AllMovie

A political adventure that incorporates documentary footage and real-life events into its narrative, Chico is the story of a man who bears witness to -- and participates in -- some of the most groundbreaking political events in history. Born in Bolivia, Chico is part Jewish and part Catholic, the product of an upper-middle-class household ruled by his aristocratic Spanish mother and communist father. During his childhood he experiences the dizzying social upheaval of Salvador Allende and the subsequent terrors of the Pinochet coup. As a young man and aspiring political freedom fighter, he travels to communist Hungary and ends up a Party member, only to question Marxist ideology after the fall of communism in both Hungary and the Soviet Union. He then becomes a reporter in Croatia, where he experiences the devastation of war and quickly becomes a soldier, a move that forces him to make a decision that will affect not only his life, but also those of the inhabitants of a small village. Chico was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema.