7. Machuca (2004, Chile)
Machuca tells the story of two young boys living in Chile during the months before the Military intervention that took the communist president Salvador Allende from the power. The film portrays the tension lived in Santiago during those times and the events lived by the citizens through the eyes of kids that don't know exactly what is going on. Gonzalez Infante is a well-educated and shy boy from a wealthy family and that goes to one of the best private school in Chile. Pedro Machuca is a poor kid who lives in the slums and has the opportunity to study in Infante's school when the director, a communist Priest, decides to give full scholarships to some kids that can't afford to pay to go there. Soon, they become friends and Gonzalez leaves the bubble he grew up in and starts seeing the reality at the same time he observes his country changing in ways he can't fully understand. The movie is set during the beginning of Chile's darkest period: after Allende's death, the militaries took the power and it started a bloody and repressive dictatorship controlled by General Pinochet. However, Machuca isn't just an historical testimony, it is also a sensible and heart-warming portrait of a friendship between two kids from very different worlds that have the chance to take a glance in each other's realities before being forced to go back to their owns.