Youthful innocence sacrificed on the altar of politics

There is no separating the personal from the political in “Machuca.” This film’s determination to tell a story of profound societal dislocation in intensely human terms favors neither part of the equation. In fact, director-co-writer Andres Wood feels you cannot hope to understand one aspect of his fatally intertwined story unless you are willing to understand them both.

Set in the time leading up to the violent military overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende on Sept. 11, 1973, “Machuca” is one of those special films that broadens and deepens as it goes on. Its story of how grave and painful the divisions in Chilean society were, and how those tensions affected the relationship between a pair of 11-year-old boys, will surprise you by how far it goes and how troubling its outcome is.

Wood was 8 years old when the coup that brought Gen. Augusto Pinochet to power took place, and, he’s written, “Nobody has ever touched the loss of the democracy in Chile from this innocent perspective. Children experience events, but they do not judge. They simply live, and bear witness.”

Wood’s was an approach that hit a nerve in a Chile still coming to terms with the Pinochet era, and the film became one of that country’s most successful. It has touched a similar chord in Latin America as a whole, where its moving examination of some of that continent’s most incendiary issues led to film festival awards in half a dozen countries. Even in this country, no matter what your knowledge of the politics of the area, “Machuca’s” honesty about the end of innocence and the gaining of experience will move you more than you anticipate.

Though Wood takes pains to characterize his film as fiction, albeit fiction based on remembrance, “Machuca’s” ability to feel accurate to the life of its time is one of its greatest assets. That epoch is clearly a memory its creator cannot shake, and as his testament progresses, we can see why.

“Machuca” opens not with its namesake but with a boy named Gonzalo Infante (Matias Quer) carefully buttoning his white shirt, tucking it into his pants and putting on his tie, all in preparation for a day at St. Patrick’s English School, one of Santiago’s top educational establishments.

Though he doesn’t know it, this will be a significant day for Gonzalo. His liberal headmaster, Father McEnroe (Ernesto Malbran), has decided to integrate this upper-class enclave by giving scholarships to poor kids from the school’s neighborhood. One of those boys, Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna), ends up sitting behind Gonzalo, and, despite hazing and hostility from classmates, the boys gradually form a tentative friendship.

A sweet boy and not at all the kind to cause trouble, Gonzalo is in particular need of a friend because he is an outsider in his own family. His older sister is boy crazy, his father is disengaged, and though his mother (a vibrant Aline Kuppenheim) is loving, her regular liaison with an older man is the focus of her attention.

Given the uninvolving nature of his home relationships, Gonzalo can’t help but be drawn into the sense of vivid life that surrounds the impoverished Machuca and his extended family, including his exciting and attractive cousin Silvana (Manuela Martelli). Gonzalo is soon living as much of a double life as his mother, joining his new friends as equal-opportunity vendors who sell flags to wave to demonstrators of both the pro- and anti-Allende factions.

This kind of cross-cultural friendship would be difficult under any circumstances, but it is especially so at this point in “Machuca’s” story, when politics, which has been in the background for the first part of the film, comes gradually to the fore, just as it did in Chile.

With hoarding by merchants, the killing of dogs for food by the poor and the country on the verge of nobody knew what, the class division that bedevils the country sweeps St. Patrick’s into its vortex, with results that no one could have anticipated.

Several factors make “Machuca” as involving as it is, starting with strong performances, especially by the actors playing the two boys. They were picked after a yearlong search and then had the benefit of a seven-month rehearsal and improvisation period.

Unusual for a film that is so strong on character, “Machuca” has an excellent visual sense that helps give its numerous demonstrations and action set pieces real veracity. And the fine soundtrack, by Miguel Miranda and Jose Miguel Tobar, makes sure things stay lively.

The best thing about “Machuca,” however, is its exceptionally balanced tone. There is no sense of special pleading about Wood’s direction, no giving in to easy sentimentality. No matter where it goes, it gives you the sense that this is the way it must have been, and it is hard to ask for more than that.

*

‘Machuca’

No MPAA rating

Times guidelines: Adult subject matter

A Menemsha Films release. Director Andres Wood. Producers Andres Wood, Gerardo Herrero, Mamoun Hassan. Screenplay Roberto Brodsky, Mamoun Hassan, Andres Wood. Cinematographer Miguel Joan Littin. Editor Fernando Pardo. Running time: 2 hours.

In limited release.