By José Alberto Hermosillo
“The Eternal Memory” is this year’s most affectionate, endearing, and absorbing documentary. A total eye-opening experience!
After the success of “The Mole Agent,” Academy Award-nominee Chilean documentarian Maite Alberdi, in her most recent work, “The Eternal Memory,” tackles another concern troubling our elderly population: Alzheimer’s, where she vividly displays the progression of the disease in her personal, observational, and moody style.
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| Augusto and Paulina. “The Eternal Memory.” |
“La memoria infinita,” in Spanish, unfolds
in the most intimate and affecting possible way the lives of the characters’
interaction in their daily routine and natural habitat, including their fear
that the memory will start fading one day.
The lineal love story
follows Augusto and Paulina, a Chilean couple who have been together for
25 years and plan to stay that way until death separates them.
Augusto Góngora was a respected Award-winning author, journalist, and broadcaster
who lost his memory due to Alzheimer’s. But he always remembers something: his love for his devoted wife, Paulina.
Paulina Urrutia is a theater
actress, an elected public official, and an affectionate caregiver. The news of
Augusto’s sickness was devastating, mainly because you have to realize someone is
here, but the memories are not. Critical decisions, such as going to the
hospital, staying in a nursing home, continuing on life support, or other essential
family matters, must be made collectively, including Augusto’s sons from
his previous marriage.
During the Covid shutdown,
they ended up isolated in their house, and the news
on the radio announcing the number of people dead was frightening and challenging to
understand for the 60-year-old. Still, those numbers mean nothing compared to
the devastating number of people who lost a loved one. Augusto’s memory
tried to make sense of those numbers as Paulina explained their meaning and ramifications.
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| Augusto and Paulina contemplating the eclipse. “The Eternal Memory.” |
As the sickness progressed gradually, Augusto left all his jobs. He was very active when he was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s. He was the head of Chile’s Cultural Affairs for the National TV
Department (TVN). Paulina had to continue working in theater and even in public
TV to generate a source of income for their household. At one point, she had to
bring Augusto to work, where he was pleased to talk to his former colleagues. She
was not the only one taking care of him. It was the entire community, the
barrio, who took care of him and other people with special needs. His most
significant decline was during the pandemic. People’s isolation is harmful.
Maite remembers that the post-production process could
have been smoother. While trying to finish editing the
story, almost at the end, Paulina found in their basement an archive of invaluable tapes with
Augusto’s shows, interviews, and personal memories, including powerful images
of Pinochet’s dictatorship a few decades back and other vital photos with the work he did for former elected President
Michelle Bachelet. According to the director, those materials were to enrich
the project and must be added to the final cut. The recently found footage chronicling Chile’s internal and
external movements and its transition from Pinochet’s dictatorship to
actual democracy gives more meaning to the documentary.
In a Q&A session after one
of the first screenings in Santa Monica, California, Paulina said, “Augusto’s
sickness ran for almost ten years. It was like death in slow motion.” Still,
Augusto’s most consequential act was to participate in the making of this transcendental project and preserve
their love story forever. She also said that when Paulina came up with the idea of making the documentary, she was not convinced to let the film crew interrupt the most
intimate moments of their daily lives and show it to the world until she saw
the film. It was right after Augusto’s passing in May of 2023. Then, at that pivotal moment, she understood a
long-lasting legacy of preserving his memory with this outstanding work of art, which she gratefully and humbly
treasured.
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During Covid, Paulina had to
learn to use the camera and to record themselves. It ended up being a big gift
during the lockdown. Paulina feels sorry for the terrible job she did with shaky and out-of-focus images. Her new job was a source of company during their most lonely moments. It was
marvelous to have something to spend their days. She set the camera, pressed
play, and let it run all day until she realized the battery was down. But she
feels proud of her job and has enormous respect for the patience and dedication of the director.
The idea of making this
original story came when documentarian Maite Alberdi read an interview in a
magazine regarding a journalist who was on his way to pick up a National Award
and developed Alzheimer’s disease. His wife, Paulina, cared for him lovingly
and compassionately until the end.
To get the subjects used to the cameras, weeks before the shooting, the director spent plenty of time with the
characters and the crew in a small
environment and made them feel comfortable acting as usual as if the team was not
there; the same technique she used in “The Mole Agent.”
In the music department, Maite used classic song
covers from other Latin artists she admired, such as Cuban songwriter Pablo Milanes’
“Eternamente Yolanda.” The credits rolled with inserts of the couple’s transcendental moments.
I felt some questions
were left unsolved: his sons rarely appeared on camera, who they were, what
they do for a living, and how they helped their father in the last moments. There is a brief moment where we see Augusto
in a nursing home, how long he has been there, and so on. Still, the documentary
is a powerful tool to help study adult behavior during the progression of Alzheimer’s
disease.
“The Eternal Memory” has similarities with the 2014 Award-winning South Korean documentary “My Love Don’t Cross
that River,” which presented an almost hundred-year-old couple living together in the
isolated mountains of the peninsula until the end of their lives.
The
same year, Juliane Moore won an Oscar for her powerful performance in the
narrative Still Alice, which in-depthly examines one person losing her memory due
to Alzheimer’s disease.
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| Maite Alberdi, "The Eternal Memory," Santa Monica, California. Photo José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023 |
Maite Alberdi makes
documentaries about people she wants to be with, who make her feel joy, happiness,
and love. As a filmmaker, she is looking for love in different situations. She
sees everyone with the potential to tell a good story.
The 2023 Sundance’s Grand
Jury Prize Award-winner is produced by Rocío Jaude and Oscar winners Juan de
Dios Larrain and Pablo Larrain (“A Fantastic Woman”). The couple in this story
parallels Chile’s recent history and can be relatable to everyone.
After experiencing
loneliness during the pandemic and other illnesses affecting our aging population, a
powerful consensus emerged from the panel with Maite and Paulina: “It is our responsibility
not to leave elderly people isolated.”
The heartbreaking documentary
“The Eternal Memory” is not about someone losing their memory. It is about
keeping the memory of the ones we lost due to Alzheimer’s disease.
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| Maite Alberdi, "The Eternal Memory" & film critic José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023 |
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