Lilia hasn't visited her birthplace, Colombia, in 40 years. After living…
Time Theorem
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
View on the Pragda STREAM site
Years after the death of my grandmother Anita, I inspected the old building where she and my grandfather Arnoldo worked all their lives as printers. Among offset machines, accounting notebooks, and paper envelopes smelling of mothballs, I found thousands of photographs and hundreds of home movies. The images not only revealed their secret profession as amateur filmmakers, but also related a line of painful family tragedies that marked the destiny of their existence.
Citation
Main credits
Kaiser, Andrés (film director)
Kaiser, Andrés (screenwriter)
Pinto, Nicole Maynard (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Arnoldo Kaiser, Anita Schlittler; editing, Andrés Kaiser, Lorenzo Mora; music, Alejandro Castaños.
Distributor subjects
Cinema Studies; FamilyKeywords
00:01:57.094 --> 00:01:59.847
December, 1986.
00:02:00.639 --> 00:02:02.099
Dear Mrs. Schlittler,
00:02:02.850 --> 00:02:06.311
Regarding your letter dated October 10 of this year
00:02:06.645 --> 00:02:10.232
in which you detail the diagnosis
of your husband's health status,
00:02:10.649 --> 00:02:14.319
we inform you that unfortunately,
at the current date
00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:17.948
we do not have any effective drug or
procedure for the treatment of his disease.
00:02:19.867 --> 00:02:25.622
That said it is impossible for us to accept
him as a patient in our medical center.
00:02:27.833 --> 00:02:31.420
Our recommendation is that you follow
the instructions given by your local doctor
00:02:31.420 --> 00:02:33.672
and mantain his care from home.
00:02:35.257 --> 00:02:38.010
Without further ado, we send you our best regards.
00:02:38.010 --> 00:02:42.765
Dr. Erika Schmit. Center of Psychiatry
of Muntsinguen. Switzerland
00:02:57.070 --> 00:03:01.283
The first time she notice something was wrong,
00:03:01.283 --> 00:03:04.036
he was looking through the window at the garden.
00:03:05.704 --> 00:03:12.836
He had been staring for a long time until
she asked him what was he seeing.
00:03:13.796 --> 00:03:16.965
And he replied: "A bunch of baldies."
00:03:17.132 --> 00:03:20.844
"The baldies are buried in the garden."
00:03:24.681 --> 00:03:30.395
And it turns out that he was referring to the
cobblestones that surrounded the garden's pond.
00:03:35.859 --> 00:03:42.950
And at that moment she realized that
he was completely halucinating.
00:03:49.748 --> 00:04:02.094
It was as if he felt concern, affliction,
in his intinimity, in his deepest being,
00:04:02.636 --> 00:04:07.516
he was very afflicted by the realization
that he was no longer who he was.
00:04:10.227 --> 00:04:15.983
And in this situation she was
left completely in the dark,
00:04:18.193 --> 00:04:19.987
not knowing what to do...
00:04:20.445 --> 00:04:21.738
Petrified.
00:04:24.908 --> 00:04:28.495
Beyond the fact that they had been together for a long time,
00:04:30.622 --> 00:04:32.875
they were not a common marriage.
00:04:39.923 --> 00:04:44.887
Time Theorem
00:04:59.401 --> 00:05:00.652
These are my grandparents.
00:05:01.570 --> 00:05:03.989
His name is Arnoldo and she is Anita.
00:05:05.365 --> 00:05:08.035
This is the first picture they took as a couple.
00:05:08.660 --> 00:05:14.499
I found it in the huge building where Arnoldo
worked as a printer almost all his life.
00:05:15.250 --> 00:05:19.087
Along with his correspondence,
and other three thousand photographs
00:05:19.171 --> 00:05:23.759
there were also hundreds of films
containing their travels, memories,
00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:25.552
and the way they lived their lives.
00:05:29.056 --> 00:05:36.313
This is the day they met: August 1st 1941
at the Swiss club in Mexico City.
00:05:37.147 --> 00:05:38.899
According to my mother,
00:05:38.982 --> 00:05:43.612
he invited her to dance in three languages
before he realized that she spoke Spanish
00:05:45.781 --> 00:05:46.949
This is their civil wedding.
