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http://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/films/machuca?c=4806
"Machuca" is a feature length film directed by Andrés Wood, a Chilean, who experienced the military coup against Salvador Allende in Chile as a child. The movie is set during the turbulent presidency of Allende just before the coup in Santiago in 1973. The film portrays themes of friendship, loss of innocence and coming of age in a tense political context. The employs Marxist theory in its plot, through the constant action taken by the people as well as the reforms implemented by the Allende government in order to reduce the disparity between the rich and the poor. The overall style of the film however, reflects Structuralism in the stark contrasts of good and bad, right and wrong.
The film is shot from the point of view of a ten-year-old child named Gonzalo Infante. Stylistically this perspective lends itself to Structuralism because, "the basic preposition of structuralism is that humans engage with, make sense of, and function in the world through sets of binary oppositions- good/bad, right/left..."(Gray 2010: 53). Gonzalo is of the upper class and is from a non-indigenous, wealthy family that benefits form capitalist society and struggles under the reforms imposed by Allende (Wood 2004). Pedro Mauchca another of the main characters is a young indigenous boy who comes to Gonzalo's school via integration reforms and they become friends (Wood 2004). The use of the point of view of children tends to draw a more contrasting picture of the political situation in which there are more obviously "good" and "bad" characters. For example, the priest, Padre McEnroe is head of Gonzalo's school and is portrayed as a very good man a Marxist and for Allende and his reforms. The good and bad contrasts come into play between the children at school as well; one child who is against the integration of the indigenous children constantly bullies Gonzalo throughout the film. The Structuralist style of the film causes the Marxist argument in the plot to be more pronounced through the intense contrast of good and bad, rich and poor, Indigenous and non-Indigenous (Gray 2010).
The plot of the film is Marxist in nature because it problematizes the protests of the divided country regarding the re-distribution of land and integration of Indigenous population into the education system (Wood 2004 and Gray 2010). The conflict between classes and control of resources and education by the rich demonstrates Karl Marx's emphasis on the importance of the material conditions and labour of individuals in society (Turner 2007 and McGee et.al 2007). The many scenes of protest throughout the film also inform Marx's notion that,
"'Real history' is made by real men and women acting within and upon socially, politically and culturally constituted relationships, institutions and conventions, reproducing some and changing others"(Roseberry 1997).
as well as, Marx's emphasis on action (McGee et.al. 2007). This also reflects his theories about how the people have to be the ones who create the change in society and that government to implemented laws will ultimately fail (Roseberry 1997).
Marxism is infused throughout this film, but is especially pronounced in the end. The final scenes are very sad and portray the futility of socialism as instituted by the government (Roseberry 1997). In one of the last scenes of the movie an Indigenous girl Silvana who was friends with both Pedro Machuca and Gonzalo is shot and killed by soldiers against the Allende government (Wood 2004). In order to escape the persecution the Indigenous are enduring by being harassed and killed by the soldiers Gonzalo says to the soldier, "look at me", his appearance as white and wealthy being enough to separate him from his friends (Wood 2004). Through this realism, the viewer is forced to understand that equality and the Marxist Utopia that the Priest imagines is possible, but not via governmental methods but through the uniting of the people.
Bibliography
Gray, Gordon
2010. Film Theory. In Cinema: A Visual Anthropology. Berg, Oxford International Publishers Ltd. (Chapter 2) Pp. 35-73.
Marx, Karl and Fredrich Engels
Feurebach: Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlook (From The German Ideology1845-1846). In Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. R. Jon McGee, Richard L. Warms Chapter 3. Chapter 4.
Roseberry, William
1997. "Marx and Anthropology" in Annu. Rev. Anthropol. Department of Anthropology, Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, New York,
NY (26) pp. 25-46.
Turner, Terence
2008. "Marxian Theory: An Anthropological Perspective" in Anthropological Theory 8(43) pp. 43-55.
Wood, Andrés et.al
2004. "Machuca" Directed by Andrés Wood. Written by Mamoun Hassan and Andrés Wood. 121 min. Paraiso Producciones. Chile.
The structural analysis you chose represent well that moment in the Chilean history, a moment of great contradictions, tensions and binaries. You use these binaries well when you claim "The Structuralist style of the film causes the Marxist argument in the plot to be more pronounced through the intense contrast of good and bad, rich and poor, Indigenous and non-Indigenous ", i.e. demonstrate the value of the structural analysis to the understanding of the film. I would have organized it a bit different, but overall, this is a very good post.
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