Juanson World

I saw the Chilean film Machuca here in Bogota last night. Despite my penchant for nodding off in movie theaters, I was able to catch most of the film and I really enjoyed it. Listening to the Chilean accent often sounds goofy when I am away from Chile but I have been impressed with the last two films that have come out of the country (I saw the comedy Sexo con amor back when I was living in San Jose.)

Machuca is the fairly typical story of the rich kid and the poor kid who become friends despite societal pressures to the contrary. This occurs within the context of a private school in pre-coup 1973 Santiago. The priests running the school decide to allow a group of poor mestizo boys into the school to mix with the rich whites already present. Some affirmative action before today's PC era, if you will. In any event, the film follows their friendship within the context of growing political and social unrest, which cultimates in the original 9/11. I like the vantage point that director Andres Wood uses in that it allows the film to speak for itself (through the eyes of children) without becoming overly politicized.

The credits indicated that much of the film was produced with support from the Chilean government as well as donors from Spain. This was key: the budget was large enough to make the settings and costumes appear to be vintage 1970s Chile: down to small details such as license plates and shots of the television news. Like the movie Hotel Rwanda, I thought that Machuca was especially effective in not overdramatizing the horror and suffering of those being tortured and dying (a la Gibson's Passion of the Christ, which I mercifully abstained from viewing) but rather making it human by presenting a story of innocence lost through the eyes of two very skilled child actors.