In worthy of being human, Rutger Bregman puts the reader before the certainty of his goodness. What if, contrary to the lycanthropic teachings of Hobbes, against Machiavelli and against so many economists committed to adding individual selfishness to predict global behaviors, the true driving force of human action were simple altruism, empathy or compassion? This is going against the grain. And, of course, it is disconcerting. Of the infinite number of evidence provided by the Dutch sociologist to demonstrate his thesis, those drawn from the war itself, from any of them, especially draw attention. The last thing a soldier does, wherever he is from, is shoot someone he doesn’t know.
Juan Antonio Bayona (Barcelona, 1975) does not talk, for the moment, about wars (he will, since he is preparing a new film about the Civil War, ours, the Spanish one), but about altruism, dedication to others and simple and radical communion of the flesh. Proud to go against it. The Snow Society finally sees the light on the big screen and does so on Saturday coinciding with the closing ceremony of the Venice Film Festival. “It has been a long journey of almost 10 years. It is a long-awaited and highly desired film,” says the director himself with the passion of a father, not necessarily a first-time father. He says it a day before the big date and he looks tired. “A lot of emotions,” he adds. Next to him sits the child’s godfather (or mother, why not) Pablo Vierci, the writer of the book on which the film is based and which in prose as clear as it is memorable collects the testimonies of the 16 survivors. But not only that, he also puts together the pieces of fractured lives and, most importantly, gives voice to hope rather than simple fear. “Many have spoken for them. It was time for them to speak,” he says.
To situate ourselves, the film rescues and tells, as is well known, what happened in the almost three months that preceded the December 22, 1972. He does it in a big way with an estimated budget (which is not confessed) of around 60 million euros. After 72 days isolated from everything, everyone and even themselves, the world discovered that 16 of the 45 passengers on the plane booked by the Old Christians rugby club players and their families had survived. They flew from Montevideo to Santiago de Chile above the same sky. And they lived. They live! After the enthusiasm, the surprise. And after this, the certainty of an immemorial taboo suddenly broken. Anthropophagy is the mark of otherness, the constancy of the intimate and unknown enemy that inhabits us.
Let’s say, and without spoiling anything, that the great achievement of the film is not to add anything to the well-known facts, but to add everything. The idea is not so much to tell a story but to recreate it from within. “What happened to those who survived has been told, but I was interested, above all, the story of number 17. I felt that the wounds were open despite everything written,” comments Bayona in a somewhat cryptic tone. In short, it is not about returning to an old Hollywood style survival adventure (that’s what it’s for). the film shot by Frank Marshall in 1993) but to reconstruct the threads that move her inside in her most radical humanity.
And that is why the character of Numa that he brings to life is so important. Enzo Vogrincic. He died after becoming a leader in the Valley of Tears; after encouraging everyone; after despairing; after doubting… “He was a very religious person. Everyone remembers him as a being of light. He was the one who had the most problems adapting, the one who refused to eat. And I saw clearly that forgiveness had to come from a character like that. Forgiveness, sometimes, is not enough, it has to come from within and a new word is needed to name it,” he says and remembers that a few days ago, before embarking for the Lido, the first projection with all the families together, those of the living and those of the dead. “There were hugs, tears… There was recognition and, perhaps, forgiveness too. For the first time in 50 years,” he says. And here, the emotions and fatigue from before.