Illiterate (Las analfabetas).

Moises Sepulveda debut film is a beautifully observed study of a middle-aged woman who has spent the last fifty years hiding the fact that she can neither read nor write. Ximena is a lonely, sad moody woman who lives by her self in the shabby apartment that her father left her. She spends her day smoking and tending plants in her small garden virtually oblivious to the world that goes on around her. That is until an old friend, who used to read the newspaper to her, sends her daughter to enquire if Ximena would like her to read to her. A rather tetchy on/off relationship follows. Jackeline is a frustrated trainee teacher who can’t find a job but loves teaching so when she finds out that the older woman’s father has left her a letter which she has never been able to read, she offers to teach Ximena to read and write.

 

Paulina Garcia.

Valentina Muhr.

This wonderfully entertaining two hander stars Paulina Garcia who repeats her flawless performance as the lonely hermit Ximena first performed in Pablo Paredes play on which the movie is based. She recently won the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in Gloria (2013). The wonderfully expressive Valentina Muhr plays Jackeline. This delightfully touching movie is the latest example of the brilliant cinema coming out of Chile in the last few years, including No (2012), Post Mortem (2010) and Tony Manero (2008). Hopefully, following the success of Gloria, Illiterate (2013) may get a general release, if it does make every effort to see it, you will not  disappointed.

A tetchy relationship develops. 

No.

Pablo Larrain’s latest film forms the third part of a trilogy that started in 2008 with Tony Manero, set in Santiago in 1978 with its deserted streets, shuttered shop fronts and walls covered with painted over posters, the director illustrated how working class Chileans retreat from the realities of life in a film he described as an allegory of life under the Pinochet regime. The penultimate film was Post Mortem (2010) a movie that does a great job of portraying its story as a metaphor for the missing in Chile. A part of history that evil people and their British friends attempted to sweep under the carpet along with a multitude of corpses. The third and final part of the trilogy is No (2012) where Larrain asks critical questions about the fate of Chile, propaganda and the commercialization of politics.

The story deals with the 1988 plebiscite that led to Pinochet being forced to relinquish power. Coincidently it was the USA who had helped put the man in power in the first place who insisted that the General ‘appear’ to put his house in order by allowing the people to choose if he should go, or stay in power for further eight years. With the fascist junta imagining themselves immune, well they did have complete control over the media along with the apparatus to fix the result, and the opposition party’s declaring that they intended to boycott the referendum, it was assumed that Pinochet would be there for ever. But with a change of mind, that involved forming a united front involving 16 socially responsible political parties, the opposition decided to fight for a ‘No’ vote. To this end they invited a successful advertising executive Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal) to come up with a campaign that would persuade people that Chile’s future is worth registering a ‘No’ vote for. But Saavedra is unsure, his boss Lucho Guzman (Larrain regular Alfredo Castro) works for the ‘Yes’ campaign while his estranged wife Veronica (Larrain’s wife Antonia Zegers), who he is still in love with and the mother of his young son Simon, is a left wing activist.

The No campaign gathers momentum. 

The film demonstrates what can be done to change the political status quo when like-minded people come together to oust a despot and his supporters. Strangely enough it reflects what’s beginning to happen in our own green and pleasant land with the formation of the People’s Assembly that is gathering strength boosted by Ken Loach’s latest film The Spirit of 45 (2012). Its aims are to have a coherent political grouping to fight austerity and give ordinary people a voice now that the Labour Party have deserted its core support. With the Con-Dem coalition moving ever further to the right and placing their support firmly behind the privileged classes, in turn ignoring the welfare of the most venerable people in this country, its not before time. Anyway I’ve diversified; Larrain’s fourth directorial outing is a well-acted documentary style movie that’s filmed using a ¾ inch Sony U-matic magnetic tape which was widely used by the Television news program’s in Chile in the 1980’s adding a slightly washed out coloring which along with its 4:3 aspect fit’s well with the archive film included and adds realism to a film that’s less dark and more assessable than the previous parts of the trilogy but certainly no less compelling.

Rene Saavendra walks the line.

Post Mortem.

On the 11th September 1973 Chile had a coup. The Army had been planning to overthrow President Allende and it was Augusto Pinochet, who was originally a trusted aid of the President, who betrayed him and led the Army in this unprecedented period of violence.

Mario Cornejo (Alfredo Castro) is part of a closed group of workers that form the autopsy team of Doctor Castillo that carries out the Post Mortem (2010) on ex-president Allende.

Mario is in love with his neighbour Nancy Puelma (Antonia Zegers) who is dancer at a cabaret theatre but unfortunately his feelings are not reciprocated. Mario's work colleague, Sandra (Amparo Noguea), is in love with him but because of Mario's infatuation with his attractive neighbour he feels unable to return Sandra's advances. Mario is unable to deal with this stressful state of affairs and retreats further into his isolated existence.

Mario Cornejo with his beloved Nancy.

Nancy Puelma is the daughter of a local Communist leader, and a women devoted to her dancing career but because of her age and increasing weight lose she is sacked from the cabaret. Mario does his best to support Nancy, but she prefers a younger man Victor, a friend of her father and a Communist. But during the dark days that followed the coup the military arrest and detain her father and her brother. Because of their association with what the authorities deem 'criminals' she and Victor are forced to go into hiding.

Rounding up the 'criminals' in Chile 1973.

The films main character is based on the real life Mario Cornejo, a man who worked in the Legal Medical Services in 1973 and who was in charge of the autopsy of Salvador Allende. The director was forced to carry out a lot of research about this very private and discrete person. With minimal information he managed to build a profile for the fictional Mario, a loner with no family, in fact an ordinary man who unwittingly becomes a significant figure in history, when caught in the wrong place at the right time! The movie does a great job of portraying this story as a metaphor for the missing in Chile. A part of history that evil people and their British friends attempted to sweep under the carpet along with the multitude of corpses.

A film of stark images that are not always obvious at first. Post Mortem is a continuation of Pablo Larrain’s previous film Tony Manero (2008) and the second part of an intended trilogy to show how the environment we live in effects our lives where love can turn to hate and understanding to rage. The most poignant scene is where Nancy and Mario are seated around the supper table and start to weep together for no apparently obvious reason seemingly forming a bond. Highly recommended for these who enjoy the study of human kind and relationships.

Tony Manero

Undoubtedly Chile’s most important film release of 2008 was Pablo Larrain’s Tony Manero, which was presented in the ‘Directors Fortnight Selection’ at the Cannes Film Festival. Larrain’s second feature is an impressive thriller about a psychopath obsessed with John Travolta’s character in Saturday Night Fever. With its graphic sex, unexplained violence and strong performances it’s an interesting but rather bizarre film from a country whose film industry is still allegedly undeveloped. Set in Santiago in 1978 with its deserted streets, shuttered shop fronts and walls covered with painted over posters, the director illustrates how working class Chileans retreat from the realities of life in a film he described as an allegory of life under the Pinochet regime. Alfred Castro, who also co-wrote the film, plays Raul Peralta an unsmiling disturbed man who’s preoccupied with the idea of impersonating Tony Manero. Raul leads a small group of dancers regularly performing at a bar located in the city when he unleashes his passion by imitating his idol. His dream of being recognized as a successful showbiz star is about to become a reality when the national TV announces a ‘Tony Manero’ impersonating contest. His urge to reproduce his idols likeness occasions some very strange behaviour!