MACHUCA

MACHUCA is a coming-of-age story set against one of the most controversial events in the 20th century: the 1973 fall of Salvador Allende?s socialist government, replaced by a military junta. Two 11-year-old boys from vastly different backgrounds are thrown together in a Catholic School, an idealistic experiment by the headmaster priest. Gonzalo Infante is from a well-off family living in an upscale Santiago suburb, while Pedro Machuca lives in poverty in a shanty town. The boys soon become friends, and have no political allegiance: they sell nationalist flags to right-wingers in one neighborhood and Communist flags to leftists in another. They stay with each other?s families and form other ties stemming from that. Even before the government overthrow, politics and family prejudices threaten to tear the boys in different directions. Can a friendship transcend class differences?