No: Movie Review

No: Movie Review

Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers
Director: Pablo Larrain

It's to 1988 we go with this official entrant for the 2013 Oscars from Chile.

Bernal plays Rene Saavedra, an ad man brought in to try and help ensure the oppressed people of Chile vote No in a referendum called by Augusto Pinochet. The referendum is urging the people to vote Yes to allowing Pinochet to stay in power, as calls grow outside of Chile to get him out of government and to free the people.

But Saavedra helps concoct an advertising campaign through the 15 minutes the opposition is allowed nightly on the TV during the 27 days campaigning window.

However, as Saavedra and his team, with limited resources, manage to start to get the message of No out there, the net around them grows tighter as intimidation and scare tactics really kick in. But, with an apathetic populace, can Saavedra and his campaign manage to do for Chile what's not been done for years?

No is a curious beast of a film.

Shot on a 1983 U-matic video camera, it certainly evokes the era, with its grainy fuzzy visuals and browns and drab colouring. It also takes a little while to get used to such a look but given that it's mixed with action from the 80s, it's a bold directorial choice and one which does stand out.

In among the commercials of the time (some of which are quite comical), there's the real sense of the birth of dirty politics and marketing tactics to sway a populace and it's a fascinating document on that and potentially the start of viral marketing in many ways.

But No is also a slow, long and at times, laborious film which could have lost some of its overall run time. Bernal spends a lot of the time looking a little aloof and it takes a while to warm to his character - not through any acting issues but simply because the film's not really a character piece at all, more an examination of what happened.

A few powerful moments shine through - such as a group of mothers who sing and dance while intoning their sons are among the "disappeared" - and there's a complex but realistic relationship between Saavedra and his politically opposite counterpart who happens to be his co-worker in an ad agency.

All in all, No is worth a watch - but it never quite gets under your skin in the way you'd expect - but as a document of the time, it's a morally interesting debate and a fascinating examination of how governments should never underestimate the power of the people when it comes to politics.

Just say Yes.

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