One Hundred Children Waiting for a Train

The scouts

Begins as a feel-good film-education doc and quietly turns into evidence of life under Pinochet — Agüero waits patiently for the politics to show themselves. Earns the slow burn.

Agüero's documentation of Alicia Vega's film workshop becomes a clandestine indictment of Pinochet without ever raising its voice — a textbook case of form carrying politics. Archive hosts it.

Begins as tender film-education portrait, then follows kids home to reveal life under Pinochet - the structural shift IS the indictment. 56-minute runtime confirmed on Internet Archive in Spanish.

Reviews

Gradually the film transforms into a devastating critique of the Pinochet regime by shifting focus to Vega's young students and their families, whose cramped quarters Agüero visits in touching scenes that reveal his compassionate understanding of a home as poignant expression of its denizens' aspirations and vulnerabilities.

One Hundred is also one of the best clip show documentaries around, showing, appropriately enough, classic animation films and the deeper cuts of the genre during the golden Disney days.

Festivals

• Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana 1988