"You have to take this in the current social context," ad man René Saavedra (Gael García Bernal) warns his clients before showing them a fairly standard commercial for a newer, freer kind of soda. No Director Pablo Larraín takes a different approach to telling the story of the Chilean referendum that ousted dictator/General Augusto Pinochet in 1988. A monumental transition from dictatorship to democracy and a charismatic central character could make for a quirky reaffirmation of our principles, but Larraín doesn't settle for that. Instead, he and screenwriter Pedro Peirano focus their videocamera's lens on a complex man, a divided Chile, and a real political/philosophical debate.
Saavedra, an advertising executive who is sucked into the "No" referendum campaign is not just a good salesman or an opponent of Pinochet, he's a man who's as divided as the country. He appreciates the promise of democracy while fearing the post-dictatorship upheaval that the more leftist elements could create. His ex-lover (and mother of his child), an aggressive opponent of the regime who he frequently bails out of jail, is one of the many causes (or manifestations) of Saavedra's relatively ambiguous stance. Putting her political agenda before her responsibilities as a mother, she only sees her son after stints of incarceration and insults Saavedra's bourgeois lifestyle. Saavedra must raise his child while still appearing childlike himself - he coasts around on a skateboard and plays with his son's toys more than his son does - likely caused by his exile stripping him of a normal childhood.