Could have been truly great with that fantastic setting and point in Chilean history, with younger characters and a school as a great stand-in for a whole society, overflowing with material to explore…. could have.A pet peeve of mine is when a film is named after a character but it ends up not being about them most at all, especially when a name could hint at better representation and more interesting perspectives. Usually these said perspectives that are deemed unrelatable so they just /have/ to be seen through what is seen as a default, relatable pov: a white man. This film was an example of that. I hate that the girl's role was basically the film shouting "NO HOMO" about the two friends (and then afterwards killed for emotional impact and the end of the boys' relationship). And I'm quite convinced the filmmakers can't write women, since they're either just extremely disagreeable or flat and barely explored.The sendoff to the Principal was pushing believability but then we find out this was dedicated to this character's rl inspiration by the end so, okay, I guess.The film is strong when it is confronting race and class differences, the damages of being neutral, and when it grounds itself in its history. The final moments with the lead is great and a big statement on privilege. Tighter focus, well-rounded women, trimming of unnecessary scenes, and consistent tone would have made this film reach its potential.

Machuca is a powerful story of the not too far off history of Chile through the eyes of a young boy. Set in the early 70s during the revolution that resulted in Salvado Allende being overthrown by the nationalist coup. The film exposes the large difference in class and political preference. Gonzalo is in a middle class family whose mother is very much for the nationalist keeping the order, allowing her to continue to live in luxury. Gonzalo becomes friends with Pedro Machuca, which crosses both political and social boundaries. Pedro is from a poor family who is in favor of the socialist movement, which gives them a chance for a better life. The two opposing sides ended up in a violent conflict. In the film it expands to the military moving in on the slums where Pedro's family lives.In an interview with Director Andrés Wood it is becomes clear what a bold film this actually is. In Chile it is illegal to portray the military in a negative light. As a result, Wood points to this as a reason why it took so long for a film like this to be made. Another element which makes this film valuable, is its relevance in helping people understand what is going on in the present. Historically, and during the film, it is declared that President Allende committed suicide. However, just recently Allende's family successfully petitioned to have the former President's body exhumed in order to determine the cause of death. During the film it is clear that the Nationalist Party of the past was made up of the wealthy and the middle class. They were not portrayed as decent people, but as snobs, adulterous, thieving, narrow minded, and a selfish group of people. Gonzalo's mother is an example of this, but she justified her behavior because she was desperate to hold onto what was secure. It is probable that most members of the upper-class rationalized the events of their time in the same way. They would cling to what was secure and dispose of whatever they deemed as a threat. This film reveals strong political ideals, as well as portraying a coming-of-age story. Gonzalo and Pedro were forced by circumstance to be on opposing sides socially/politically and to grow up without warning and without a choice.

Wow what a great movie, it really describes the time when Chile was communist.I was on a vacation on Chile when I saw that this movie was coming out, I even went to the premiere, well I pass by the theater that would play it, and of course I tried to get in and of course the security guards kept me out. But I eventually watch it and get me realize what the Chilean people has to bare over the years, and how the events really made their people get more involve with politics than people from other countries. The acting is superb and the direction too, just a grate movie.

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 CIA and the rich of the country may not have been able to bring Chavez down, but not for lack of trying. And the formerly government-pampered classes are as vicious in their hostility and as willing to eliminate Chavez as the same classes were in Chile at the time of Allende. 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. Silvana is more critical of Ganzalo than his pal Pedro, but she kisses them both in return for rationed cans of condensed milk.Class politics comes to the school in a vociferous meeting where many call for the ouster of the poor students and the leftist headmaster with them.All this is interesting enough, but would be nothing without the coup that is coming. When that happens, the headmaster is ousted, the poor boys go, and the school is taken over by a military officer. In a startling scene the Father comes back to the school chapel during service and rapidly consumes all the communion wafers and then declares the chapel no longer holy; and the boys, led by Pedro, bid him a fond farewell. "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. Terrified at the possibility being linked with them and abducted or murdered himself, Gonzalo denies any connection with the people there, pointing to his Adidas. It's perhaps ironic to us to think that for several decades in America such shoes have been trophies worn by ghetto kids, at times stolen from rich boys to do so. Here they can only mean you're of the privileged classes.Gonzalo rides his 'bici' away and walks straight into the luxurious home of his mother's lover, seeming to embrace for that moment the worst aspects of his own background out of fear -- scared "right," as it were. The boy who was displaced earlier to put Pedro next to Gonzalo in class is back in what has recently been Pedro's desk. 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. Many scenes in the film work, but a certain lack of charisma in the two boys is a flaw and the screenplay and direction aren't quite tight enough to prevent a few longueurs. In short, the filmmakers aren't entirely up to the demands of their compelling material. But the result is still essential viewing.