No (2012)

NO  (2012)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Pablo Larraín
    Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro,
    Luis Gnecco, Antonia Zegers
This is where "Z" meets "The War Room", a tense political drama set in 1980s Chile. The government of dictator Augusto Pinochet has called for a referendum it knows it will win, aiming to gain some legitimacy around the world and eight more years of power at home. The vastly understaffed and underfunded opposition hires a commercial ad man (Gael Garcia Bernal) to mastermind its media campaign, while the government hires the ad man's boss and partner to promote Pinochet. The tactics get brutal, but with 15 minutes of national TV time at their disposal each day, the "No" forces can at least get their message out, if they dare to stand up to the increasingly deadly threats to themselves and their families. Shot sometimes crudely on hand-held video equipment, this looks more like a documentary than a dramatization. You feel like you're there, sitting in on the strategy sessions and dodging clubs in the streets. It's a dirty game, no doubt, with a surprise at the end, and a lingering question about what matters more - holding fast to a moral position, or knowing how to sell it. It's a question that's still being asked, and not just in Chile.