Even though Chilean contemporary cinema is practically completely unknown to Croatian audience, which is a consequence of the facts that there are no Chilean films whatsoever in multiplexes that are dominated by Hollywood mainstream production, and that they are a rare find even at film festivals. Once a year one film from this “country of contrast”, as the home country of Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, Roberto Bolaño and Antonio Skármeta is referred to in tourist brochures, may be “caught” on Croatian television in the wee hours of the night. Nevertheless, this does not mean that there aren’t any intriguing films that bare the “made in Chile“ sign. In any case, cult authors such as the famous screenwriter, dramatist, writer, poet, comic-book writer, actor and true spiritual leader Alejandro Jodorowsky, and the very talented director, screenwriter and composer Alejandro Amenábar are responsible for the international film as well as wider cultural affirmation of Chile. However, in the land of Isabel Allende and Luis Sepúlveda many talented filmmakers are creating attractive and often provocative films that, sadly, remain unknown in our part of the world. In spite of that, more informed film fans will undoubtedly know of Pablo Larrain as the author of the award-winning crime drama Tony Manero, the historical-satirical-political drama No, which was nominated for an Oscar and won an award in Cannes, and the free adaptation of the praised theatre play by Antonio Skármeta Referendum, as well as Andrés Wood as the author of the excellent political faction drama Machuca and the equally successful bio musical drama Violeta Went to Heaven (Violeta se fue a los cielos, 2012) which won the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

The intriguing drama Desastres Naturales by the co-screenwriter and director Bernard Quesney gives evidence that there are above-average and even quite valuable films being made in Chile. This is the director’s second film after his popular comedy Special Effects (Efectos Especiales, 2011), which was an unobtrusive but clearly politicized piece with elements of dark humor and satire. When he directed his second film Quesnay was 25 years old and in it, as well as in his debut film, he demonstrated stylistic and implementing thoughtfulness and maturity as well as a firm standpoint and a noteworthy level of social awareness and social and political engagement. It is a film with a balanced and solid pace, constant ironic-satirical detachment when it comes to profiling his characters and their interrelations, as well as the creation of dramatic situations, gradation of tension and skillful use of black humor in order to stress the conceptual and semantic levels of the whole. The conditional protagonist, or better to say antagonist who starts the action and initiates chaos, is the already quite old teacher Raquel. She is a capricious woman who, as we learn in the prologue, does not like to follow traditional pedagogical measures. Before the end of the school year she walks into her former classroom and kicks out the young teacher who replaced her. She takes over the class and starts to implement fierce punishments and harsh methods. Later we find out that the class had been taken away from her and she had been fired. Nevertheless, we do not learn anything about the reasons for which she got fired and can only speculate about the details of her relationship to students. However, the majority of the class takes her side. It becomes evident that the only thing she wants is to get her old job back and to teach the same class – senior class that will soon graduate and go to college. During the day the entire class goes wild and becomes completely uncontrollable. From time to time the author stops the narration and through simple scenes that were embellished with hand-drawn animation effectively denotes the flow of time. Dynamic narration is additionally sped up by lively dialogues. The conceptual level is extended by the possibility of a wider political interpretation, especially when we learn that similar events have happened once before and that the school headmaster wants to avoid the arrival of police and a bigger scandal at any cost, as she fears what might happen to her and all the employees. The class and the school represent the society as a whole when the rebellion turns into a revolution. The question remains whether new and younger but ethically and in many other respects dubious powers are always the right choice for a better future. Or is this society sentenced to repeat its history?

Elements of satire can be detected in the humorous drama Family Holiday (Vacaciones en Familia), second feature film by the Chilean director Ricardo Carrasco. This is a story about troubles of a family Arteaga from Santiago, whose members hide the secret about the father’s business and financial failure in front of their neighbors and pretend to have left for a month-long vacation to Brazil, while in fact they spend that month hiding in their house. They live by candle light and garbage starts to pile up in the house, conflicts between family members escalate but also there appears to be an increase in the demonstration of mutual love. Screenwriter Rodrigo Antonio Norero and director Carrasco constantly intertwine elements of comedy of situation and character with social satire while from time to time also relying on burlesque and absurdity. This is especially evident in the subplot about the nosey neighbor who is drawn by the noise and lights in the family’s house, thus making their situation that much harder. At the same time, satire is intentionally subdued and quite subtle, which does not minimize its significance, and the accent is on ironical and comical over-exaggeration of characters’ attributes and typical relationships between family members – from the generational gap to re-awakening that takes place after a long period of waned feelings due to everyday routine. Family Holiday is a simple and entertaining, altruistic and funny small film with a heart. (Josip Grozdanić)