00:05:47.699 --> 00:05:51.662
On the left Arnold's parents and
on the right Anita's parents.
00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:57.709
The two families had emigrated from Switzerland
and ended up being neighbors in colonia Roma.
00:05:59.211 --> 00:06:03.048
The curious thing is that although
Arnoldo and Anita were very similar,
00:06:03.340 --> 00:06:05.968
this was not exactly the case with their parents.
00:06:08.470 --> 00:06:18.563
Her father had some kind of disconnection
when he met a group of people
00:06:18.981 --> 00:06:23.527
that received advice from the spirits,
00:06:24.569 --> 00:06:27.447
and that's how he got connected with spiritism.
00:06:28.323 --> 00:06:37.082
Jaime was convinced of it and he was
also devoted himself to propagate it.
00:06:40.794 --> 00:06:43.755
Her mother, Maria Amparo
00:06:45.215 --> 00:06:49.594
was the illegitimate daughter of Giussepe Garibaldi
00:06:50.470 --> 00:06:59.896
an Italian revolutionary with a very bad reputation
with the conservative families in Valencia, Spain.
00:07:01.815 --> 00:07:09.197
So her grandparents registered
her as if she was their daughter.
00:07:11.033 --> 00:07:17.414
So she grew up thinking that
her mother was her sister.
00:07:19.124 --> 00:07:26.256
And it is until long after she
realizes her sister is her mother
00:07:27.132 --> 00:07:29.176
and that was very hard for her.
00:07:33.472 --> 00:07:44.483
Arnold's father was a man with a great
dignity and pride of being Swiss.
00:07:45.067 --> 00:07:49.905
He belong to a prominent family that lived
very well and who owned Al Libro Mayor,
00:07:50.072 --> 00:07:56.119
one of the best companies in San Luis Potosí,
that controlled the market for the manufacture
00:07:56.119 --> 00:08:02.125
and sale of accounting books throughout
the west and north of the Republic.
00:08:10.509 --> 00:08:13.053
When Anita and Arnoldo get married,
00:08:13.595 --> 00:08:18.058
Anita's father-in-law gives her a movie
camera as a wedding present.
00:08:19.392 --> 00:08:23.939
And that camera is the one she takes
to film on her honeymoon in Veracruz.
00:09:22.581 --> 00:09:26.835
Anita does not record a single shot
of herself or Arnold on their honeymoon,
00:09:27.669 --> 00:09:33.133
but spends all the film rolls to capture
the passage of the train and time.
00:09:33.842 --> 00:09:39.389
She anchors her camera to the last car and collects
landscapes of a country that no longer exists.
00:10:06.166 --> 00:10:10.837
It is also during this journey where she
began one of her filmic obsessions
00:10:11.213 --> 00:10:13.715
that will repeat throughout her life;
00:10:19.596 --> 00:10:21.765
To portray the world from a window.
00:10:40.784 --> 00:10:44.454
Finally, both settle in the city of San Luis Potosí
00:10:44.913 --> 00:10:48.208
and decide to buy a house with
the look of a Swiss chalet.
00:10:48.458 --> 00:10:51.503
located in 437, Carranza Avenue.
00:10:57.634 --> 00:11:01.930
Over time this house will
become their favorite filming set,
00:11:02.472 --> 00:11:04.891
but despite the fact that the
camera belongs to Anita,
00:11:05.183 --> 00:11:07.936
it will be Arnoldo who will record the first images.
00:11:24.744 --> 00:11:27.998
Secretly, like a child secretly doing a mischief,
00:11:28.415 --> 00:11:30.542
he starts filming himself.
00:11:54.190 --> 00:11:59.237
At first, his attempts to frame
end up cutting off his head.
00:12:13.668 --> 00:12:18.423
He invites some friends to have a drink
and the toast get miraculously recorded.
00:12:30.268 --> 00:12:32.854
To make sure that this doesn't happen again,
00:12:33.104 --> 00:12:36.816
he draws a line on the wall as
a boundary sign for his head
00:12:37.108 --> 00:12:42.447
and starts a dialogue with some character
that's supposed to live outside the frame.
