In the movie Machuca, Gonzalo and Pedro form a very unlikely friendship, one that causes constant pressure on these young children lives. My first thought about the friendship between these two boys is that they need each other. Gonzalo is a very lonely kid, longing to find acceptance. Pedro is a “lower class” citizen in their culture, and he longs for the acceptance of kids like Gonzalo. Their friendship seems to also form from curiosity. They each wonder what the other’s life consist of. Gonzalo lived a rich, sheltered life and Pedro lived a wildly complicated, poor life. Also, Gonzalo’s mother is having a love affair with a wealthy older man. His father is sweet but ineffectual, and lacks the fire to fight for his marriage. He therefore escapes into his friendship with Pedro. Although they obviously notice the distinction of class, it seems as though they ignore it way more than adults would in this situation. The longing for acceptance in both of their lives seems to outweigh the social differences.
The differences between the two social classes were very obvious. One scene, Pedro noticed the Adidas shoes that Gonzalo owned while visiting his home and was over excited. This scene made it very clear that items like a pair of shoes were a luxury never experienced by Pedro. When Gonzalo accepted the ride home from Pedro in the first part of the movie, he was unaccepted by Pedro’s family. He was called a “snob” along with other names dividing their social classes.
In my opinion, the main focus of this movie is the moral test that these children endure during a time in Chile when the government is in an uproar. Their friendship ultimately becomes impossible to bridge. During the uproar in the church when the parents were disputing the priest’s decision to accept the “poor” kids into the school, one mother made the comment “you cannot mix apples and pears.” This comment makes it very clear that these “upper class” citizens feel that are above families like Pedro’s. Both families should value each other as equal citizens of the country, but unfortunately that is not the case.
Monika, I agree with you about the necessity of Gonzalo and Pedro’s friendship. I too thought from very early in the movie that a friendship between the two of them would be a very positive thing in their lives. I also agree that curiosity is probably a factor that helps form their friendship. They each lead a very different life, and I think that each of the boys is surprised when they learn how different their lifestyles truly are. For instance, Pedro is shocked by all of the clothes that Gonzalo has and especially by the Adidas shoes. And for Gonzalo, he seems to be appalled by the bathroom in Pedro’s part of town. You mention that the boys ‘escape’ in their friendship; I think this is a great way to look at it. Gonzalo is able to escape from the family issues he faces at home with his mom’s affair and Pedro is able to get away from is poor living conditions.
ReplyDeleteYou also mention the fact that Silvana calls Gonzalo names such as ‘snob’. This is a very obvious way for us to see how Silvana feels about the rich. She is certainly not reserved with her comments!
I too agree that the main message of the film was the unlikely friendship that formed between the two boys. They did not let the fact that one of them was an ‘apple’ and the other was a ‘pear’ get in the way even when the adults were not as supportive of their friendship.
Erin, you made great points with your response. The two of them were like "an apple and a pear". Very well said.
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