In the foreign language Oscar nominee “No,” Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal) put the dictator Augusto Pinochet out of power in Chile by changing the messaging and look of the “No” campaign against him. Saavedra wasn’t selling democracy; he was selling a concept, and Chile bought it. Director Pablo Larrain distinctly alters the look and tone of his political drama and sells us on this idea of images and perception.
“No” is set in Chile in 1988, when Augusto Pinochet had been in power for 15 years and was now sponsoring an election as a feeble attempt to legitimize the government in the face of the Americans. The two sides of the campaign, Yes and No, would each get 15 minutes of advertising material on TV a day. Leading up the No campaign is Saavedra, a hot-shot marketing agent putting stolid conviction behind his cheesy soda commercials as rebellious, youthful statements that the public is finally ready to embrace. The head of the Yes campaign is his partner, and the two engage in a creative war in which message, not politics, matter. Continue reading “No (2013)”