00:12:58.880 --> 00:13:03.051
And apparently, filming himself is
something he takes very seriously.
00:13:59.566 --> 00:14:02.819
This is not the first time that
Arnoldo suffers a camera obsession.
00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:08.450
Already from his youth, the reasons
for this mania began to be discovered.
00:14:13.204 --> 00:14:19.127
He arrived in Mexico from
Switzerland at the age of 20.
00:14:20.044 --> 00:14:26.676
His father had sent for him to train in
the printing press that was in San Luis,
00:14:26.676 --> 00:14:29.679
which was runned by his father from Mexico City.
00:14:32.682 --> 00:14:37.437
By then, Arnoldo was already a fan of photography,
00:14:37.812 --> 00:14:43.526
So to show his father that he was
doing well in the printing house.
00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:45.111
He portrayed himself.
00:14:46.863 --> 00:14:50.241
As a responsible and hardworking man.
00:14:51.993 --> 00:14:56.164
And he sends those photos to his father in Mexico City.
00:15:04.339 --> 00:15:11.012
He takes photos as a military man,
as an artist, as a violinist...
00:15:12.931 --> 00:15:15.433
Because that's what he really wanted to do.
00:15:32.742 --> 00:15:38.122
And bit by bit, he convinces the employees
with whom he had a very good relationship.
00:15:39.123 --> 00:15:44.754
and he rents a dozen tuxedos
and lots of musical instruments,
00:15:47.549 --> 00:15:50.843
and they portray as a music band.
00:15:57.392 --> 00:16:01.354
That must have get in each of the employees too,
00:16:02.272 --> 00:16:08.319
the necesity for telling stories and
being able to be someone else,
00:16:08.987 --> 00:16:13.491
not only a salesman, an accountant or a clerk
00:16:13.491 --> 00:16:22.959
but having the possibility of being able to
imagine and to portray as someone else.
00:16:36.514 --> 00:16:41.394
And one day his father doesn't tell him
that he is going to San Luis to visit him,
00:16:42.812 --> 00:16:47.150
when he arrives he is astonished to see
what Arnoldo has done with the buisness,
00:16:48.067 --> 00:16:53.906
where the business is freeze, because
both Arnoldo and the workers,
00:16:53.906 --> 00:16:58.036
are dedicated to being full-time musicians.
00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:03.833
The nineteenth-century father
00:17:04.250 --> 00:17:06.753
with the twentieth-century son.
00:17:07.253 --> 00:17:10.423
Who was not going to give up,
00:17:10.798 --> 00:17:13.593
so Arnold rebelled and left.
00:17:14.427 --> 00:17:16.012
He left to the United States.
00:17:22.101 --> 00:17:27.023
Arnoldo decides to pursue his dream of
becoming an artist and settles in New York,
00:17:27.023 --> 00:17:29.067
where he stays for about 8 years.
00:17:32.862 --> 00:17:34.822
For a man who loves photography,
00:17:34.906 --> 00:17:39.661
it's strange that all that time is only
represented by three documents:
00:17:41.954 --> 00:17:44.290
his work permit in the United States,
00:17:46.084 --> 00:17:49.087
a self-portrait on the roof of a skyscraper,
00:17:51.172 --> 00:17:52.715
and finally,
00:17:52.715 --> 00:17:56.678
a photograph that shows him
as a successful conductor.
00:18:04.852 --> 00:18:07.105
May 1938.
00:18:07.939 --> 00:18:09.357
Dear brother,
00:18:09.649 --> 00:18:12.568
I'm sorry if we hadn't answered
your letters erlier
00:18:12.568 --> 00:18:17.657
but both Rosita and I have been
very busy these last months.
00:18:18.616 --> 00:18:24.706
But I'm very happy to see you're finally
succeeding in what you've wanted so much.
00:18:25.790 --> 00:18:27.500
Even dad is happy.
00:18:28.084 --> 00:18:32.463
He shows everyone who comes to visit us
your picture in front of the orchestra
00:18:32.672 --> 00:18:36.551
and he doesn't stop talking about visiting
you in New York to see you play.
