Andrés Wood is the filmmaker behind Chile´s most succesful movie: "Machuca", in local theaters since the beginning of August. The movie is deeply connected with our identity, with a painful focus on our class differences.

By Rosario Mena

"Machuca" is already a landmark in the history of Chilean cinema, because of the quality of the actors' work, its direction, filmmaking and general production. The movie emotionally moves the audience, based on events of our recent history: the months around the 1973 military coup, a period generally remembered with prejudices and stereotypes.

The life of Pedro Machuca (Ariel Mateluna) is that of a poor kid, suddenly immersed in a high-class school, where he becomes friend with Gonzalo Infante (Matías Quer). His experience is based on an academic experiment made during the early 70s at Santiago´s Saint George´s School, and of which Andrés Wood, the film director, was also part of.

The kids' view is the starting point of the non-political focus over the tense social climate of the time, under Salvador Allende's administration and just months before the military coup. The story is told with sobriety and coherence between the social and historical elements, full of moving scenes deeply connected with Chile´s collective memory. Digital technology has been applied to erase the recent traces that have transformed the shape of Santiago.

-From a personal perspective, is this your most important movie, in the sense that it involves your own memories, your childhood experiences, your emotions?

-Yes and no. All the movies one makes have to be made over personal ground. What "Machuca" does have, and what is independent from the story that it tells, is that a very personal fiber (not necessarily mine) crosses the whole movie.

-The school experience and the context of the movie are part of our general idiosyncrasy. How much do you feel this idiosyncrasy has changed over the years, in terms of our way of talking, of behaving, of dividing our sociey in classes?

-The most relevant change is that real inter-social relations have become even more rare. Because of that, class-consciousness is much more serious nowadays. The rest has not changed much.

-About historical facts, what were your sources?

-My subjective memory, oral tales and also books, newspapers, television and documentaries. My idea was never to make an official version of those years.

-About ambiance, how did you define the urban landscape of the time? Pictures, documents?

-It were the same sources, but the idea was that nothing should distract us from the characters. It is very tempting to use a lot of music, or base yourself on fashion or icons of the time. We avoided that focus.