The blunt title of “No,” directed by Pablo Larraín and one of the five nominees for best foreign-language film in this year’s Academy Awards, refers to an inspiring moment in the history of Chile, his native land. In a straight up-or-down, yes-or-no plebiscite there in 1988, the citizenry ended the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet by voting him out of power, 15 years after he had seized control in a bloody American-backed coup.

Mr. Larraín’s attention to historical detail — the kind of sweaters worn by people on the left, the slang, the fearful atmosphere, his innovative use of archival footage — is a reason he won the top prize at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in May. But at home the film’s reception has been more mixed, with leaders of the real-life No campaign protesting that the film gets several big facts wrong and fundamentally distorts others.

The central character and hero of “No,” which opens in limited release on Friday, is the fictional René Saavedra, a hip young advertising executive recently returned from exile in Mexico, played by Gael García Bernal. Hired to produce the ad campaign for the underdog No side, Saavedra faces resistance from stodgily doctrinaire politicians on the left, but he creates a hopeful rainbow logo and a slogan, “Chile, happiness is on its way,” that turn the tide.

But no sooner had “No” opened in Chilean cinemas last year than Mr. Larraín found himself under fire on Twitter. “To believe that Pinochet lost the plebiscite because of a TV logo and jingle is not to grasp anything of what occurred,” wrote Francisco Vidal, a cabinet minister in two recent Socialist governments. Mr. Larraín responded that “the movie is just a fragment” that never aimed to “simplify the whole No process to a logo,” but organizers of the No effort have found that explanation unconvincing.