No (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #34 extract: No (2012)

No is a film that manages to simultaneously tell a straight story and stand outside itself. In such, whilst the Chilean plebiscite (electoral vote) of 1988 is the focus of this narrative with the "no" vote against the re-installation of Pinochet, the Chilean dictator, being the side the narrative assumes, there is a constant atmosphere of discontent, confusion and discord about the film. So, though the democratic overthrow of Pinochet is celebrated, this film maintains a blunt critique of the manner in which the "no" vote was campaigned for with horrifically cheap advertising, politics, ideologies and philosophies. 

What makes No worth seeing is its ability to weigh the good against the bad and see revolution for what it is: a mere pathway to further difficulty, struggle and change that involves a whole nation's self-awareness.