Mala onda

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On September 3, 1980, just a week before a pivotal referendum on dictator Augusto Pinochet's new constitution, Santiago is rife with tension. The city is politically divided: the right-wing majority, including wealthy businessmen and bribed citizens, supports Pinochet, while the left-wing minority, comprising principled poor individuals and radical university students, vehemently opposes him. Amidst military curfews, disappearances, and riots, seventeen-year-old Matias Vicuna navigates this chaotic landscape. A privileged rich kid attending a prestigious private school, Matias is disillusioned with Chilean politics and life itself. His family is affluent but troubled; his parents' marriage is strained, and his sisters are self-absorbed. Burdened by an ugly family secret, Matias feels lost. He is infatuated with a beautiful girl who shows little interest in him and seeks solace in alcohol and drugs. During a school trip to Rio de Janeiro, he engages in a brief romance with Cassia, experiments with cocaine, and meets secretly with Flora, a leftist teacher. As the referendum approaches, Matias's life spirals further out of control. After running away and hiding in a hotel, he returns to find his family fractured, his aunt deceased from an overdose, and the dictator still in power. Matias's life is irrevocably altered.