One of my big pet peeves is when people call a movie “important.” This is usually code for “abstract and unsupported preaching.” There is one movie, however, for which I would be willing to concede such normally annoying descriptors as “important,” “beautiful,” and “haunting.” That movie is Machuca. It is a Chilean movie, set in the year 1973 when military general Agosto Pinochet overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende. It centers around the friendship of two young boys, each from opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum. I know I’m probably biased because of the time I spent in Chile, but seriously you guys, this is a fabulous movie that you should make every effort to see and understand. The movie is pretty clearly anti-Pinochet, but it also doesn’t try to gloss over the problems of the socialist government. Incidentally, that’s exactly where I settled after struggling with the problems of both the military and socialist regimes. Anyway, Machuca has many merits, political angle aside. Even if you never see it, at least let me describe one scene to you that absolutely chilled me to my core.
Much of the movie centers around a posh, private, all-boys Catholic school that the boys attend. Gonzalo Infante (the rich boy) is sent to the school by his parents. Pedro Machuca (the poor boy) is at the school on a scholarship, a concept Father McEnroe, the priest/headmaster, believes strongly in. After the military overthrow, Father McEnroe is removed from his position and replaced with Pinochet pawns. As the new military-sympathetic priest gives mass, Father McEnroe walks into the chapel. He opens the cupboard that holds the Communion elements, takes out the chalice, and starts to eat the Communion wafers, choking and sobbing all the while. When he is finished, he says “This place is not sacred anymore.” He snuffs out the candle with his fingers, then states “God is here no longer.” The image of Father McEnroe eating the Communion wafers is one that will haunt me for a long time. It is extremely jarring. The Lord’s Supper is an incredibly sacred act, and it made me sick to my stomach to watch someone eat all of the wafers, especially a priest of such strong faith. I don’t even know how to explain it- you have to see the scene, and you probably need to have had some experience with Communion in order to understand the gravity of it.
I’ve done such a bad job of explaining this movie. All I can say is please go look up the Chilean military overthrow on Wikipedia, then go see Machuca. You will be better for it.
