Johnny 100 Pesos

I give them 2/10, although I partially think they deserve less. The only thing that is appreciated is the first five minutes, mainly because it promises a lot. But for the rest of the film, there's a lousy script, montage, acting, and horrible creative decisions. One of the worst movies I have ever seen.

This film presents realistic details of the problems, temptations and other dilemmas faced by the lower middle class and poor youth in urban Santiago (Chile). Though not too different from the plight of poorer urban teenagers worldwide, this drama is nevertheless worthwhile for those particularly interested in Chile. It also features good action scenes, and strong acting.

This 1994 film is based on a true story and directed by Gustavo Graef-Marino. Johnny, a young Chilean student, becomes involved with a group of criminals who decide to rob a clandestine money exchange office that fronts as a video store in an apartment building in Santiago. They pretend that they are customers and suddenly whip out guns and demand the money. The police are alerted and they decide to take the employees as hostages. The whole ordeal spirals out of control when the media gets involved and what was supposed to be a minor crime becomes the center of attention while all of Chile watches it unfold on their TV screens.

There is a real critique of the media and the role that they play in situations like this. The TV reporter is very persistent and will stop at nothing to get a story that will capture the interest of the viewers. He goes to interview people from Johnny's life and ends up pushing them past their breaking point just for ratings.

Overall this movie is a bit strange at times, but it is definitely dramatic and contains an unexpected ending.

Johnny one hundred pesos was an ambitious project, with an important message about a culture in a strained transition between a military dictatorship and democracy. Despite its strong intentions, however, the movie came together in such a way as to make it uncomfortable to watch altogether. It is heavy on the symbolism, which can be a good thing -- the media's involvement, the role of Chile's youth, and even the timing of the event is significant. And it does have a strong message behind it. But the movie starts to sacrifice plot for the sake of symbolism; a series of nonsensical events occur that don't make sense apart from the symbolic meaning behind them. Add to this the strange, generally unlikeable, almost painful-to-watch main character and the movie just was not salvageable in my opinion, even with its important message. Not an enjoyable experience overall.

I can say one thing about this movie: it's full of energy. And maybe looks like just another action movie, but the story has many chilean themes, like the orphan boy, the faceless police and the power of the media in a society with no other connection with the people's life. Very interesting, very good acted.