No
Director: Pablo Larraín
Year Released: 2012
Rating: 2.0
A stoic ad man (Gael García Bernal) works with his team to create 15-minute television spots to convince the people of oppressed Chile to vote "No" on a 1988 referendum that would ultimately remove fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet from power. As landmark an incident as this was in the country, this depiction is inert and frankly blasé - leading the viewer through the morass is Bernal's character, who barely registers as a person at any point (even his fractured relationship with a radical ex- hardly seems of consequence to him). Though I'd like to believe the sometimes comical, sometimes dead serious TV segments from the "No" campaign had a profound effect on the Chilean people, truth is they were probably already fed up with the Lousy State of Things and just wanted a change. "No" to the U.S. government installing monsters to rule South America, "Yes" to the sea bass.
