Machuca: Think of the children

Machuca is set in Chile just before the coup against Salvador Allende in September 1973.

Allende was trying to do reforms that included a more equitable distribution of wealth, which apparently resulted in shortages, long lines, and a thriving black market. Against this background there are protests both for and against the government.

A priest at a prestigious private school (Father McEnroe, based on the real-life Gerardo Whelan) is making his own efforts toward that more equitable future, which includes the students attempting to produce food, but also bringing in five underprivileged children into the school in an attempt at integration.

That is how Gonzalo, upper-class and already enrolled, meets Pedro, and Pedro's neighbor Silvana, and becomes familiar with the shantytown where they live. 

Gonzalo appears to have already not been happy with the social structure of the school, being the smarter kid who is expected to give answers to the ringleader, and being really unhappy with his mother's affair with an older, wealthier man. Perhaps that is why it is so easy for him to begin visiting the shantytown and even selling things at protests with Pedro, Silvana, and Silvana's father. There are rough spots in the friendship, but he seems happy with it.

So when the movie ends with the residents of the shantytown being carted off, but not before Silvana is shot dead, and Gonzalo is only able to leave safely because of his lighter skin and nicer clothes, and there are no traces of the shantytown left in the final shot, well, how do you move on from that?

There is no clarity on what happens to Pedro and his family. Thousands were arrested and held in a stadium, many were tortured and murdered, but not all of the thousands. It is hard to feel optimistic, but eventually ending up poor somewhere else does seem possible.

For Gonzalo, it is hard to say how he will turn out. The coup's windfall to the wealthy means more goodies for his family through his mother's lover, and Gonzalo appears to have stopped fighting that. At the same time, when the popular kid submits his test paper for Gonzalo's help again, the only thing Gonzalo writes before returning it is "Asshole".

There are parts during the movie where I was very angry with this 11 year old boy, wanting him to be better. I kept reminding myself that he was young, and his choices were limited. The question then becomes how much his exposure to other types of lives and the oppression they face will influence him as an adult.

There were other children at the school that were much worse. A meeting with the parents makes it clear that their children are exactly what you would expect. 

On the other side, it was not surprising that Silvana could not stop fighting the soldiers long enough to save her life; there was this anger ready to erupt all along. Another one of the boys sent to the school had a similar latent anger, though otherwise he remained silent, something rare for Silvana.

Of course it matters how we raise children, and what resources they have and the society in which they are raised. That makes it easy to look around and feel despair.

I found myself remembering Ciao Professore!, a 1992 Italian movie.

A transplanted professor finds a less extreme situation, but there is still a vast range of differences in the level of opportunity and supervision and help for his students. One in particular is a little thug, but whose heart you see; it is easy to care about him and hope things work out.

The alternative title of the movie -- and the last words of what may be the only essay that Raffaele ever writes -- are "I hope I make it."

I hope so too.

Ciao Professore! is set in a suburb of Naples, a city known (at least at the time) for crime, corruption, and difficulties getting basic services like trash pickup. That was the backdrop for the problems of Marco Tullio's students, including Raffaele.

For the children of Machuca, there was crime and corruption and poverty, but there were also people trying to change that. Of course they were going to have opposition from those who profited from the old system, but even those trying to help were unsuccessful in their efforts. The gardens and livestock that Father McEnroe had put in place died, and Allende's efforts were seen as the reason for shortages. (I can't rule out sabotage playing a role on both levels.)

That means that part of attempting to make things better is also planning to not make things worse. Maybe there will be downturns that can't be avoided, but can they be mitigated? Can they be planned for with messaging to help people accept them?

And do your plans include that some people are pretty horrible? Because that's a thing.

Dealing with all of that is needed, and not just for the children.