Review of No (2012) by Nick O — 28 Dec 2013

Muddy, broken, small, exclusive. And that's just the lo-fi camerawork "No" director Pablo Larrain decided to use in portraying the 1988 referendum to either oust or re-elect Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet after international scrutiny to push the question of his power onto the people. Now, let's talk how to sell a vote. First you need a spearhead. That's ad exec Rene Saavedra (the chameleon Gael Garcia Bernal), hired by the NO campaign for his experience in the art of big corporate gimmicks.

That's right -- "art". Advertising comes from money, and so does politics. Both are in the business of leaving you chopped and screwed. Heavy stuff, yeah? Nope. In the hands of Larrain and screenwriter Pedro Peirano, "No" is big on laughs, huge and hardcore, lining serious culture shock with jovial '80s elegance, media influence, and the need for compromise under political impasse. It lacks the urgency of recent-period pieces like "Milk" or "Argo", but "No" still works as what strategy goes into getting something stuck in people's heads. So the whole thing's fixed. What matters is how much can be covered up if the scandal is catchy. (83/100).