''Machuca'' is a 2004 internationally co-produced

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film co-written and directed by Andrés Wood. It stars Matías Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Manuela Martelli, and Aline Küppenheim alongside

Federico Luppi Federico Luppi (; February 23, 1936 – October 20, 2017) was an Argentine film, television, radio and theatre actor. He won numerous awards throughout his acting career. Biography Luppi worked mostly in Argentine cinema, but also worked in Ch ...

. Set in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

during the months leading up to the 1973 coup d'état led by General

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

– which overthrew

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...

's socialist government – the film tells the story of two boys who attend an elite Catholic school: Gonzalo Infante – who belongs to a wealthy family with a European background – and Pedro Machuca – who is poor and comes from an indigenous background. The film is inspired by and dedicated to Father Gerardo Whelan, C.S.C. who from 1969 to 1973 was the director of Saint George's College, the private school depicted in the film, which the director himself attended as a boy. ''Machuca'' was filmed in July 2003 and produced on a moderate budget of US$1,700,000. It is a joint Chilean-Spanish-British-French international co-production with support from Ibermedia. Production companies included Andrés Wood Producciones, Tornasol Films, Mamoun Hassan, Paraíso, and Chile Films. The film premiered in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (, formerly ) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festival as a ...

parallel section of the 57th Cannes Film Festival in May 2004. It was well received in theaters in Chile and a few other countries, but did not have notable box office success outside of Latin America.

Plot

The story is told from the viewpoint of Gonzalo Infante, a 12-year-old upper-class boy, and is set in a turbulent time in Chile. The working class was demanding social justice and significant changes to the country's socioeconomic structure after electing a socialist president. In this context, the wealthy classes became afraid of the socialist movement, and some of its most prominent members conspired against the government of Salvador Allende. While Gonzalo's father is sympathetic to the less fortunate and not part of the right-wing movement, he wants to take his family to Italy, where he often travels for his work at the UN FAO. Gonzalo's mother, on the other hand, is resigned to the state of affairs and is having an affair with a wealthy and much older Argentinean. Gonzalo attends a private school where the determined school principal, Father McEnroe, has initiated a

social integration Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions o ...

project. However, some of the parents consider it a "leftist venture" instead of a Christian, charitable effort. When five disadvantaged students are admitted to Gonzalo's class, he befriends Pedro because he sympathizes with him after some wealthy classmates bully him. Gonzalo joins Pedro and his neighbor Silvana in selling flags and cigarettes during street demonstrations. They first sell nationalist flags at a right-wing protest and later socialist flags at a leftist rally supporting the government. Silvana initially calls Gonzalo a snob and "strawberry-face," but eventually, they develop affection for each other and even share a kiss. Pedro visits Gonzalo's home and is amazed by the fact that Gonzalo has a room to himself, filled with toys and a closet full of clothes. However, he also witnesses the tension and cruelty that exists within Gonzalo's family. When Gonzalo visits Pedro's shantytown dwelling, he is horrified by the extremely poor living conditions. Their friendship mirrors that of the

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in a ...

and Native American

Tonto Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native Americans in the United States, Native American (either Tonto Apache, Comanche, or Potawatomi) Friendship, companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western (genre), Western character crea ...

from Gonzalo's favorite comic book series. Gonzalo realizes that their friendship is against all odds when Silvana discovers them reading an issue of the magazine and comments on the implausibility of a white person being friends with an Indian. As the political unrest in Chile escalates, the boys' friendship is put to the test. Pedro's alcoholic father ridicules him, telling him that while his supposed friend will grow up to be wealthy, he will be stuck in the lower class, likely cleaning toilets for the rich. The affluent parents of the students at St. Patrick's school have differing views on Father McEnroe's project. While some support the new policies, including Gonzalo's father, many others, including Gonzalo's mother, believe that for the good of the country, social classes should not be mixed. The school's vegetable garden, which the students take care of, turns out to be a failure, jeopardizing the funding for Father McEnroe's project. During an

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

protest, Gonzalo's mother takes Silvana's merchandise when the latter is being threatened by other protesters. Silvana retaliates by spitting on the windshield of the car Gonzalo's mother is riding in and calling her a whore. This increases tension between Gonzalo and Pedro, leading to a fight and the end of their friendship. Following the coup, Father McEnroe is removed from the school by the military and is not even allowed to perform mass at the chapel. When he attends the first mass performed by a new priest, he receives communion but does not swallow the sacramental bread to preserve it from desecration and declares the place profane. Pedro leads the other students in honoring the priest as he leaves, resulting in his expulsion from the school. Gonzalo visits the shantytown where Pedro and Silvana live, but upon arrival, he witnesses soldiers raiding the area and a tragic incident unfolds, resulting in Silvana being shot and killed. Gonzalo finds himself dragged into the chaos and struggles to convince a soldier that he does not belong there until he shows them his nice clothing and fair complexion. Eventually, the soldier lets him go, warning him never to return. Heartbroken over the events he witnessed and the loss of his friend, Gonzalo returns to his family's new home. Their wealth has increased thanks to his mother's lover and the new government's

redistribution of wealth Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, con ...

. However, Gonzalo is left devastated, recalling the last time he saw Pedro while staring at the ruins of the shantytown.

Cast

Reception

Ann Hornaday of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' deemed the film to be "that rare film that merges the personal and political without sacrificing restraint or intellectual honesty". Mike Goodridge of ''

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned ''Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involve ...

'' described the film as a "small, artfully crafted movie", otherwise deeming it to be an "unsettling piece" which nlike other films with similar themes"doesn't fall into easy traps of sentimentalism".

Accolades

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Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...

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Film Fest Gent Film Fest Gent, also known as International Film Fest Gent, is an annual international film festival in Ghent, Belgium. The festival held its first edition in 1974, under the name Internationaal Filmgebeuren Gent, and has since grown into the la ...

, , colspan = "2" , Georges Delerue Award for Best Soundtrack/Sound Design , , , , , - , rowspan = "2" align = "center" , 2005 , , , , colspan = "2" , Best Spanish-Language Foreign Film , , , , align = "center" , , - , , , colspan = "2" , Best Ibero-American Film , , , , align = "center" ,

References

External links