"No is an absolute must-watch, and not only for politically minded people with an interest in that particular time in Chile, but for any cinephile"

Director Pablo Larrain's third and final instalment of his “accidental” trilogy has deservedly earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, the first time that a Chilean film has been up for the prestigious award.

As with the first two movies; Tony Manero and Post-Mortem, No is set during Augosto Pinochet’s dictatorial rule of Chile and it focuses on the referendum that eventually brought a close to his time as president (although he remained head of the armed forces until 1997).

Under severe international pressure - especially from their main ally the US - Pinochet, sure that his brutal rule would have frightened Chileans from voting ‘No’, agreed to let Chileans have a plebiscite to decide whether his permanence in power should be extended by a further eight years.  

The film begins as opposition parties from the ‘No’ camp approach young advertising executive Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal) to spearhead the campaign and put across their message to the frightened and oppressed Chilean people. Having only a fraction of air-time in comparison to the pro-government forces and being outspent 30 to one, Saavedra decides in order to defeat Pinochet they must lead a prosperous, amicable campaign as opposed to one that merely focuses on the horrific aspects of the dictator.

Saavedra is under pressure from his radical activist and estranged wife Veronica Caravajal (Antonia Zegeres) to not participate in a referendum that she believes to be a fraudulent attempt by the dictator to legitimize his grip on power. He then has to balance that with the fact that his boss, Lucho Guzman (Alfredo Castro) is a staunch supporter of Pinochet. The tension in the film is high throughout and Saavedra’s cool persona is pushed to its limits as the secret police even threaten his young son Simon (Pascal Montero).

Shot with U-matic cameras and using a plethora of real footage to make for a hugely authentic depiction, Larrain takes the audience to a very dark place in his country’s past, ingeniously managing to convey the social and political mood of totalitarianism and also the ecstasy of a nation that has just liberated herself. 

No is an absolute must-watch, and not only for politically minded people with an interest in that particular time in Chile, but for any cinephile. While the overused cliché “feel-good” wouldn’t do it justice, the ultimate triumph of hope over fear and humanity over malevolence makes it, well, ultimately feel-good. Larrain has undoubtedly earned his Academy Award nomination for this film, and one sincerely hopes that come February 24, he has a small, shiny gold man to accompany him home.