Though the film would benefit from further cuts, Machuca still manages to convey the frailty of convictions and the difficulties of growing up -- be it a child or a nation.
Machuca (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:37
Fresh:33
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Machuca is a touchingly bittersweet story of childhood friendship and a demonstration of how the political affects the personal.
Theatrical Release:Jan 19, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: Set in autumn of 1973, amidst the backdrop of chaotic political upheaval, the Chilean film MACHUCA grounds a heartwrenching coming-of-age tale in a traumatic socio-historical moment. Directed by... Set in autumn of 1973, amidst the backdrop of chaotic political upheaval, the Chilean film MACHUCA grounds a heartwrenching coming-of-age tale in a traumatic socio-historical moment. Directed by Andres Wood, a Chilean-born, NYU-schooled filmmaker of astonishing talent, the film unfolds through the eyes of Gonzalo, a quiet 12-year-old boy from an upscale Santiago suburb. With his freckled cheeks and bowl haircut, Gonzalo resembles Bud Cort in HAROLD AND MAUDE, awkward and wise beyond his years. When the idealistic headmaster of his private boys school, Father McEnroe, accepts a few poor children on scholarship, Gonzalo finds himself drawn to Machuca, an intense yet warm boy from the slums of the city. After accompanying Machuca and his uncle to sell paraphernalia at two political rallies--one advocating the socialist government of Salvador Allende and the other calling for its overthrow--Gonzalo becomes a fixture in Machuca's life. In a memorable scene involving condensed milk, the two boys even share their first messy kiss with the same girl, a hardened yet spirited neighbor of Machuca. Amidst the blossoming of a life-altering friendship are constant hints of the political turmoil and class polarization that are disrupting the boys' country. When President Allende is eventually overthrown in a violent military coup, the youths must face the irreparable divide of their divergent socioeconomic positions. Richly written and performed as a textured relationship with elements of homoeroticism, the sentiments of friendship, love, and growing up are universal, yet they are certainly not timeless. Here, at least, they cannot transcend the conditions that surround them. [More]
Starring: Mamoun Hassan, Matias Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Aline Kuppenheim
Starring: Mamoun Hassan, Matias Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Aline Kuppenheim, Ernesto Malbran, Francisco Reyes, Tamara Acosta
Director: Andres Wood
Director: Andres Wood
Screenwriter: Andres Wood
Studio: Menemsha
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Reviews for Machuca
Thanks to a pristine eye for period detail and strong acting skills by the entire cast, there's no need for the script to press any points.
Chilean director Andres Wood sharply observes and re-creates the era.
A fine, exciting film that makes a bloody historical event live all over again by showing it through the eyes of children on the edges of the conflict.
[The film] examines how this unstable social climate strains the incipient friendship between two boys.
That rare film that merges the personal and political without sacrificing restraint or intellectual honesty.
Wood is content to pace his film with a methodic leisure that both suits his tone and stretches his story a bit thin.
A visually stirring film that asks many questions about Chile's 1973 coup, without providing any easy answers.
[The film has] an unerring eye for time and place that's counterbalanced by an overly passive, if sympathetic, central character.
It's a sensitively wrought work that reveals a time in Chile when class differences were both ignored and emphasized, depending on your perspective.
Has moments of vivid clarity and power, mixed randomly with clunky samples of other coming-of-age films.
The film succeeds...in fleshing out the central characters, lending credence to their personal experience of historically sweeping events
As perceptive about youth as were the French New Wave films, and in its wide sympathy and honest outrage extends some of the rich implications of The Motorcycle Diaries.
Machuca doesn't just recite a history lesson for us — it lives it as only two children on the cusp of adulthood can.
As the story moves along, visual and narrative motifs enhance the ideology.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| 19% 19% | Transformers: Revenge … |
| 55% 55% | Orphan |
| 43% 43% | The Proposal |
| 26% 26% | Land of the Lost |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 88% 88% | Ballast |
| 67% 67% | The Merry Gentleman |
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