00:18:38.886 --> 00:18:40.930
But in spite of the joy I feel for you
00:18:40.930 --> 00:18:44.308
it's my duty to tell you about the
situation of our family in Mexico.
00:18:44.767 --> 00:18:48.563
The truth is that our father fell ill with typhoid fever
00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:50.815
and Mom doesn't seems to react.
00:18:52.692 --> 00:18:57.613
This whole situation has come to
negatively impact the printing house,
00:18:57.613 --> 00:19:01.492
which as you know is our main source of income.
00:19:02.577 --> 00:19:04.537
I know it is unfair to ask you this way,
00:19:05.580 --> 00:19:11.878
but after thinking about it for a long time, I realize
my only option is to beg for your return.
00:19:12.295 --> 00:19:15.506
The ticket to Veracruz is already reserved in your name.
00:19:15.882 --> 00:19:18.509
I hope you make the right choice.
00:19:19.510 --> 00:19:21.387
Yours, Elizabeth.
00:19:24.724 --> 00:19:30.229
Arnoldo gave in to his family's wishes and
returned to Mexico to take over the printing house,
00:19:30.438 --> 00:19:33.191
thus fading his artistic ambitions.
00:19:35.693 --> 00:19:39.822
This loss of identity -about who he
was and who he wanted to be-
00:19:40.364 --> 00:19:44.368
will became an open wound that
would remain hidden for years.
00:19:44.744 --> 00:19:48.414
and would not begin to heal
until the arrival of an accomplice.
00:20:03.471 --> 00:20:08.726
At some point Anita discovers the solitary
filming that Arnoldo has been doing
00:20:08.726 --> 00:20:12.939
and in an impulse of empathy and
love decides to be part of it.
00:20:14.482 --> 00:20:18.110
Here they filmed themselves dancing
in a careful made scenography,
00:20:18.361 --> 00:20:22.907
where multiple camera shots
allow the editing of a close up.
00:20:23.783 --> 00:20:27.036
Or even a log shot from outside through a window.
00:20:53.229 --> 00:20:56.649
Who knows how much truth there
was in these romantic stagings,
00:20:57.108 --> 00:20:59.485
if their daily life was the same as in their movies
00:20:59.986 --> 00:21:03.197
or if these were a reminder
of how their life should be.
00:21:05.741 --> 00:21:10.371
In any case, they will soon realize
that it is one thing to film themselves
00:21:10.872 --> 00:21:14.083
and quite another is to tell stories.
00:21:47.074 --> 00:21:52.371
Anita and Arnoldo form a filming team with
her as director and him as the leading actor
00:21:52.371 --> 00:21:56.167
where they involve anyone who is
willing to stand in front of the camera.
00:24:10.926 --> 00:24:14.346
Of all the film reels that they
filmed throughout their lives,
00:24:14.513 --> 00:24:17.683
only one portrays an everyday day in Al Libro Mayor,
00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:20.227
the printing house that Arnoldo
inherited from his father.
00:24:24.482 --> 00:24:27.443
Perhaps they thought that the
stationery and accounting books
00:24:27.443 --> 00:24:30.279
were tedious and difficult objects to portray.
00:24:31.280 --> 00:24:34.658
Or perhaps it is a clue to the very little
interest that they had in the business,
00:24:35.117 --> 00:24:39.622
despite the fact that thanks to it they
could have enough time to make films
00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:42.124
and live a comfortable life in San Luis Potosí.
00:24:46.003 --> 00:24:47.254
There was a lot of parties.
00:24:47.922 --> 00:24:51.050
They could think of anything to party.
00:24:51.801 --> 00:24:53.928
They disguised themselves.
00:24:54.136 --> 00:24:57.807
Whatever it was and say
"Let's have a costume contest"
00:24:58.140 --> 00:25:01.769
"Now we're going to do a theater contest"
00:25:02.019 --> 00:25:06.857
"What costumes do you have?"
