Machuca

Machuca addresses the historical era of Pinochet's rule, who took power of Chile on September 11, 1973. Before Pinochet took control of Chile Salvador Allende was in control. Allende has a longstanding tradition of democratic elections. He gave the people hope and opportunity for social change. This all ended the day Pinochet took office. During the time Allende was in office, Chile was a prosperous country; Latin America model by mid-1960s: 30-35% of the upper and middle classes and even more were in the cities. 84% of the nation were literate. Yet poor rural distribution of land. Salvador Allende was elected to office in 1970. He was a Marxist, medical doctor, and politically quite radical. Within a year, state took over various privately-owned industrial plants. The state realized lower profits to raise workers' wages by as much as 50%, while also carefully controlling inflation. They also help prices down. State expropriated the country's major copper mines (and major source of wealth)-owned by U.S. companies. Allende while in office had plans for land redistribution etc. By 1971, the U.S. had committed $8 million in CIA funds to the support of Allende's opponents. The U.S. supported the paralyzing strike of truckers, the infiltration of a newspaper-El Mercurio-that began then to continually publish denunciations of the Allende government. The U.S. cut off loans to Chile and pushed other western countries to do so as well.

The evidence of the political climate is obvious. At the beginning of the movie Allende visits Soviet Union, there are shots of leftist and rightist newspapers, "NO CIVIL WAR" signs and Gonzalo's family is stockpiling supplies and food. Pre-coup effects are politicas split Gonzalo's family and ultimately split Gonzalo and Machuca. Machuca benefits from the Allende presidency. This angers some parents at school. But Allende's presidency creates hardship for Gonzalo's family.

There is quite a difference in the appearance of our two main characters Gonzalo Infante and Pedro Machuca. Gonzalo has nice clothing, is nicely dressed, attends elite boys' school, is fair-skinned, reads Lone Ranger comics (which come from his whore of a mother's boyfriend), and who is also initially unaware of the poverty in Chile. Machuca on the other hand only has one set of clothing, lives in a makeshift home in the poorest neighborhood, is darker-skinned, and is forced to work after school to help provide for his family. Although their appearances are different, they both have very similar views and character traits. Both boys are somewhat innocent at first, in contrast to Silvana especially who is a neighbor of Machuca's. They are willing to cross social classes for a friendship and above all they are non-judgemental, which is more than their respective family members. Especially Gonzalo's mother, Gonzalo's sister's boyfriend, and Silvana.

One of the key moments in the film are when new students are introduced in the to Gonzalo's class. Father McEnroe encourages the boys to make them feel welcome, but it is apparent that this isn't going to happen. One of the boys says that the new students is the son of the maid. Even as classmates Gonzalo is picked on. We see this in the courtyard when his sandwich is stolen by the young asshole of the movie. The bully intentially pits Gonzalo against Machuca and Gonzalo won't hit him, which only makes their friendship that much stronger. As a result the bully and his friends begin calling Machuca and Gonzalo faggots. Gosh kids are mean! I would've chased after them and hit them. As I said before, Gonzalo's mother is a cheating whore. This is another moment where the two boys bond again. Gonzalo's mother forgets to pick him up from school and Machuca offers to give him a ride home. Here is the point were the political rallies and protests solidify the boys' friendship. At one of the rallies we see Gonzalo's mother, she is speaking to her daughter's boyfriend who got cigarettes from Silvana and didn't pay. Silvana being the little firecracker that she is spit on the car. Here goes the fight...DING DING DING! This is a turning point in the movie. Gonzalo sees this and runs away. He witnesses his mother verbally and physically attack his friend.

At the end of the movie when the troops are in Machuca's neighborhood and one of the troops tries to keep Gonzalo there he points out that he isn't from there. He tells him to look at his clothes! He is wearing clothes that reflect his wealth. In Machuca's eyes this is the ULTIMATE BETRAYAL! Machuca's family is thrown out of their home, Silvana is shot for attacking a member of the military while trying to defend and protect her father.