Machuca

Machuca
Directed by	Andrés Wood
Produced by	Andrés Wood
Written by	Eliseo Altunaga, Andrés Wood
Starring	Matías Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Manuela Martelli
Distributed by	Menemsha Entertainment
Release date(s)	5 August 2004 (Chile)
Running time	121 min
Language	Spanish
IMDb profile

Machuca (2004) is a Chilean film written and directed by Andrés Wood. Set in 1973 in Santiago during Salvador Allende's socialist government and shortly before General Augusto Pinochet's military coup, the film tells the story of two friends, one of them the very poor Pedro Machuca who is integrated into the elite school of his friend Gonzalo Infante. The social integration project is headed by the director of the school Father McEnroe.

Synopsis

A scene from Machuca.

The film is not intended to provide an overview of this period in Chilean history. Rather, it shows the perspective of Gonzalo Infante, a privileged boy who catches a glimpse of the world of the lower class through Machuca, at a moment when the lower classes are politically mobilized to demand their rights and force fundamental change. At the same time the upper classes, including his own family, grow fearful of losing their privileges and plot against the people's movement and their elected president, Salvador Allende. Infante's sympathies, however, clearly lie with the poor based on what he has seen. When the military coup d'état is launched which brutally represses poor and activist Chileans, including his friends and Father McEnroe, his own class status comes into relief. Moments after witnessing the murder of a poor, young girlfriend by fascist soldiers clearing a shantytown, Infante is nearly arrested himself. He pleads with the soldier to recognize that he does not belong to this shantytown. The soldier is only convinced after noticing Gonzalo's expensive sneakers. Thus, Infante is forced to abandon his friend, using his class status as a free pass.

At the end of the movie, his family moves into a new, more opulent home. The audience is meant to understand, along with Infante, that this new wealth is connected to the brutal repression of the Chilean masses, who had hoped for real societal change.

Real-life connection

The school is loosely based on Saint George's College, an upper-class Catholic school in Santiago (Wood is Class of '83), which during the Allende period was run by Father Gerard Whelan. Despite strong opposition from the wealthy clientele of the school, Father Whelan implemented a series of integrationist measures inspired by Liberation Theology, measures that eventually led to his dismissal after the military coup d'état against socialist president Salvador Allende. Among these measures was the project of social integration portrayed in Machuca.

Though an accurate recreation of the 1973 period, the picture does not explain and put into context the events it is describing, making the film potentially confusing to those who do not have a thorough grasp of Chilean culture or history. Though the film was a box-office hit in Chile, it failed to gather widespread interest in the rest of Latin America.^{[citation needed]} Geographer Pio Infante, friend of Andrés Wood that went to the same class as him in St. George School claims that the character of Gonzalo Infante was basen on himself.

Awards

This film was nominated for the Ariel Award in 2005 in the category Best Iberoamerican Film. It won Most Popular International Film at the 2004 Vancouver International Film Festival. [1]

Main cast

• Ariel Mateluna - Pedro Machuca
• Matías Quer - Gonzalo Infante
• Manuela Martelli - Silvana
• Ernesto Malbran - Father McEnroe
• Aline Küppenheim - María Luisa Infante

External links

• Official website
• Machuca at the Internet Movie Database
• Machuca in Wood Producciones
• Machuca in the Philadelphia Film Festival
• Some images of movie on Alta Films

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