The film Machuca, by Andrs Wood, explores a series of social relations Coursework

The film Machuca, by Andrs Wood, explores a series of social relations in Chile in 1973, ranging from inter- personal, familial, community, political organizations, and the Chilean nation - Coursework Example While Gonzalo belongs to an upper class family, Pedro belongs to a lower class poor family. But the egalitarian enthusiasm of the school priests and fathers leads them to grant scholarship to a few lower class boys so that they can attend school. This moment marks the beginning of a deep friendship between Gonzalo and Pedro, which the director has skillfully employed to construct the later plot of the story in a way that the theme of social classes and the political conditions of Chile become apparent. Then follows an appropriately paced sequence of scenes that delves the audience into the setting of the film: the Chile of 1973. Here onwards, the story unfolds to demonstrate the social, economic, and political conditions of the 1970s Chile through the lens of these two boys. â€Å"Class antagonism†, as identified by Martin-Cabrera and Voionmaa (2007), is an evident element of the film which is established quite early. The social experiment carried out by Father McEnroe allows children from shanty towns to obtain scholarship into the private English school run by him. As a result, poor lower class students get to study with their rich upper class counterparts. Gonzalo is among those who belong to the upper class living in a rich household whereas Pedro is a poor boy who lives in the shanty towns nearby. This social experiment allows the two polar classes to attend school together thereby bringing both sides to the extremes of the life they live. In a symbolic way, the social experiment closely resembles a real experiment reflecting the socialist, egalitarian policies of the government led by Salvador Allende. In Machuca (2007), as the new development of the experiment takes place the slum boys are mixed with elite bourgeoisie boys. However, the ex periment does not initially seem to be successful as the two antagonistic classes have a hard time integrating and assimilating with the