Excellent movie!

A poignant story about children sufferings. The superb acting of the three children who are the protagonists of the film is superb and a credit to the film's director, Andres Wood.

My undestanding of the story comes from sharing my childhood with those of the children in the film, I was 8 in 1973 in Chile. Andres Wood has done a skillfull and amazingly careful threading of the adult and childre's perspective of an ongoing unfortunate social issue. He manages to touch every emotion, but unltimately leaving you full of life, which is what we need in assisting us to correct the social injustices of the world! Fantastic!!!… Expand

This film is a must-see and should be playing to sold-out audiences. It is a beautiful and tender story, set against the backdrop of Chile under Allende, of a friendship between two boys from very different backgrounds, the upper middle-class Gonzalo Infante and Pedro Machuca from a neighbouring slum, brought together by the social experiment happening in the Chile of the time and through the intervention of a priest, Father McEnroe, at the exclusive Saint Patrick's English School. It recounts their budding friendship, their adventures and experiences, many with an older girl, Silvana, a neighbour of Machuca's, and the growing tensions leading up to the Pinochet coup, a coup foretold, and the nightmare that it leads to. A brilliant, endearing and engaging film - not to be missed!… Expand

You have to see it. i personally liked that there is not narration in the movie the enables everybody including the audience t o havea personal feeling for the film.

It takes place in politically unstable Chile, but it is seen through the innocence of a child. One political party from another makes no difference to a child. Their eyes are purer and their thoughts are more truthful. Charged with such sadness and misery. Yet, there's so much innocence inside, which causes so much hope. All in all, it's a story of friendship. Can poor and rich be friends. The drunk father says that they can't. And in the end you find out whether or not that's true.… Expand

This the best movie I've ever seen.

Rented this film from blockbuster, watched it twice and then bought it. One of the best foreign language movies I've EVER seen. Would love to see a sequel set in the present day where the two boys meet up after all those years apart. would be really interesting. Great soundtrack too!

Excellent movie!

Best foreign film of 2004.

This is a tewrrific story of boyhood friendship set in the social upheaval and class stugle of 1970's Chile. The characters are compelling, but the editing might have been more thoughtful.

One of the best movies I have ever seen! It depicts Chile's political events through the friendship of 2 children - a boy from a shanty town and an upper class boy. Both of them are meant to have a future depending on their background and opportunities it provides, although being children they don't know it themselves and only the human aspect of their friendship is important to them (as it naturally is for children). Very moving, sweet story, which makes you think.… Expand

Arguably the most viewer-friendly depiction of a bloody era in Chile. I lived in Santiago at the time, and I'm amazed about how closely the makers were able to reproduce the real street scenes; the public phone cabins, vehicles, fashion, social drama, interior design, period media, ... fascinating.

Ehhh. The scene with condensed milk was totally uncalled for and unnerving. The soundtrack ruined it for me, the music that was playing was often inappropriate for the tone of the scene. Think upbeat mariachi music at a funeral. Gonzalo was kind of a "chubby mope."

If I could I would rate this above 10. Very well developed and played charactors. The story was excelent. This shows the true wall of rich and poor (applied everywhere) and yet the common dinaminator of being a human being having the same needs. I grow in Iran and this was so close to home for me.