海角大神

Pablo Larra铆n鈥檚 鈥淣o,鈥� starring Gael Garc铆a Bernal, is one of those political films that aims to put us in the very eye of the action. It鈥檚 about the 1988 Chilean plebiscite that ended the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet 15 years after he seized control of the government in a bloody coup. About a third of the film consists of actual documentary footage; the rest was shot with a U-matic video camera, popular at the time. The result is a bland, washed-out seamlessness. Real and staged footage are often indistinguishable.

This visual strategy makes sense aesthetically, but it鈥檚 tough on the eyes 鈥� like watching a feature-length, hand-held home movie. What binds the film together, despite this imperfection and many others, is the central idea: Larra铆n contends, at least for dramatic purposes, that the anti-Pinochet plebiscite was won because of the marketing savvy of Bernal鈥檚 Ren茅 Saavedra, an ad executive, recently returned from exile in Mexico, who is hired to produce TV commercials for the NO faction. (He is apparently a composite of several actual people.)

The 15-minute nightly spots, a concession by the Pinochet regime under international pressure, are aired in the wee hours but nevertheless have a huge popular impact. Fighting resistance from hard-left forces who want him to show images of torture and brutality, Saavedra, whose previous ad triumph was selling soda, creates a sunny campaign featuring a rainbow logo and the slogan 鈥�Chile, happiness is on the way.鈥�

Saavedra鈥檚 father was a prominent Chilean dissident exiled by Pinochet; his disapproving ex-wife (Antonia Zegers) is a left-wing activist with whom he shares custody of their young son (Pascal Montero). He is coaxed into taking on the NO campaign by an old Socialist friend of his father鈥檚 (Luis Gnecco). And yet we are never led to believe that Saavedra is anything but a whiz kid ad man 鈥� a Chilean Don Draper. He鈥檚 a salesman, not a political firebrand.

Larra铆n, whose two previous films about Chile, 鈥�Tony Manero鈥� and 鈥淧ost Mortem,鈥� span聽 Pinochet鈥檚 reign, comes from a wealthy family. His senator father was also president of the main pro-Pinochet party.

This of course leads to speculation that 鈥淣o,鈥� loosely based on a play by Antonio Sk谩rmeta, who also wrote the novel upon which 鈥淚l Postino鈥� is based, is the work of a man looking to make amends. Except that, for some of the real people involved, the movie is anything but progressive. Genaro Arriagada, the director of the NO campaign, recently told The New York Times, 鈥淭he idea that, after 15 years of dictatorship in a politically sophisticated country with strong union and student movements, solid political parties and an active human rights movement, all of a sudden this Mexican advertising guy arrives on his skateboard and says, 鈥楪entleman, this is what you have to do,鈥� that is a caricature.鈥�

The controversy over the factual accuracy of historical drama is all the movie rage right now 鈥� 鈥�Zero Dark Thirty,鈥� 鈥淟incoln,鈥� and 鈥淎rgo鈥� have all taken their lumps 鈥� and 鈥淣o鈥� can, I think, be fairly criticized on the same grounds. Larra铆n, same as Saavedra, and despite the film鈥檚 faux documentary approach, is painting a happy face on the proceedings. Conceptually the film is in conflict with itself: a tough-shelled puffball. Thanks to Bernal鈥檚 quicksilver performance, it nevertheless brings to the fore a quintessential conundrum: Is it possible to 鈥渟ell鈥� revolution to market democracy, in the same way we sell soap and soda? In Larra铆n鈥檚 terms, Saavedra may be a huckster but what resulted from his hucksterism was genuine reform.

This may be too sunny a surmise as well: Pinochet, after all, even after the NOs captured 55 percent of the vote, remained commander of the armed forces until 1998. But the tone of uplift is earned. Larra铆n鈥檚 unarguable point is that, in politics, if we wait for good to issue only from the pure in heart, we will be waiting a very long time. Grade: B (Rated R for language.)