Military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls a referendum on his rule in 1988 under exterior pressure. While his advertising company is given the work for the YES side, young advertising exec René Saavedra (Gael García Bernal) is hired to help the NO side. He finds the NO side run by a committee of old party leaders who want to use the campaign to complain about the tyrannical rule. They have no expectation of victory, and resist René's advertising skills.This is fascinating history. It wasn't really big news other than for people in Chile. The mechanics of it is very interesting. I guess this is a fairly faithful retelling of the story. It might be better if they added something to make it a more thrilling story.The story is mostly serious. In a way, I wish it was more like the commercials they made. I wish they had more jokes. Gael is a serious actor. However the character should be bigger. There should more drama inside the NO campaign. There could be some funny moments added. Maybe fictionalizing the real story would be too complicated. I'm sure some people in Chile would raise holy hell.

"No" is a film that was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Perhaps I am wrong, but I wonder if most of this nomination is because of the subject matter, as the peaceful ouster of Pinochet was a wonderful things--and few would disagree with this. However, as for the movie itself, I was shocked how uninteresting it was, as the film lacked energy and, more importantly, emotion. This is really surprising because you'd expect a lot of tears and a lot of anger, as the Pinochet regime was responsible for many atrocities and human rights violations--and you'd THINK this would come through in the film. Instead, much of the film, especially the first half, was plodding and bereft of feeling. Where is the anger?!?! Fortunately, the film did get better in the second half when agents of Pinochet tried to intimidate the opposition...but still I expected so much more.Overall, this film is mildly interesting but should have been a lot better. For a better look at the Pinochet administration, try watching the three "Battle of Chile" films. Additionally, for a better film that is critical of repression in South America, try the Oscar-winning "The Official Story"--a film that has heart, emotion and is much harder-hitting in the way it addresses the fall of the Argentinian regime.

The close examination of the 1988 referendum campaign called for by Chile's military dictator Augusto Pinochet provides not only a fascinating peak inside politics, but it also is a true story of how the Chilean people successfully staged a bloodless revolution to free themselves from the power of a dictator. Based on fact as depicted in a play written by Antonio Skármeta, molded into a screenplay by Pedro Peirano,and directed with a keen sense of period by Pablo Larraín, the film uses substantial bits of archival film footage that enhances the impact of this moment in history.NO is the story of the advertising campaign surrounding the 1988 referendum that was supposed to 'elect' General Pinochet to another eight years of dictatorship in Chile. The referendum campaign will last 27 days leading up to the October 5, 1988 vote, with each side getting fifteen minutes of uninterrupted television air time each day for their campaign. The "no" coalition decides to hire René Saavedra (Gael García Bernal), a young, brash, in demand advertising executive to spearhead their campaign, which causes problems if only because his boss, Lucho Guzmán (Alfredo Castro), is an adviser to Pinochet. Saavedra's troubled home life - his ex-wife Verónica Carvajal (Antonia Zegers) believes the referendum is simply Pinochet propaganda and shares custody of their son Simon (Pascal Montero) - interferes with René's focus, but he eventually devises a plan to spearhead the NO campaign by putting a positive, consumerist spin on it with plenty of humor to be had. Instead of reminding the Chileans of the horrors of Pinochet's reign he instead infuses the campaign to unseat Pinochet with symbols of rainbows, hope and the happiness that the people can enjoy if they vote to end the dictatorship. In the end, despite the attempted disruption of the campaign by the YES campaign that want to re-seat Pinochet for another 8 years, the people's revolution slogan of 'Chile: happiness is coming!' is a bloodless lesson for the world that revolution can come form the hearts of the people instead of being the result of bloody battles.Gael García Bernal shines in his understated portrayal of René Saavedra , a fact that makes his intelligent media focused mind more appreciated. If at times he seems physically uncommitted to the campaign at hand that only reinforces how he used his mind instead of brawn to accomplish is assignment. There are moments of tenderness, frightening scenes of the cruelties form the Pinochet dictatorship brutal rise to power, and all of this is blended with filmed archives and in the moment film that result in an intelligent and empathetic film. Grady Harp

