Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle: Original Review

It's 1973, and Chile is undergoing a major upheaval pitting the Marxist presidency of Salvador Allende against the country's military and economic elite. This touching drama uses that conflict as a backdrop to a story about two boys -- one a child of privilege, the other of poverty -- who become friends at a school run by a Marxist-oriented priest.

The well-off student, named Gonzalo, is a studious, quiet, red-haired, freckle-faced standout whose only blemish seems to be his parents' troubling relationship. His mother has disdain for Allende's policies and the poor people who might benefit from them -- i.e., kids like Pedro Machuca, who lives in a shantytown on the edge of Santiago. Through the activism of the priest at Gonzalo's school, Pedro -- a dark-skinned Indian -- becomes a student there.

The boys' friendship is a classic case of opposites attracting. Gonzalo (played unforgettably by Matias Quer) is drawn to Pedro's street smarts and to the way he survives with so little. Gonzalo is also smitten with Pedro's friend Silvana (Manuela Martel), a cute, fiery girl who dropped out of school and now sells small flags to protesters on the streets. Pedro (Ariel Mateluna) is taken by the wealth of Gonzalo's home and by his new friend's access to so many books, so much nice clothing and even an expensive bike (that becomes an important symbol). The boys' relationship gets more intense as the country's political temperature rises and the lives of their parents become more polarized by what is essentially a civil war.

Through the eyes of the children in Machuca, we see how vulnerable life was for Chileans in 1973, when the name Augusto Pinochet first became synonymous with military repression. Director Andres Wood was an 8-year-old in Santiago when Pinochet orchestrated his deadly coup. Wood dedicates his film to the real-life priest who was the basis for the film's religious figure. The bullying and violence that Wood portrays is in contrast with the coming-of-age moments that Pedro, Gonzalo and Silvana enjoy while Allende is in power. Machuca isn't preachy. It's a sensitively wrought work that reveals a time in Chile when class differences were both ignored and emphasized, depending on your perspective.

Artificial Eye interview with Andrés Wood: Original Article

How did this project originate? Was it prompted solely by your memories of childhood?
- The film has multiple origins. Initially, I was attracted by an outline by one of the screenwriters on my previous film, LA FIEBRE DEL LOCO (Loco Fever). It was set in 1978 and the protagonists were two teenagers, fans of the film SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and its music. When we discussed the outline, I realised that we were approaching the project from very different angles. It was my wife who made me understand that I really wanted to make a film about my high school experiences. I contacted Roberto Brodsky - we had worked together on a television documentary about that period - and then approached Mamoun Hassan. The screenplay contains some of their own childhood memories.

You had already made two films before MACHUCA. Why wait until your third feature to tackle this period?
- I couldn't say exactly. In my first two films, as in MACHUCA, the themes came to me spontaneously. What I can say, without the slightest doubt, is that we practice a lot of self-censorship in our job. All the more so as the country is still deeply divided by what happened in 1973 - it is not easy to make a film about those events. In some respects, I don't think I was mature enough before. I did not have a clear-cut opinion on what happened at that time.

The film traces the stages of a political awareness forged in the streets, on the battlefield, so to speak.
- Politics was a major part of daily life in the 70s and 80s. Everybody belonged to a party. Although I was very young at the time, all that is still deeply rooted in me.

Is the reaction of Gonzalo Infante typical of middle-class kids of the time? Their ideas are progressive but they are still conscious of their position in society.

- I don't think there is anything stereotypical about Gonzalo. On the contrary, his behaviour is far from ordinary. He gets on so well with Machuca because they have a lot in common, although their political opinions are very different.

The political background is often evoked through shots of inscriptions: slogans on a wall, posters, press cuttings, banners at a demonstration, etc.
- The film's background matches exactly the situation we wanted to depict. We tried to evoke the period through immediately perceptible elements, like the graffiti and the posters, but we also give the viewer more subtle information through the gestures and facial expressions of the protagonists. The film operates at several levels but for me, the social and political context is crucial.

One of the saddest scenes has to be the erasure of the slogan 'No a la guerra civil' [No Civil War].
- It's something of a paradox: the communists wanted to preserve democracy, while both their allies and their enemies were looking for a confrontation. In a sense, that makes the scene in which they discover that the smoke from a fire has obliterated the word 'No' even sadder.

What about the American Marxist priest? Do you see him as a total idealist?
- The real priest, the inspiration for Father MacEnroe, did not really want us to portray him as a Marxist. He was an idealist and frankly not pragmatic, but he was an authentic hero, just as Allende was. Father Whelan enabled me to write the character of Father MacEnroe.

Have you been strongly influenced by other directors or films? Ken Loach, for example, or LLUEVE SOBRE SANTIAGO (RAIN OVER SANTIAGO)?
- I admire many filmmakers, but this film is clearly influenced by the work of François Truffaut and Louis Malle.

Beyond the obvious social divisions at the school, there is also an ethnic divide between children of European and indigenous Indian origin.
- There is a divide which stems from skin colour. But the real gulf between the kids is essentially social and financial.

There are lighter, more carefree moments in the film, as when the two boys kiss a girl for the first time.
- When I started to look back over those years I realised that despite the political troubles, we still had a sense of freedom and happiness. I wanted to get that across in the film.

The rising political tension and the regime change are observed from the point of view of young Gonzalo, so they are abstract factors for a time - until the plunge into appalling violence.
- All the events in the film are observed from Gonzalo's point of view. That gave us a lot of freedom to tell the story, and even more scope to play on what was happening off-screen. I think that is why many people find they can relate to the story. We can all see something of ourselves there, in one way or another.

How did you achieve the light and the colours that evoke the 70s so well?
- We were determined to create an extremely realistic atmosphere which, although harsh, would not lack warmth. We used different materials, styles and colour schemes for the sets. We also had lots of designer objects and different kinds of music. We were tempted to give the film a more radical '70s' style through the use of pop music and hippy culture, but we felt that Chile itself offered a rich mixture of styles. The work of the cameraman, Miguel Joan Littin, and the art director, Rodrigo Bazaes, had a decisive effect on the film.

How did you select the children? Was the casting particularly difficult?
- There are no professional child actors in Chile, so we auditioned and videoed more than 2000 children in schools, theatre workshops, etc. We found the actors for the leading roles only seven months before we started shooting, so that gave us the time to rehearse them. I have very fond memories of that.

Tell me about the music. It plays an important part in the film, particularly in its evocation of the 70s.
- The music was written by Miguel Miranda and Miguel Tobar. We wanted a simple but distinctive score. The original soundtrack mixes pop songs and fragments of classical music.

What do you think of the Chilean filmmakers - Miguel Littin, Raúl Ruiz, Patricio Guzman, Helvio Soto who left the country in 1973?
- I have great respect for them. I wanted this film to be a tribute to them.

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