"Bring the robe with which you bathe"
00:25:06.982 --> 00:25:12.238
"And you try the slippers and the Swedes"
"And you bring your great-grandmother's scarf"
00:25:12.404 --> 00:25:16.158
"And you, bring the hat of John Doe
or whatever you can find."
00:25:18.786 --> 00:25:23.707
And we were all there laughing, having fun.
00:25:24.041 --> 00:25:29.088
Drinking glasses of vermouth or generous wine.
00:25:30.005 --> 00:25:40.808
There was a total uproar and everyone
participated in the scenario they had build.
00:25:49.066 --> 00:25:50.693
In addition to mere entertainment,
00:25:51.026 --> 00:25:54.989
Anita and Arnoldo seem to conceive
cinema as a mean of artistic expression.
00:25:55.531 --> 00:25:59.702
Where you can portray your
fears or mock your failures,
00:26:00.077 --> 00:26:04.498
as shown in "The Violinist" their first sound film.
00:26:16.218 --> 00:26:19.722
The talking cinema has arrived
00:26:41.911 --> 00:26:46.999
One o'clock! My concert! My pants!
00:26:49.835 --> 00:26:52.796
I have to put my pants over my pajamas.
00:26:55.007 --> 00:27:04.308
Goodbye boys my life companions,
beloved bar of those times,
00:27:04.558 --> 00:27:08.938
it is my turn today to retreat.
00:27:24.578 --> 00:27:27.414
Life is so beautiful!
00:27:42.096 --> 00:27:47.059
This concert is driving me crazy, damn!
00:28:23.137 --> 00:28:26.932
-What an annoying guy!
-Oh yes, very annoying.
00:28:28.517 --> 00:28:30.477
-Look at him,he's so full of himself.
00:28:30.811 --> 00:28:32.438
-Orchestra! Ready!
00:28:33.188 --> 00:28:35.649
-Look at him, he's crazy!
00:28:35.941 --> 00:28:38.652
-He didn't even tune the violin.
00:28:44.199 --> 00:28:45.909
-Is he the artist for tonight?
00:28:46.410 --> 00:28:48.662
-How awful! What a night...
00:28:53.125 --> 00:28:58.047
In this film, Arnoldo not only acts
a funny character in a home comedy
00:28:58.547 --> 00:29:04.053
but by embodying a failed violinist, he makes
fun of himself by showing his as a musician.
00:29:05.512 --> 00:29:11.810
"The Violinist" seems to be his way to
accept that his life will now be different
00:29:12.144 --> 00:29:14.813
and that in the future, he will have
more things to worry about.
00:29:15.230 --> 00:29:18.025
More important things to portray on camera.
00:30:05.072 --> 00:30:08.951
Oh look, here come my grandchildren.
How cute is Noldi!
00:30:08.951 --> 00:30:11.954
Noldi and Willy. What a charming children.
00:30:12.538 --> 00:30:14.706
I'm Noldi Kaiser.
00:30:19.378 --> 00:30:24.842
I'm Willy Kaiser. Dad, how are you?
00:30:26.593 --> 00:30:28.595
I am the mommy...
00:30:36.061 --> 00:30:37.354
There comes Arnold!
00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:40.399
Look how happy he looks and the beautiful garden.
00:30:46.196 --> 00:30:50.951
Smells like smoke, my wife must be cooking.
00:30:51.827 --> 00:30:54.955
Where is Federico?
00:30:55.998 --> 00:30:58.292
His majesty, the king!
00:31:04.923 --> 00:31:07.342
That rifle is mine!
00:31:09.678 --> 00:31:13.932
Look how cute Iquito, he's the king
of the house and the king is having fun.
00:31:21.857 --> 00:31:23.734
And he has the rifle in his hands!
00:31:25.027 --> 00:31:28.780
Where is my "Icos"?
He's one and a half years old.
00:31:39.541 --> 00:31:43.212
There is also Wilitos, oh no, it's Ico
the one that is walking around.
00:31:43.212 --> 00:31:45.214
Look at Noldo, that is Noldillo.
00:31:45.547 --> 00:31:47.341
Llook at the mother, she did
not comb her hair today...
00:31:47.799 --> 00:31:49.676
She is very disheveled...