"No" suffers from trying to be, and succeeding at, being far too realistic.As preposterous as this criticism sounds, a promising political drama based on true events surrounding a 1988 election campaign in Chile abandons all the fundamentals of modern movie making. There's no soundtrack. There's no witty dialog. There are no special effects. The performances aren't particularly memorable. As a result, a potentially riveting political thriller drags badly in this poorly-scripted, abysmally-shot re-enactment which debuted last year in Chile. It's now finally making rounds in American movie theaters, its longevity based on being nominated earlier this year for an Oscar in the Best Foreign-Language film category."No" has the sophomoric look and feel of a film school project shot with a couple of Beta cams. That's because director Pablo Larrain curiously decided to shoot his entire movie with the same outdated videotape stock used by actual television news crews during the 1980's, when this film takes place. He presumably did this to add the look of realism. Borrowing a visual device that worked masterfully when Steven Spielberg employed World War II-era Bell and Howell movie cameras to film the famous Normandy Beach scenes in Saving Private Ryan (1998), the same technique might have proved a powerful cinematic accompaniment had it been used selectively. Instead, the entire movie is shot in a grainy film texture which not only becomes annoying, but quite distracting after the first few scenes when we realize this is the way the entire will be. It becomes like trying to watch a movie through a dirty window pane.This is unfortunate because "No" had great potential. The movie is all about the 1988 political referendum on the brutal dictatorship of Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet. One of the most despised political leaders in Latin American history, Pinochet ruled the South American nation of Chile with an iron fist between 1973 and 1988. However, his dictatorship faced growing international pressure to hold free elections, and so a national referendum was called in 1988 to vote on the question if Pinochet should be allowed to stay in power.The premise sounds rather simple. But after the military junta's 15 years of disappearances, torture, intimidation, and media control, those Chileans brave enough to work on the "No" campaign took enormous risks, both professionally and personally. What if they worked against Pinochet and then lost the election? What would then be their fate? Would they ever work again? Would they eventually be arrested? Could they end up as political prisoners? "No," which gets its name from the actual anti-Pinochet campaign, recounts the atmosphere of fear those brave enough to oppose the dictator had to endure during the 27-day campaign. Given the overwhelming odds stacked against them, no one -- not even the movement's most committed followers -- gave the "No" campaign a chance.But if that was the case, we wouldn't be watching a movie about these events some 25 years later.That's where the star of "No" comes in. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal plays a young hotshot advertising wizard hired by the anti-Pinochet ("No") movement to orchestrate its media campaign. The very real issue of how to run a national campaign amidst this culture of fear gets compounded by a deep divide within the camp between those who want to use this rare opportunity to showcase Pinochet's horrific human rights abuses versus the younger pragmatists who view the selling of a candidate about the same as marketing beer or tires.Given the extraordinary circumstances of this unique moment in history and all the subplots of running an underdog campaign fraught with danger, one can immediately see similarities to some of movie history's best political thrillers -- including The Candidate (1972), All the President's Men (1976), Primary Colors (1998), and most recently -- Argo (2012). Had "No" employed a top-notch screenwriter and shot the movie in a more conventional manor (on standard film, for starters), it might have taken its place among the pantheon of great political dramas. Instead, a fascinating story gets lost in the abyss of a poorly contrived and under-budgeted mess.One final note: Without revealing any spoilers, "No" is probably a must see for political junkies if for no other reason than to watch this unlikely campaign unfold, and at times completely unravel before ultimately becoming a serious challenge to one of the most notorious political and military regimes in Latin American history. This is a fabulous story with some truly mesmerizing moments of triumph. However, the film fails to convey these remarkable real-life events in a manner worthy of those brave heroes who actually set out to achieve the impossible.