ADIÓS, MR. PINOCHET. 

In 1988, dictator Augusto Pinochet allows the people of Chile to vote on the future of his regime; ad man René Saavedra (Gael García Bernal) is hired by the opposition to work on their campaign.

A film whose ambition is to show the world what the latter days of Pinochet’s regime looked like to ordinary Chileans – a limited sense of freedom, at least for those who could adapt. The film shows the internal debate within the ”No” side regarding the nature of the campaign – emphasizing a positive attitude becomes a controversial choice for those who had lost friends and families.

Compelling and realistic, even though shooting the film on grainy video tape likely amused the filmmakers more than audiences.

2012-Chile-U.S.-France. 110 min. Color. Directed by Pablo Larraín. Screenplay: Pedro Peirano. Play: Antonio Skármeta (”El Plebiscito”). Cast: Gael García Bernal (René Saavedra), Alfredo Castro (Luis ”Lucho” Guzmán), Antónia Zegers (Verónica Carvajal), Luis Gnecco, Néstor Cantillana, Marcial Tagle. 

Trivia: Co-produced by Larraín. Several members of the actual ”No” campaign were hired either for smaller roles or to play themselves. 

Last word: “Pedro Peirano, the writer, is so smart, he was able to compress this enormous amount of information we had into this story, and also be fun, and funny, and dark, and epic at the same time. It was so funny to shoot, we were laughing all the time when we did it. Making a movie, for me, it’s so important to have fun when you do it, especially when you’re shooting it, because otherwise it’s such hard work.” (Larraín, Indiewire)