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.
Larrain shoots the whole film in 4:3 aspect ratio and gives it a boxy, ‘80s haze that allows the new footage to match up perfectly with the original commercials. The look makes “No” feel deadpan and satirical. And yet the self-serious tone and subject matter imposed on the script force us additionally to view this whole story within a lens. It explains why we don’t just see the ad, but also see it on TV, a frame within a frame, a box within a box.
The No Campaign won by changing the messaging of murders and disappearances caused by the warmonger in power and sold happiness instead. Humor, viral weirdness and fundamental marketing techniques won out, and today that concept feels wonderfully modern.
But in the hands of another director, “No” could’ve been a straight farce, a whimsical look at how happy, goofy colors defeated the evil regime and won the freedom for a nation. Larrain steps back and explores the nature of democracy, happiness, society and creativity through the lens of jingles and catch-phrases.
Even though this election got a tyrant out of power in a legal way, the outcome was not the point, nor is the victory the point of the movie. It’s about the message and the medium with which it was achieved. Larrain has a wonderful vehicle for conveying this film of fear, fulfillment and imagination in Bernal, who sports a leather jacket and full beard with cold resolve. His performance, along with the old-fashioned soap opera aesthetic, makes “No” one of the more mystique and intrigue filled films of the year.
3 ½ stars