The so-called dictatorship, white terror, and political reform seem to be common historical memories of many countries in the world. How the media reflects popular trends or self-censorship in the field of media has many things that can be compared with Taiwan. But now that the rule of the strongman has become history, I don’t think the restraints and challenges that media people have to face have disappeared. It may be that they have to face new enemies or transform them into different forms. Of course, this is not a movie. The subject to be described.
In the 1988 Chilean referendum under international pressure, according to the description in the movie, the pros and cons camps can launch 15 minutes of publicity advertisements a month before the vote, while the programs launched by the NO camps that oppose the re-election of the dictator are. It was the first time in more than ten years that a voice against the government was broadcast on television. This was the breakthrough point of the opposition camp in the electronic media for a long time. I guess this naturally attracted the attention of the people across the country.
The offensive and defensive of the two camps presented in the film are complicated and not complicated, and simple but not simple. In short, the male protagonist, as a young advertiser, participates in the No camp’s publicity activities. He believes that the focus of advertising is to oppose fear and hatred and convey Feeling of happiness. Not only did the Yes camp use all kinds of terrifying propaganda, but there are also elders in the No camp who believe that it is the key to liquidate the other party's past crimes and restore the historical truth. But the protagonist thinks that this alone is not enough to win the victory from the beginning, which also sets the theme of the film.
The same lines were used at the beginning and the end of the movie to emphasize that Chile, the country, has reached a time for change. The people are ready to face new issues and challenges. After all, Chile is a forward-looking country. From a positive perspective, rather than liquidating the hatred of the past, the people living in the present are the driving force for the country to move forward. This is probably the main dilemma of all campaign propaganda. Should it be positive or negative? Faced with the blood, tears and hatred of history, there may not be an absolutely correct answer. Which party you choose will inevitably sacrifice something. The film raises these conflicts, but this is not the real theme.
The film used a lot of precious historical films. In order to match the quality of the TV picture at that time, the film was also shot with Video to produce a rough, blurry and discolored picture quality and a 4:3 TV ratio. This is also a method of using image style to create a retro effect. , It’s just that I personally prefer fine and high-quality images. I always feel that high-quality images are an approximation to the real experience, and playing rough images is a deliberate distortion of reality. Although this may be a prejudice, I use historical TV images. The illusion of remaking the memory of the times is a kind of filtering and simplification, just as the pain and expectations of a country in a movie can only be turned into a TV commercial for half an hour a day.
So I think the biggest theme of this film may be to reconfirm the value of this period of history. Imagine that the 15-minute daily promotional program this month is a very precious historical memory in Chile, and the film is reconstructed from these advertising films in the 1980s. The story behind these films is a call of emotion and memory, reaffirming the courage and talent of this group of advertising creatives, as well as the choices of the Chilean people at that time. This is why these advertising films have become the focus of the film. On the contrary, the film author’s interpretation of history and the inner description of the characters are not special. Even from the current point of view, there are not many wonderful descriptions of creative advertising. .
Of course, the movie as a whole is pretty good. The director has a certain sense of texture and emotion. Especially at the end of the celebration scene where everyone is happy and excited. The actor just walks home quietly with his son through the crowd. The contrast between stillness and history is quite interesting. Then the tension and changes in the relationship between the protagonist and his boss who belonged to the Yes camp before and after the movie are also quite interesting. Although this part seems not to be handled enough, there is such a fact that although there are conflicts in political positions, the work is still official. Public bosses are also really rare.
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