One supposes that most international audiences will know the result of the two recent referenda on constitutional reform in Chile, the first in 2022, the second in 2023. For those who don’t, then no spoilers here, although a cryptic clue may be that the film opens with protests on the street while, near the end, marchers stream past a sole policeman only stop to shake his hand and proclaim, “thank you friend.”
In between these interactions we see debate, lobbying, canvassing and further demonstrations from a wide range of constituencies and interested parties to get change, improvement and even acknowledgement written into the statute, whether for the right to education, clean water or curtailed logging, as well as to define women’s, children’s and LGBTQ+ rights.
We also observe parliamentary process as claims are heard and either applauded or dismissed by elected representatives.
“Why do you, the writers of Chile’s new constitution, who have the opportunity in your hands, not write it for everyone?” one lobbyist demands to know. “That’s why you were elected.”
A conservative politician complains: “One group claims to be the victim of something they didn’t personally suffer, and another group must offer reparations for something they didn’t do.”
Eventually the draft constitution is written, at which point, as we see towards the film’s conclusion, it must go to the electorate for approval or rejection…
“There was a feeling that a new constitution was going to be born, but in the film it was our job as documentary filmmakers not to let you know the result ahead of time; to keep the doubt always present,” says co-director Felipe Morgado.
He further explains a filmmaking approach which eschews comment or exposition. “MAFI [has] been filming for years in the format in which the film has been shot: static shot and direct sound,” he says. “It is an exercise to stop and observe, which besides coming from historical practice of cinema, also made us take some distance from the political moment and be patient with the generalized anxiety brought by the crisis and uncertainty. Not moving the camera and observing for a long time was a way of reflecting, of waiting for an unrepeatable moment that would give us clues and signs of what was happening at that moment.”
This was even achieved within the Chilean parliamentary chamber which, according to co-director Tamara Uribe had never been done before and was difficult to arrange. “Fortunately, our documentary filming method is not very invasive and the team is very small, so we didn’t bother [people] in the halls, and most important, our continuous presence on location allowed us to gain confidence little by little and get better and better access,” she says.
The film’s title is of significance given how Chilean president Sebastián Piñera (who was killed in a helicopter crash in February 2024) would refer to his country as an oasis of calm and prosperity within an economically unstable region.
“Beyond the irony, it seemed to us that the specific word contained a very visual idea of Chile’s image of supposed success in Latin America, but nothing was further from reality, and we could see that in the territory,” says Uribe. “As a collective we had been working for years in reflecting on national identity, questioning it through its own images and landscapes in tension, trying to find the country’s own fractures in the images. In that sense it seemed to us a very suggestive title, still an irony, which also contained the environmental dimension, which is an important part of our vision in the film.”
When the UK went to the polls in 2016 to vote during the Brexit referendum, the film community was just about unanimous in its desire to stay within Europe (or at least that was the impression we all had). Was there a similar unanimity across the Chilean audiovisual sector?
“Fortunately, the film community has a great diversity of realities and points of view that make it a very complex community, and that is reflected in general in the cultural sector in Chile where projects are not necessarily politically aligned, so I have no doubt that there were cultural workers who felt a very deep disappointment with this opportunity, but also on the other hand there was never so much hope,” Morgado expresses.
Uribe is delighted with the film’s selection and world premiere in Berlin, referring to the “daring works” that surface in the Forum section. “We are interested in being able to share the film with all its audiences and premiering at Berlinale opens many doors for us in that sense. Our documentary raises questions about issues that are universal and reflect the challenges that all of humanity is facing. That is why we believe it is a film that can be very challenging and attractive to international audiences.”