00:31:50.010 --> 00:31:53.013
Llook at Eva, she looks just like Ava Gardner.
00:31:53.013 --> 00:31:54.515
Who knows what she's saying.
00:31:54.765 --> 00:32:00.020
I have the pleasure of introducing
our distinguished guests,
00:32:00.729 --> 00:32:05.359
Mrs. Maria Arenas, Ms. Eva Schittler.
00:32:07.528 --> 00:32:08.695
To whom I give the floor.
00:32:09.988 --> 00:32:15.619
Nice... to be... with you.
00:32:18.038 --> 00:32:21.917
Greetings to all of you, from those from Mexico City.
00:32:22.501 --> 00:32:25.337
Very good, Ms, very good.
00:32:25.921 --> 00:32:27.214
Thank you so much.
00:32:29.883 --> 00:32:35.639
Let's toast to a happy stay in this home.
00:32:37.849 --> 00:32:40.352
Anita, you have a phone call.
00:32:42.187 --> 00:32:44.439
Anita, the phone! Don't you hear?
00:32:46.233 --> 00:32:49.528
Mom! Phone call!
00:32:51.405 --> 00:32:54.491
Anita, they are calling you on the phone!
00:32:55.826 --> 00:32:58.161
How irritating! I already heard!
00:32:58.579 --> 00:33:02.040
Hello, how are you?
00:33:02.958 --> 00:33:06.962
Really? What a good gossip!
00:33:35.574 --> 00:33:38.160
This is my uncle Noldi on his bithday.
00:33:39.036 --> 00:33:48.420
As Anita's filming shows, he is a shy child who
will have to bear the burden of being the first-born
00:33:55.510 --> 00:33:57.179
As this film seems to portray,
00:33:57.179 --> 00:34:00.140
Arnoldo embodies his signature in what
appears to be an agreement with Noldi
00:34:00.349 --> 00:34:03.560
on his rights and obligations as the oldest child.
00:34:09.524 --> 00:34:12.819
Apparently, Noldi has no objection
00:34:12.861 --> 00:34:15.864
and they end up celebrating
with a drink of fresh water.
00:34:35.467 --> 00:34:39.262
Willy is second in line and, unlike his older brother,
00:34:39.262 --> 00:34:42.140
he shows a more laid-back and outgoing personality.
00:34:56.988 --> 00:35:02.285
On February 20, the date of Arnoldo's
birthday, Federico is born.
00:35:08.166 --> 00:35:10.627
This means that from the first day of his existence,
00:35:11.211 --> 00:35:15.090
Ico not only becomes the undisputed
favorite of his father,
00:35:15.215 --> 00:35:21.680
but apparently also Anita's, since in very few
times that she appears in front of the camera,
00:35:22.097 --> 00:35:23.974
she always does it with him in her arms.
00:35:48.623 --> 00:35:54.629
During this time, Arnoldo feels very
comfortable playing the role of Arnold father.
00:35:58.675 --> 00:36:03.764
Over and over, both characters mix in the
tenuous line that divides cinema with reality.
00:36:04.306 --> 00:36:09.811
Revealing an artist who plays himself to his
own delight and of his small family.
00:39:39.312 --> 00:39:44.526
In this new facet, the the newly formed
family makes a trip to Acapulco.
00:39:45.235 --> 00:39:50.323
There, they convince the staff of the hotel
where they are staying to participate in a film
00:39:50.323 --> 00:39:53.118
where Arnoldo is portrayed as a successful man.
00:39:53.410 --> 00:39:54.619
As a happy provider.
00:40:05.088 --> 00:40:06.589
It was around March.
00:40:45.045 --> 00:40:47.714
Hey Noldi, where did you just come back from?
00:40:49.174 --> 00:40:51.551
-From Acapulco.
-What did you do there?
00:40:52.510 --> 00:40:53.470
-At the sea.
00:40:53.762 --> 00:40:55.180
-What did you do?
00:40:55.472 --> 00:40:57.891
-I swam and played in the sand.
00:40:58.183 --> 00:40:59.392
-Oh and what else?
