Lunch with Gael Garcia Bernal
Gael García Bernal is not your average Hollywood movie star.
He intersplices his long sentences with references to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, and throws in a bit of French radical thinker Alan Badiou for good measure. “Right now I’m reading In Praise of Love by Badiou,” he tells me while unwrapping his sandwich. “I’ve never read him, I have to catch up!”
We are sitting in a sparse office at Canana, the production company he set up, in his native Mexico City. Despite his global celluloid fame – he’s starred in Hollywood blockbusters alongside Brad Pitt and Julianne Moore – he is down-to-earth, arriving suitably late but with few of the usual airs and graces. His life now is divided between the Mexican megalopolis and Buenos Aires, where he lives with his Argentinian wife.
His latest release is the film “No”, set in Chile in 1988 towards the end of General Augusto Pinochet’s military rule. Bernal plays advertising executive Renee Saavedra who is leading a TV campaign to convince the Chilean population to vote “no” in a national referendum on whether General Pinochet should stay in power for another eight years (his boss at the advertising agency is working on the rival “yes” campaign). The “no” campaign eventually triumphs, opening the door to the restoration of democracy in Chile after nearly 17 years of dictatorship.
The Los Angeles Times has called it “a most unusual underdog story, the kind of heady, relevant filmmaking we don’t see often enough”, and the film looks set to be nominated for the next Foreign Film Oscar. “I was interested in doing it because working with [Chilean director] Pablo Larrain was something I wanted,” says Bernal. “It was very captivating to be doing a film about the big part that publicity played in the 1988 election. It was an angle that nobody knows about, I definitely didn’t know about it. Not many people know how Pinochet was overthrown.”
So far the film has been well-received amongst critics, and, adds Bernal, in Chile itself. “It has caused a great debate among people who participated in the events. It is still a very resonant issue, it was the birth of the new democracy.” “But,” he adds, “at the time there was this feeling that everything could fall apart in a second. People who were participating in the referendum with a lot of vigor and passion still thought that everything was rigged, that it was going to be a fake election, because in 1980 there had been an election that was a complete fraud. It was really jumping into the abyss.”
Bernal has never shied away from giving political opinions, and speaks with real knowledge about the politics of Latin America, and further afield too. The man who famously played Che Guevara in the “Motorcycle Diaries” film is unabashedly “of the Left”, and was active as an activist as far back as the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, on the first day of the NAFTA. “I’ve been told, ‘You’re an actor, you cannot talk about politics, you know nothing about politics’”, he says. “There still exists that mythology that no one who is not an “expert” in politics can have an opinion on politics, it’s ridiculous because we’re such political animals.”
But he says he doesn’t like the sledgehammer approach to political aesthetics, where the audience is hit over the head with the political message. He likes to work in what he calls “the grey areas”. “As an actor it’s about exploring these uncertain areas rather than having a preconceived idea or answer. It’s more about provocation and asking the terrible questions. My position therefore is sometimes a bit greyish because I don’t buy into the pamphlet.” He continues, “What is motivating is when you the audiences ask new questions, get new perceptions, not when you give them opinions digested, the complete answer, that has another shape.”
The former child “telenovela” (Mexican soap opera) star, who was born in Guadalajara but grew up in Mexico City, voted and campaigned for Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, the left-wing candidate in the recent Mexican elections. The elections were eventually won by right-wing rival Enrique Peña Nieto, amongst customary accusations of electoral fraud. But Bernal was never enamoured with the candidate he voted for. “I say this from the position of someone who voted for AMLO, I would always vote for the left, but I want much more sophisticated, more cordial, bigger scope, politicians. We don’t have statesmen.” He adds, “Elections have become a very perverse and Manichean game where the person who sells the best image wins, not the person that has the best vision for the country.”
But Bernal is optimistic about the future of Latin America, especially the “pink tide” of democratic left-wing governments that has swept the region over the past decade, which shows no sign of being turned back (yet).
“Like Žižek says, Bush deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for having eradicated the hegemony of the United States, he singlehandedly completely destroyed it,” Bernal says. “Now it’s a whole different world. Argentina, for example, most of its business is with China, and Brazil as well. There is a lot of hope in that sense, it’s not the world we grew up in, it’s a whole different thing. I think that the Left in Latin America still have lots of debts from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, things they have to complete, to deliver. Argentina is the only country that has looked back on the people that were part of the military coup and junta and put them in prison, it’s the only country that has done that, that is reason enough to support [President] Cristina Kirchner.”
Bernal is rare in the world of entertainment, not merely because he has an opinion, but because he can back it up at length and with real knowledge. It’s a rare quality in a world where some sort of bland, non-specific “social activism” is now a must for most celebrities, but questioning the PR lines fed to them by their handlers is almost non-existent. “I would love athletes, sports figures, to be more political,” says Bernal. “Remember Socrates the Brazilian player was very critical of the junta there. Or the guys in 68 here in Mexico City with black power. It adds so much depth to them, it’s incredible when they do it, but right now you don’t see them involved in anything.”
As he finishes up his sandwich, which he hasn’t had time to touch during his long dilations on politics and art, he tells me his next film will be with up-and-coming Argentinian director Pablo Fendrick. He gives it the tantilising description of “a metaphysical ecologist Western”. Bernal says he would also like to move into writing soon. “Always talking about what you haven’t done is daunting, I have to write something about acting soon, I don’t know what. A little general perspective, like a bio-statement.”
But just listening to what Bernal has already done by the tender age of 34 is daunting enough by itself.
BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Pilgrims and locals celebrated Christmas Day on Tuesday in the ancient Bethlehem church built over the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminating the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filling its overflowing halls.
For this Christmas we do a countdown of the 'Santa' sexiest Latinos.
Dreaming of a white Christmas? If you're spending December in Mexico, forget it! The closest you'll come to frosty is to reminisce on winter wonderlands while sipping an icy margarita. You can expect the holiday season south of the border to be as warm and colorful as a tropical garden. And you'll discover a delightful array of seasonal traditions that make celebrating Navidad (Christmas) in Mexico a unique and unforgettable experience.
Four years ago, I embarked on a quest to discover the truth about Santa Claus and the original St. Nicholas.
Michelle Obama
As every year, two-time world champion in as many divisions, the Jalisco Irma "white girl" Sanchez lived with children at home Helping Hand Home for Children AC Tlaquepaque, Jalisco.
The beachside city of Puerto Vallarta hugs the scenic shore of Mexico's Bay of Banderas and ranks second in popularity only to Cancun. Unlike Cancun, however, Vallarta prices have remained in pesos (though U.S. dollars are widely accepted at a fair rate) and geography has restricted its Americanization. Snowbirds considering a green Christmas should shortlist this lesser known of Mexican getaways.
The Banderas Bay region encompasses the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, offering beautiful places and attractions like Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, making it one of the most popular beach destinations worldwide.
For the first time in 15 years, an American has won the Miss Universe pageant.
Thousands of mourners will bid farewell Wednesday to Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera, whose soulful ballads sold out concert halls and made her a household name.
Full name: Karina González Muñoz
Fate took a major step in cultural matters worldwide to agree on a cultural exchange with the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Traditional Arts (CIOFF)
How to resolve AdBlock issue?