Being a Politics Student, I’m aware that politicians rarely give straight answers. Don’t you all wish they could just be more direct and full of clarity? Referendums are the tap water of politics, clear and simple. A good example of referendums at work can be shown in No, a picture based on the real story of how, through the power of advertising, a young advertising executive Renee Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal), brought down the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in a plebiscite. The plebiscite would determine whether General Pinochet would stay in power for another eight years or not.

Each side is given 15 minutes every night to broadcast an advertisement presenting their point of view. Saavedra uses this time to present positive films, including ones where women sing ‘No me gusta, no’ with great jollity. The ads themselves are modelled on ‘Free’ Cola commercials, with the emphasis on ‘free’, and are mundane in every sense of the word.

Saavedra’s Don Draper-esque character is a little mad in how he runs the ad campaign. Unwilling to show negativity and be a little banal, you are never quite sure if the good guy will win in the end. He doesn’t have any of the political incorrectness that Mad Men’s male characters display; no, the ad men in this film are idealists. Spells of comedy helps to show how wonderfully bonkers both sides of the battle are and the 80s televisual realism helps immerse viewers into 1980s Santiago.

This film, which just missed out on an Oscar, is no Mad Men. It is not a flashy tailored suit, but your favourite woolly cardigan; warm, simple, and something you feel strongly attached to. But it does leave one basic question; is politics a market? Can David Cameron please provide a straight answer on that one?

words: Harry Wise
images: Moviestore/ Rex Features