Environmental Politics in Chile - Coursework Example

Machuca: Exploring the 1973 Chile Drawing inspiration from the Chilean military coup or as said in Portuguese – the golpe militar – of 1973, Andres Wood has set the plot of Machuca (2004) more than four decades back. The story centers around two central characters, namely Gonzalo Infante and Pedro Machuca, who are moving towards their adolescence. The film pictures the experiences of the two boys as they come of age from their childhood and start understanding the world, particularly their country, Chile, in more mature ways. The two friends, belonging to different classes of the society, reflect an artifact of two diverse socio-economic conditions and experiences. While Gonzalo belongs to an upper class family, Pedro belongs to a lower class poor family. But the egalitarian enthusiasm of the school priests and fathers leads them to grant scholarship to a few lower class boys so that they can attend school. This moment marks the beginning of a deep friendship between Gonzalo and Pedro, which the director has skillfully employed to construct the later plot of the story in a way that the theme of social classes and the political conditions of Chile become apparent. Then follows an appropriately paced sequence of scenes that delves the audience into the setting of the film: the Chile of 1973. Here onwards, the story unfolds to demonstrate the social, economic, and political conditions of the 1970s Chile through the lens of these two boys. “Class antagonism”, as identified by Martin-Cabrera and Voionmaa (2007), is an evident element of the film which is established quite early. The social experiment carried out by Father McEnroe allows children from shanty towns to obtain scholarship into the private English school run by him. As a result, poor lower class students get to study with their rich upper class counterparts. Gonzalo is among those who belong to the upper class living in a rich household whereas Pedro is a poor boy who lives in the shanty towns nearby. This social experiment allows the two polar classes to attend school together thereby bringing both sides to the extremes of the life they live. In a symbolic way, the social experiment closely resembles a real experiment reflecting the socialist, egalitarian policies of the government led by Salvador Allende. In Machuca (2007), as the new development of the experiment takes place the slum boys are mixed with elite bourgeoisie boys. However, the experiment does not initially seem to be successful as the two antagonistic classes have a hard time integrating and assimilating with the others. Pedro, in particular, is avoided by his other classmates. Gonzalo is the only upper class student who befriends Pedro, a lower class slum boy. Later, both befriend Silvana, another friend from the shanty towns. Despite belonging to an upper class family, Gonzalo finds himself to be friends with a socially inferior hierarchy of schoolmates. Both boys become familiar with each other’s socio-economic conditions as they stand contrastingly different. However, the friendship is broken in a series of socially and politically connected events that mark the end of Allende’s socialist democratic government. The period towards the end of Allende’s regime is also the one that marks the straining of the strong bond of friendship that existed between Gonzalo and Pedro. In a military coup which takes place, the democratic process is disrupted by the military led by General Pinochet. In a series of events that follow the takeover, jet strikes take place across the country and in shanty towns. The television displays the newly head of the state, General Pinochet addressing the pubic claiming that the army has restored the order of the country. However, the ground reality provides the opposite view. Although normalcy is claimed to have established, the streets display a different scene with military soldiers taking over their private English school and attacking the shanty town neighborhood. Wood has intentionally kept the scene graphic to develop an atmosphere of covert war to put the audience on the field. In fact, Pedro’s neighborhood of the working class is the most affected by the takeover characterized by oppressive actions to suppress the lower class. It is during this that Silvana is killed by the soldiers as she tries to save her father who is repeatedly being kicked. Gonzalo manages to escape as he points out to his well-to-do-looking appearance. Gonzalo returns home crying and one thing changes forever, his perception as he experiences the brutalities of the coup as an eye witness. While claiming the restoration of normalcy, the new military government is carrying out marginalized and oppressive operations in the lower class neighborhoods. This presents a paradoxical situation with the newly formed government tries to dominate by force (Carruthers, 2001). Soon after the government take over y General Pinochet, the army carries out mass imprisonments, raids, and demolition of property that speaks against the government or resists compliance. In a scene during the continuing oppression by the army, Gonzalo rides in his bicycle to his mother’s lover’s house. He is ridden back home by the old man, Gonzalo’s mother’s lover. On the way back, Gonzalo notices the wall with a sunken heart as he sees that the wall which was once riddled with graffiti and the note “Say no to Civil War” has been cleared of paint. In a gloomy atmosphere, Gonzalo goes back home with an internal position that becomes nostalgic of the times before the turmoil. The news and television seems to be displaying the government’s perspective of the takeover and the order of the country. So as to legitimize their government, the military takes violent steps on the ground to circumvent any form of resistance or refusal. In the political turmoil that takes place, the event claims several thousand lives and thousands of imprisonments with thousands missing. In particular, the victims mainly include the working and the lower class who are oppressed. In the midst of the military takeover, Gonzalo finds himself to have moved a step further to his adolescence which is pronounced by his unsettling experiences of his friendship breaking away and the loss of his friends at the hands of the soldiers. Machuca (2007) takes the audience to 1973 in Chile where the democratic government has been taken over by a military government through a coup. The news seems to be hiding the truth which can be seen on the streets. Gonzalo is an oddity in his school for befriending shanty town schoolmates. Despite his great friendship with Pedro and Silvana, they drift apart in a time which coincidently coincides tragically with the end of Allende’s government. The film is a portrayal of Chile during the military coup and how its victims suffered at the hands of the dictators while the upper class enjoyed safe resort for no one could harm them. This is one reason why Gonzalo is spared by the army soldiers as he is caught and is being taken into the truck. What saves Gonzalo is his clean appearance and his outlook and he manages to escape the bloody scene. Shock takes over Gonzalo and he returns home on his bicycle with tears rolling down his eyes. It is quite apparent that the film is constructed to reveal the two contrasting side of what was being informed and what was happening in the country in reality. As the story unfolds, the once great friends find themselves to be separated. What binded them together once now sets them apart and the socio-economic difference between the two do become apparent as the dictatorial rule is established in place. References Carruthers, D. (2001). Environmental politics in Chile: legacies of dictatorship and democracy. Third World Quarterly, 22 (3), pp. 343--358. Wood, Andres. (2004). Machuca [film]. Chile: Menemsha Entertainment. Martín-­‐Cabrera, L. & Voionmaa, D. N. (2007). Class Conflict, State of Exception and Radical Justice in Machuca by Andrés Wood. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, 16 (1), pp. 63-­‐80. Read More