The characters in this film are very vivid and three-dimensional, rather than the stereotyped black and white like in some films.
The school's headmaster, Father McEnroe - who has an Irish surname, which I suspect may represent leftists in Europe such as human rights groups - displayed the solemnity and fraternity unique to the clergy. When the children of the two classes clashed, the priest not only accused the white children of being too selfish and not respectful, but also accused Machuca of them: "Do you think you can get their respect with your fists?" Facing the soldiers in the auditorium , at the cost of a priest declaring that the place is no longer sacred to God. "El Señor ya no está acá."
And the protagonist's mother, one of the most important parts of the scene is her cheating - which happens to be a scene often used by filmmakers to satirize bourgeois - and in addition, Silvana spit on her car window and was attacked by other housewives He spoke for her when he scolded. It's just that Silvana doesn't appreciate it, and still sips a p*ta...I think she must be disappointed and angry.
Silvana (which appears to be an Italian name) is portrayed as a girl from a proletarios family, with a typical radical left image. She argues that the rich bourgeois are all social assholes, all momios in the Chilean population. But again, by no means is the film intended to belittle the proletarians—the hatred is undoubtedly not very rational. When she learned that the woman was the protagonist's mother, not only did she not restrain herself, but instead, she shouted even more p*ta, mi*rda. And when the protagonist responded with the same or similar words because the bicycle was taken, she showed unprecedented anger. Her father was a violent alcoholic. This character setting is just contrary to the simple and kind image of laborers in some leftists' mouths, and shows a more real world of proletariado. He ruthlessly questioned whether the three could truly be "friends", and also pointed out the different realities that their children of different classes would face when they grew up - even though the three of them were initially reluctant to believe and unwilling to accept.
This is how class contradictions intensify. Whether it's between the three of them, or the students at the school, or the Chilean society in the film.
But society should have rich and poor, and they should have the same rights.
Increased conflict is not a good thing for anyone. The failure of priests is the same as the failure of class reconciliation. The priest's cambios was not only questioned by the parents, but also failed. The death of the pig on the farm symbolizes not only the failure of the priest's attempt to bring the children together, but also the failure of reconciliation between the two classes in Chile. Pera and manzana, may not have been able to become one.
The film's portrayal of military politics and dictadura is not as straightforward and cruel as in "Dignity Colony", but gradual - from the repression and reluctance from the forced haircut to the anxiety of being forced to change school teachers and unease, and finally to the bloody cleansing of the lower classes in the true sense.
It ends with a quote from Gaitan, the Colombian politician who was assassinated in 1948 - "El pueblo unido jamás será vencido."
"A united people will never be defeated."
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