalo (Matías Quer) lives are real for a high class boy trying to grow up in a country that's changing fast everything he knew.
Political, social and class taboos are covered in a sympathetic and innocent way and, are illustrated by the filming of stunning views of Chile.
In MACHUCA he transports us to the year 1973 in Chile when Pinochet's military coup overthrew Allende's socialist 'democracy'.
Knowing that there remains a divided opinion of this period of time, a time when Allende supporters who could not escape the country were murdered or placed in detention camps as political prisoners, Woods sensitively recreates this period through the eyes of children from the populace divided by the middle class and the poor, a technique which works on every level.Saint Patrick's School for boys in Santiago is headed by a kind priest/principal Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran) and the rich to middle class uniformed boys include one 'strawberry faced', quiet, chubby Gonzalo Infante (Matías Quer) whose family is of means but has issues of covert infidelity with the mother (Aline Küppenheim) and father (Francisco Reyes).
However, you don't need to know very much about Chilean history to enter this story --- as long as you are familiar with the universal phrase of civil war.The three children brought forward incredibly amazing acting, which is quite different from the way American young stars do.
On the other side of the coin, wealthy people used to go to places where these goods were sold secretly without standing any lines.I think the film very accurately depicts the social, political, and economic circumstances the country was going through, siding with neither Socialism nor Capitalism.
Machuca is definitely worth watching and it is probably the best Chilean film to date.Finally, a word on the politics: I was raised in US colleges to believe that Allende was some kind of martyr crucified by the CIA.
The brutal coup d'etat was orchestrated by the CIA and the US foreign office and will always remain as one of the most shameful actions ever taken by the US government.However, for me the political circumstances were a setting for a story of friendship beyond boundaries of class, wealth or color of a skin.Now, Machuca is not the first film to depict friendship of two persons coming from different backgrounds, but it is astonishing in its honesty.
Without the bias, the film could have been a much more profound tale of humanism among children, serving as an example to politically divided adults.Also, as a Latin American, I've always felt away from both the bully-like military backed right wing, and the hopelessly classist "it's not my fault" left-wing.So I strongly empathized with the story..
Like the young heroes of of Louis Malle's "Lacombe, Lucien" (1974) and "Au revoir les enfants"(1987), Gonzalo Infante (Mateas Quer), the protagonist of Chilean director Andrés Wood's coming of age story "Machuca," has to grow up in a time of political upheavals and physical dangers -- though he's not as vulnerable to them as some of his campañeros.
For Gonzalo and his friend Pedro it's not the Nazi occupation of France but the CIA-sponsored coup against Salvador Allende that ultimately separates him from his at-risk young friend.The relevance of the events of September 11, 1973 that "Machuca" leads up to is clear to anyone who looks at what has been happening in Carlos Chavez's Venezuela.
The difference may be that Chavez has brought more real socialism to the country and thus has only strengthened his huge popular base among the poor majority.In Wood's film, Gonzalo becomes friends with Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) when the pro-leftist headmaster of his "English" private school, Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran), arranges to have poor children brought into his class as charity students.
"Machuca" describes an uneasy mutual attraction of rich and poor at a crucial moment in Chilean history: Gonzalo helps Pedro with his English, lends him his expensive hardbound Lone Ranger comic books, and brings him to his posh home.
And in return Pedro defends Gonzalo on the frequent occasions when he's bullied by other boys and introduces him to the new world of his family and his shantytown life.Some of the contrasts are a little obvious, with greater warmth on the poor boy's side and more coolness on Gonzalo's (he has a mother who's adulterous and a father who's often absent), but much of the story is simple coming of age stuff.
In fact the filmmaker may lose touch with the political story at times, though he constantly shows revolutionary slogans on walls and huge demonstrations of both left and right, which Gonzalo attends selling flags with Pedro and Pedro's cousin Silvana.
"Goodbye, children," he says, echoing and perhaps ripping off the moving end of Louis Malle's masterpiece ("Au revoir les enfants," which means "Goodbye, children") about a Jesuit priest taken away by the Nazis for hiding Jewish boys at a Catholic boarding school.Most dramatic of all, Gonzalo is in Pedro's neighborhood during the murderous military purge and sees Silvana killed as soldiers take people away.
