Click to read the article
Comment
04/01/06
Machuca (2005)
89 %
Reviews Counted: 37 Fresh: 33 Rotten:4 Average Rating: 7.5/10
Consensus:
Machuca is a touchingly bittersweet story of childhood friendship and a demonstration of how the political affects the personal.
Rated: 15
Runtime: 2 hrs
Theatrical Release: 06-05-2005
Synopsis: Set in autumn of 1973, amidst the backdrop of chaotic political upheaval, the Chilean film MACHUCA grounds a heartwrenching coming-of-age tale in a traumatic socio-historical moment. Directed by Andres Wood, a Chilean-born, NYU-schooled filmmaker of astonishing talent, the film... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Mamoun Hassan, Matias Quer, Ariel Mateluna, Aline Kuppenheim, Ernesto Malbran
Reviews
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/09/06
Top Critic
An eloquent and moving take on the tragedy of a society that attacks its own and successfully humanises difficult ideas of political and class loyalty.
05/10/05
Top Critic
One of the most startlingly effective political films in memory--gripping, entertaining, devastating.
02/26/05
Though the film would benefit from further cuts, Machuca still manages to convey the frailty of convictions and the difficulties of growing up -- be it a child or a nation.
05/26/06
Thanks to a pristine eye for period detail and strong acting skills by the entire cast, there's no need for the script to press any points.
01/13/06
Chilean director Andres Wood sharply observes and re-creates the era.
01/12/06
A fine, exciting film that makes a bloody historical event live all over again by showing it through the eyes of children on the edges of the conflict.
12/09/05
[The film] examines how this unstable social climate strains the incipient friendship between two boys.
12/06/05
That rare film that merges the personal and political without sacrificing restraint or intellectual honesty.
11/18/05
Wood is content to pace his film with a methodic leisure that both suits his tone and stretches his story a bit thin.
11/03/05
A visually stirring film that asks many questions about Chile's 1973 coup, without providing any easy answers.
10/27/05
[The film has] an unerring eye for time and place that's counterbalanced by an overly passive, if sympathetic, central character.
10/21/05
Click to read the article
09/26/05
Top Critic
It's a sensitively wrought work that reveals a time in Chile when class differences were both ignored and emphasized, depending on your perspective.
07/15/05
Has moments of vivid clarity and power, mixed randomly with clunky samples of other coming-of-age films.
07/15/05
The film succeeds...in fleshing out the central characters, lending credence to their personal experience of historically sweeping events
07/10/05
As perceptive about youth as were the French New Wave films, and in its wide sympathy and honest outrage extends some of the rich implications of The Motorcycle Diaries.
07/08/05
Machuca doesn't just recite a history lesson for us — it lives it as only two children on the cusp of adulthood can.
06/17/05
Related Forums
MACHUCA gets the nod from Chile for Oscar's Best Foreign Film category
by: Darko, Donnie 3/16/07
by: Darko, Donnie 3/16/07
IGN RSS Feeds