Books & Arts

Machuca

by Rajani | February 2005

Two 11-year old boys of drastically differing socioeconomic classes can be friends for some time, but in five years one of them will be starting college and the other will be cleaning toilets; in 10 years, one of them will be working in his father's company and the other will be cleaning toilets; in 15 years, one of them will own his father's company and the other will still be cleaning toilets.

This is, at least, the view of a drunkard in Andres Wood's stirring tale of the coming-of-age of two friends—Gonzalo Infante (Matias Quer) and Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) in 1973 Chile, just before the military coup that ended the socialist government of Salvador Allende's presidency.

Infante and Machuca meet when the private, English speaking school that Infante attends decides to admit a number of children from the neighbouring slums on scholarships. Tensions abound, inevitably, in a mix of the usual schoolyard episodes with the added added dynamics of class differences. Still, the class divisions do not seem to matter very much at first. Infante and Machuca become friends, and both are tormented by the class bullies.

Wood's depiction of the intrusion of the political (based on memories from his own childhood) on children's lives is subtle. A child, even a seemingly quietly observant one like Infante, takes in his surroundings but has not yet the consciousness to distinguish between what is significantly political and what is ordinary circumstance. Silvana (Manuela Martelli), a neighbour of Machuca's, represents a much keener political consciousness—although friends with Infante, she can barely contain her rage towards him when she discovers that one of the women she has had a confrontation with at a nationalist demonstrations is, in fact, his mother.

Scenes of competing nationalist and communist demonstrations is one of the ways in which Wood depicts the intrusion of political circumstance on the children's lives. The three of them help Silvana's uncle to exploit the situation by selling flags at both demonstrations. Yet it is clear which side of the competition, although they participate in both, really moves them. The energy of the crowd, especially through the eyes of Infante who is being introduced to a new Santiago by Machuca, is beautifully presented. This is, in no small part, due to the excellent music score by Miguel Miranda and Jose Miguel Tobar.

Knowledge of the historical events that are looming ahead prepare the viewer for the moment when politics affects these children in a far more direct and brutal way, however. One feels it coming when Infante, hopelessly in love with the tough but charming Silvana, stares at her and Machuca comfortably asleep in Silvana's father's truck. They do not have the conflicting loyalties that Infante intensely feels. The euphoria of participating in the communist demonstrations is doused by the dread of seeing his mother and his sister's boyfriend at the anti-communist demonstration. This anticipation is weaved into the whole film—one example is the difference that the boys find when they visit each other's homes. While Infante holds his breath to go into his friend's bathroom, Machuca marvels at his friend's clothes, books and Adidas shoes.

When the dreaded coup arrives, the difference in the way it affects the two boys is inevitably dramatic. The boys' school, previously the stage for egalitarian, socialist policies, is the first venue of rapid and drastic change. The atmosphere of the school, represented by the sincere and devoted principal, Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran), soon turns cold as it is put under military supervision. Machuca's neighbourhood is affected in a way that Infante would not even be aware of but for the friendship between the boys, since the newspapers declare that the country is in a state of normalcy. It is a moment of immense growth for the boys—the political is no longer in the background. One child is thrown into a situation over which he has absolutely no power, despite his bold and optimistic nature. The other is presented with an unbearable moral choice, of which only one is actually viable—the betrayal of a friendship and the distancing of oneself from a previously unimagined "other".

As Infante leaves Machuca's neighbourhood on his bicycle, the screen of smoke towards which he rides is fluid and blurry, as if seen through his eyes. This film is, indeed, history through the eyes of a child. It cannot have a happy conclusion, and does not bear any convenient messages. It is, in one sense, about the process by which class awareness arises and rigidifies in children. It is less, however, about politics or class than it is about the helplessness of children, grief and, finally, loss. The loss of a life, the loss of a friendship and the finality of a loss of innocence.

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Machuca

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