# No (2012 film)
*No* is a 2012 Chilean historical drama film directed by [Pablo Larraín](https://www.edgepedia.org/pablo-larrain), in which a young advertising executive, René Saavedra ([Gael García Bernal](https://www.edgepedia.org/gael-garcia-bernal)), leads the opposition campaign urging Chileans to vote "No" in the 1988 plebiscite on [Augusto Pinochet](https://www.edgepedia.org/augusto-pinochet)'s continued rule. Written by Pedro Peirano and based on the unproduced play *El plebiscito* by Chilean novelist Antonio Skármeta, the film won the Art Cinema Award at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[1](https://cinechile.cl/pelicula/no/) • [2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2059255/awards/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / screenwriter | Pablo Larraín; screenplay by Pedro Peirano, based on the play *El plebiscito* by Antonio Skármeta[1](https://cinechile.cl/pelicula/no/) |
| Setting | Chile, 1988, during the plebiscite on extending Pinochet's rule for another eight years[2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) |
| Lead cast | Gael García Bernal (René Saavedra), Alfredo Castro (Lucho Guzmán), Luis Gnecco (Urrutia), Antonia Zegers (Verónica Carvajal)[4](https://www.ecartelera.com/peliculas/no/reparto/) |
| Visual method | Shot on 1983 Ikegami tube U-matic analog video cameras in a 4:3 format, making new footage nearly indistinguishable from 1980s archival material[5](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/no-2012-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze) • [6](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2013/films/no) |
| Major honors | Art Cinema Award, Cannes Directors' Fortnight 2012; Grand Coral, First Prize, Havana 2012; Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2059255/awards/) |
| Production | Fabula, Participant Media, Canana Films, Funny Balloons; producers Juan de Dios Larraín and Daniel Marc Dreifuss; executive producers Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King[1](https://cinechile.cl/pelicula/no/) • [2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) |
| US release | Sony Pictures Classics, limited release February 15, 2013; US gross $2.3 million[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and campaign strategy
René Saavedra, a Chilean advertising executive who returns after exile in Mexico, is recruited by opposition leaders to lead the NO campaign despite limited resources and constant scrutiny by the regime's secret police, the DINA.[1](https://cinechile.cl/pelicula/no/) • [2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) Reviewing the opposition's existing material, he concludes that grim montages of killings, torture, tanks, and tear gas will alienate voters. Instead he builds the campaign around a single optimistic idea, "Happiness is coming," delivered with jingles and celebrity endorsements, an approach that meets resistance from colleagues who see it as an affront to those who suffered under the dictatorship.[2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/)
The film dramatizes this tension through Saavedra's personal circle. His boss Lucho Guzmán (Alfredo Castro) is a high-ranking member of Pinochet's advisory board, and his estranged wife Verónica (Antonia Zegers) is a radical activist who considers the plebiscite a fraud and refuses to vote.[2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) The YES side counters with footage of Pinochet alongside [Henry Kissinger](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-kissinger) and [Pope John Paul II](https://www.edgepedia.org/pope-john-paul-ii), while the NO spots feature [Jane Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/jane-fonda) and Christopher Reeve.[5](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/no-2012-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)
## Historical background
The film is set against the 1988 Chilean plebiscite. Under international pressure, Pinochet's military junta called a referendum in which the country would vote yes or no on extending his rule for another eight years. The opposition coalition of 16 political parties was given 15 minutes of daily television airtime for the mandated 27 days, with the rest of the government-controlled airtime belonging to the YES campaign, and was outspent by the regime's side an estimated 30 to 1.[2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) • [5](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/no-2012-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze) In the actual vote, 97% of registered voters turned out and the NO campaign won almost 56% of the vote, ending the dictatorship.[2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/)
## Production and visual style
**Analog video as a device.** Larraín shot the film on 1983 Ikegami tube U-matic cameras, the same format used for nearly all the archival footage in the film, so that viewers cannot tell what is archive and what was staged for the production; at one press screening, audience members praised the "actor" playing Pinochet, who was Pinochet himself in archival material.[5](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/no-2012-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze) The director described the choice as both a way of creating a seamless combination of time, space, and material and a statement against the aesthetic hegemony of HD.[2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) The film is presented in an almost square 4:3 aspect ratio.[8](https://eternalitytan.com/2020/04/26/no-2012/)
The film also incorporates the actual commercial material the opposition created for its 1988 campaign, re-creating the behind-the-scenes filming around it.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/no/) Reported running times vary by source, from 110 minutes at the [New York Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-film-festival) to 118 minutes listed by the International Film Festival Rotterdam.[10](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/no/) • [6](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2013/films/no)
## Place in Larraín's work
*No* completes an informal trilogy about the Pinochet dictatorship (1973–1990) that began with *Tony Manero* (2008), about life under the dictatorship at its most violent, and *Post Mortem* (2010), about the 1973 coup itself; *No* depicts the regime's end.[6](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2013/films/no) Larraín, born in Santiago in 1976, was 12 at the time of the plebiscite and has said he remembers "a sense of change and a sense of transition" from that year.[2](https://sonyclassics.com/no/) • [11](https://time.com/6314869/el-conde-netflix-history/) After the stylized design and black-comic tone of the two earlier films, *No* adopts a reportage style in which original news and advertising images are integrated into the fiction.[6](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2013/films/no)
## Reception and debate
The film premiered internationally at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Art Cinema Award in the Directors' Fortnight, and opened in Chile on August 9, 2012.[1](https://cinechile.cl/pelicula/no/) It won the Grand Coral, First Prize at the Havana Film Festival, the Pedro Sienna Award for Best Feature Film in Chile, and audience awards at São Paulo and [Thessaloniki](https://www.edgepedia.org/thessaloniki), among 15 wins and 28 nominations overall.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2059255/awards/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 93% Tomatometer from 132 reviews, with a critics' consensus describing it as a smart, darkly funny perspective on modern democracy.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012)
**A contested memory.** The film's Chilean release was accompanied by a sharp debate about the story it tells, because it presents the advertising campaign's marketing language as the main reason for the NO victory. An academic analysis published in *Comunicación y Medios* argues that the film redistributes the political conflict and the subjectivities involved in it, positioning itself as a hegemonic account of the transition to democracy and making the use of marketing language the principal agent of the NO triumph.[12](https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0719-15292019000100174&script=sci_arttext) Some critics made the same point in reviews; one asked why the film presents "such a superficial and misleading account of Chilean history," while others praised it as a stirring celebration of voter empowerment.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012)
## References
1. [No, Cinechile](https://cinechile.cl/pelicula/no/)
2. [NO, a film by Pablo Larraín, Sony Pictures Classics](https://sonyclassics.com/no/)
3. [No (2012) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2059255/awards/)
4. [Reparto de No (2012), eCartelera](https://www.ecartelera.com/peliculas/no/reparto/)
5. [No (2012) Movie Review, Eye for Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/no-2012-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)
6. [No, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2013](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2013/films/no)
7. [No (2012), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012)
8. [No (2012), Eternality Tan](https://eternalitytan.com/2020/04/26/no-2012/)
9. [No Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/no/)
10. [No, Film at Lincoln Center (NYFF50)](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/no/)
11. [Pablo Larraín Breaks Down El Conde and Finally Facing Pinochet, Time](https://time.com/6314869/el-conde-netflix-history/)
12. [Ficción y transformaciones de la memoria histórica en NO de Pablo Larraín, Comunicación y Medios](https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0719-15292019000100174&script=sci_arttext)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2010 to 2014 › Biographical and historical drama films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license