But when he asks for answers to a test Gonzalo writes "ASSHOLE" (in most excellent English) on the paper and gives it back, turning in his own test with no answers -- as the boldest and coolest of the poor boys had once done -- and walking out.The material in "Machuca" is undeniably important, relevant to crucial events in Latin American politics past and present.
But more importantly, it subtly brought out the contradictions within Chilean society; one line, that of Francisco Reyes, who plays the otherwise minor role of the Gonzalo's father, Patricio Infante, summarises the attitude of the moneyed class perfectly: "Socialism is perfect for Chile...just not for us." This should be required viewing for any serious student of Latin American history.
Wood's film is a touching memoir that takes place right before the coup d'état and the start of Pinochet's dictatorship of Chile in 1973.
The relationship between Gonzalo and Machuca, two young boys living on opposing sides of the coup, accurately portrays the complexity of a situation that is usually portrayed as black or white, right or wrong.
Like most Latin American films this movie is good, but in a hard and difficult way; dealing with harsh realities is never an easy task..
This is the story of the rich versus poor at the time of the 1973 military junta in Chile which took out Salvador Allende and replaced him with a military junta headed by Pinochet.Two young school boys, one rich and one poor, befriend each other.
However, changing political events in Chile change their relationship as the military takes over things.A good film, almost documentary like, which gives us a much better view of the events in Chile.
Because of the political nature of the film and because Chile remains friends with the U.S. it seems unlikely it will play in most places in the U.S. Hopefully they will come out with a DVD eventually, but so far none in sight..
this movie really touched me, not because I'm Chilean, but because the film showed me something I've always been searching...the truth about those events, not the politics behind it, but the suffering of millions of people, right or left, from Allende's side, or Pinochet's side.
This movie brought again to life and for future generations a part of Chilean history that marked the hearts of many people and I think it's very remarkable that A.Wood represented it with this great piece of work.I specially enjoyed the love, the drama and the comedy that this movie has.
Machuca is a powerful story of the not too far off history of Chile through the eyes of a young boy.
This is the story of the relationship between a boy from a middle class suburb and two children from a shanty town in Santiago during the dying days of Allende's democratically elected communist government, which as we know was overthrown by a cruel military dictatorship with CIA involvement.As others have pointed out this film does not idealise the Allende government, which was inspired by high ideals, but arguably created economic chaos in Chile.
It is a coming-of-age movie in a time of political terror, where the moral and emotional realisations are linked to social and political developments, which both heighten the love between the central characters and intensify their separation and aloneness.The Far Left and the Far Right (like the US Republican Party and Fascists/ Baathists etc.)might both have difficulties with the way that morally compromising reality defeats propaganda in this film.Ken Loach, eat you heart out!.
It tells the story of two Chilean boys, affluent Gonzalo Infante and destitute Pedro Machuca.
Now, I don't claim to be an expert on Chilean history, but I'd like to think I know a good film when I see one...
A priest that I really admire and love, he started in Chile this activity of putting poor boys in private catholic schools, in my school (Saint George), and the things in this movie are very alike what happened in real life.
And later when the military armies start attacking the communist they kill Silvana, friend of Gonzalo and Machuca, then Gonzalo (rich boy) escape and tell the soldier that he is not from there, and shows him his nice cloths and they let him go, very moving moment.I rate this Movie 9/10, not 10 only because that's the best, and I have only rated 10 two movies in my life.
There, he meets Pedro Machuca, one of the many boys who came to study in Saint Patrick with the help of the priests, who wants to make a integration and democratization where everybody independent from their classes, have the same rights to study in good schools.
The movie takes place at the end of the presidency of Salvador Allende and at the end of the democracy of Chile.Gonzalo and Pedro, the main character of the movie, become friends almost immediately, even though the they are from different social classes, Gonzalo's family supporting the right side and Pedro's family supporting the left side, the kids still become friends by fighting their bullies.