Pablo Larraín’s 2008 film Tony Manero tells the story of an odd man named Raúl (Alfredo Castro). At the height of the Pinochet dictatorship, Raúl lives in a dilapidated boarding house with his girlfriend’s family. The boarding house has a small stage for putting on shows, and Raúl uses it to choreograph dances that pay tribute to his favorite movie, Saturday Night Fever, and his favorite character, Tony Manero. Raúl is a quiet man who comes to life whenever he imitates John Travolta’s dance moves. He goes to see Saturday Night Fever on a daily basis and can recite all of the dialogue by heart. A Chilean TV show is hosting a Tony Manero look-alike contest, and Raúl is determined to win. He even gets a white suit and looks forward to becoming a star instead of just a poor nobody.

That may sound like the setup for a heartwarming, crowd-pleasing movie, but it is not. Raúl is a bitter and paranoid man in his 50s. He’s on the short side. Despite owning a white suit and being able to do all the moves, he really doesn’t look much like Tony Manero. Throughout the film, he goes out of his way to find the secret to becoming Tony Manero. (He becomes obsessed with making the boarding house stage light up just like the disco dance floor in the movie.) But the truth of the matter is that he is not Tony Manero. He is not a charismatic young man trying to find himself in Brooklyn. He is a rather creepy and obnoxious middle-aged man living under a dictatorship. The film turns into a full horror film as it becomes obvious how far Raúl will go to accomplish his dream. When the kindly theater owners swap out Saturday Night Fever for Grease, Raúl is not pleased.

There is a humorous scene early in the film in which Raúl shows up at the television studio in his Tony Manero costume, only to discover that he has gotten the date wrong and has shown up a week early. Everyone in the studio is dressed up to look like Chuck Norris. At the same time, the subtext is very serious. Director Pablo Larraín is showing the influence of American culture on Chile and commenting on American involvement in helping Pinochet take power in 1973. While Raúl tries to turn himself into Tony Manero, people are informing on their neighbors and dissidents are being executed in the streets. Raúl is indifferent to the violence around him. (When he witnesses an execution, his response is to loot the body.) While his girlfriend’s son gets involved with the anti-Pinochet underground, Raúl focuses on trying to transform himself into Tony Manero. In Saturday Night Fever, Tony Manero can escape his oppressive home life by riding the train to a different borough. Raúl doesn’t have that option.

Seen from today’s perspective, Tony Manero’s portrayal of Pinochet’s Chile brings to mind what a lot of people wanted America to become during the COVID era, complete with secret police, neighborhood informants, and the rich getting to flout the rules while the poor were expected to be happy with whatever crumbs were left over. If Raúl survived the Pinochet years, it is easy to imagine him in his 90s, reporting his neighbors for not wearing a face mask and then settling in to watch Saturday Night Fever for the thousandth time.