false

Directed by: Pablo Larraín

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Luis Gnecco

Running Time: 118 min

I can draw parallelism between this film with the situation in Indonesia in 1998. Although we had no referendum to oust Soeharto, but the fact that people stood up because they are sick and tired of oppression and dictatorship is almost the same. it is also almost a no surprise for me that those who just stood in silent 'enjoying' the status quo are the ones that were ignorant on the fact that although economic developments happened, it must be paid with a steep price of human rights violation.

After 15 years of dictatorship rule in Chile, facing international pressure, Augusto Pinochet's government held a plebiscite (a sort of referendum) in 1988 for Chilean whether to accept or not the continuation for Pinochet's dictatorship. There are only two options; Si (Yes) or No for Chilean and both options have their own camp.

The Si faction are people who support Pinochet and the No are the leftist, opposition and those who suffer under Pinochet's rule. Here, Gael Garcia Bernal plays René, an advertising man who is in the No camp. He must devise (with help from Pinochet's political opponent) a good advertising videos to fill the 15 minute campaign spot in the national television. Meanwhile Rene's boss, Lucho (Alfredo Castro) is on the Si (Yes) camp. They have to come with the best advertising to lure people to vote in which the No camp had it hard, since they also must face intimidation from government agents.

I find it very unique that the boss and the subordinate can still work together although they are on a different political spectrum. The No camp is very creative, they use a dynamic and vibrant advertising to persuade people that dictatorship is bad. Even the Si (Yes) camp start make a parody of the No advertising.

Apart from the good story, technically the film is a breakthrough since it is shot in the video support U-matic 3:4, which was used at the end of the 1980s, to give more realism thus make the blending between the real advertising aired in 1988 and the film smooth.

Nominated for this year's Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscar (together with Amour, Kon Tiki, Rebelle and A Royal Affair), it shows that advertising is a powerful agent of change. Pretty much like a small scale Argo, but happened in South America.