ALLAN HUNTER at the movies.

ANYONE WHO REMEMBERS Au Revoir Les Enfants should warm to Machuca. Like the Louis Malle classic, it is able to reflect a turbulent time in national history through the unlikely friendship of two schoolboys.

Here, the setting is Chile in 1973 when the socialist government of Salvador Allende came under increasing pressure from outside forces and the nation hovered on the brink of civil war.
 
Machuca is a political film but one that is entirely accessible thanks to the human story at its core. Inspired by true events, it is set in an elite school for boys where the liberal priest Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran) preaches tolerance and decides to open his doors to pupils of all social classes.

Shanty town resident Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) is among the first intake and finds an ally in Gonzalo Infante (Matias Quer). Neglected by his affluent parents and bullied by his peers, Infante takes solace in a friendship that becomes a miniature portrait of what was happening across the country.
 
The boys view the sharp contrast of their lives with a sense of curiosity and wonder, but tensions undermine the relationship when Infante becomes besotted with Machuca’s cousin Silvana (Manuela Martelli). Differences of class and privilege mean that the relationship is as doomed as Chile’s socialist dream.

Slow-moving but always involving, the film’s success in Chile has prompted a confrontation with the ghosts of the past. It is an important film, but also a warm and compelling story that marks out writer-director Andres Wood as a talent to watch.
 
MACHUCA
National release, selected cinemas
Director: Andres Wood
Stars: Matias Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Manuela Martelli, Ernesto Malbran
Screenwriter: Robert Brodsky, Mamoun Hassan, Andres Wood
Certificate: 15
Running time:  121 mins
Country: Chile
Year: 2004
 

© Allan Hunter, 2005