Scenes From a Referendum

No

*** out of ****

Directed by: Pablo Larrain

Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Luis Gnecco, Antonia Zegers and Pascal Montero

Running time: 118 minutes

As legendary media scholar Marshall McLuhan famously mused, “The medium is the message.” Few films examine the implications that other strains of media have on the social discourse (although you can find many that champion the cinema). No, which earned Chile an Oscar nomination for foreign film, is an entertaining political drama about how an appealing TV campaign shook Chile’s political foundation.

In 1988, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet calls a referendum on his rule. If the people vote ‘Yes,’ he would remain in power for eight more years. If they vote ‘No,’ he would step down. Despite some hostility to his reign, there is a high number of voter ambivalence. Some shiver in anxiety with the thought that, if the naysayers triumph, Chile will turn into a socialist country.

In steps a youthful ad-man, René (Gael Garcia Bernal), who specializes in filming cheesy 80s commercials for cola products. He signs on to work on the ‘No’ campaign. René is dismayed that the only angle used in the anti-Pinochet movement is overwhelmingly negative images of social chaos and police brutality. He wants to change the discussion.

Each side gets 15 minutes of free television airtime to grab the public’s eyeballs on the referendum vote. René is uninspired by Pinochet’s reign. With his son, Simon (Pascal Montero), he watches the ‘Yes’ ads at the same moment that he heats up a grilled cheese sandwich in his microwave, a new technology in Chile at the time. The similarity is not lost on the audience: both the ads’ political rhetoric and the sandwich are warmed over.

At the helm of the ‘No’ campaign, René installs a crew more accustomed to buoyantly optimistic commercials. The footage that airs, consequently, in the 15-minute time-slot is pandering but sincere, complete with a catchy jingle, galloping horses, smiling children and a tacky rainbow insignia at the end. It is a shiny and alternative glimpse at life in a democracy (as René asks his compadres at the start, “What’s happier than happiness”), but it gets the public excited and the Pinochet side scurrying to attack the superficial product.

As René, Gael Garcia Bernal adds another quality turn to an already impressive filmography, including Bad Education, Y Tu Mama Tambien and The Motorcycle Diaries. Here, he maintains the boyish exuberance that he displayed in earlier roles, riding a skateboard and slyly cutting through the resistance of his conservative campaign team.

However, here he is elevated to playing a man in control, as well as one in familial conflict, separated from his wife and trying to find time for his son amidst a hectic campaign schedule. Bernal is terrific, mixing in a sharp focus for his day job with an uneasy exasperation for his home life.

No is also a stylistic triumph, and also Chilean director Pablo Larrain’s third film about the Pinochet government. To flash back to an era of sloppy haircuts and flashy commercials, cinematographer Sergio Armstrong films No with an early 1980s video camera. The scenes are low-fi, with a drained vibracy that recalls a home movie that has dried out into fuzziness after many replays.

Larrain also provides most of the social and political context through the advertisements compiled by both sides. This is both a help and hinder to the audience: we get a fascinating glimpse into the archive footage the creative folks on both sides made, but feel slighted by the lack of external evidence to support the claims.

Like sections of the ‘No’ campaign devised by René and his team, Larrain’s film is entertaining but simplistic. For a film whose agenda is to stick with the adage of ‘show, not tell,’ we hear more about the alleged political disarray more than we see it. Details of what happened in Chile after the referendum finished are also lacking. Regardless, No is a wry and sharp political drama with strong performances and a keen insight into one rambunctious referendum.