00:41:00.643 --> 00:41:04.147
-We were in "Los Flotes" hotel in Santa Clara.
00:41:04.147 --> 00:41:06.608
-Now we are going to talk to Wilitos
to see how his trip went.
00:41:06.608 --> 00:41:08.568
Wilitos, how was your trip to Acapulco?
00:41:09.194 --> 00:41:14.574
Good, I went with my aunt Carmela,
I walked a lot in Acapulco,
00:41:14.574 --> 00:41:16.743
I went to the beach every day.
00:41:17.285 --> 00:41:19.329
-And do you appear in the movie?
00:41:20.080 --> 00:41:21.623
-Yes, there I am!
00:41:22.290 --> 00:41:25.794
-Oh this naughty boys, but they are beautiful.
00:41:26.503 --> 00:41:28.088
-What would we do without them?
00:41:29.881 --> 00:41:34.886
-They were three then and now they are four,
because they have a 4-month-old sister.
00:42:18.555 --> 00:42:25.436
Aneli, my mother, breaks into a masculine
world by being the first girl in the family.
00:42:34.654 --> 00:42:37.991
She quickly finds in Ico an ideal accomplice.
00:42:45.373 --> 00:42:48.835
Both become fantasies playmates,
00:42:48.835 --> 00:42:53.631
that come to life among the trees of the
enormous garden of Carranza Avenue.
00:43:03.725 --> 00:43:05.310
Lastly, Jennifer arrives.
00:43:05.894 --> 00:43:12.317
a girl who gives meaning and unity to the family
at the end of Anita and Arnold's cycle of descent.
00:44:05.161 --> 00:44:07.247
Happy Christmas Eve!
00:44:33.439 --> 00:44:35.692
Open your presents, kids.
00:44:44.534 --> 00:44:49.539
This is the last film that shows Noldi
celebrating Christmas with the rest of his family.
00:44:50.123 --> 00:44:54.585
From here on, every future celebration
takes place without him at the table.
00:45:01.009 --> 00:45:05.013
Under the candles of the Christmas tree,
his four brothers grow year after year.
00:45:05.221 --> 00:45:08.182
While from him only remains the absence.
00:45:12.895 --> 00:45:17.942
I think my dad had an attitude that he shouldn't
have had when he sent him to Switzerland.
00:45:18.192 --> 00:45:20.611
Why Switzerland? Well, because we were Swiss,
00:45:20.611 --> 00:45:23.906
although nobody was interested in
Switzerland, I think not even him.
00:45:24.741 --> 00:45:28.161
And that was an abandonment, because
Noldi went to Switzerland for five years.
00:45:31.247 --> 00:45:35.585
And since Noldi was the oldest,
it was like preparing him, right?
00:45:35.793 --> 00:45:39.422
But everything turned out
the other way around.
00:45:43.718 --> 00:45:47.680
His relationship with his father was not the
same as his father had with Willy and Ico.
00:45:48.056 --> 00:45:52.477
Maybe since he was the oldest,
00:45:53.144 --> 00:45:56.064
his father expected something from him
or demanded more of him.
00:45:56.481 --> 00:46:01.110
But I remember Noldi wanted to return from
Switzerland and his father didn't listen to him.
00:46:02.445 --> 00:46:03.654
He didn't listen to him.
00:46:10.119 --> 00:46:16.042
Arnold imposed himself as a father.
00:46:16.501 --> 00:46:19.003
"I command it and you go to Switzerland."
00:46:19.379 --> 00:46:25.259
He took him out of his security niche
and sent him to a Swiss institute,
00:46:26.010 --> 00:46:29.972
At an age when you are in
a very delicate transition.
00:46:30.556 --> 00:46:32.975
Exile him and send him to Switzerland!
00:46:43.694 --> 00:46:45.655
-Hello?
-How are you doing?
00:46:46.364 --> 00:46:48.699
-Well, thank you.
-Were you very asleep?
00:46:48.991 --> 00:46:50.952
-Oh! well asleep, yeah.
00:46:51.411 --> 00:46:54.038
-Yesterday we called you and
you hadn't arrived in Zurich.
00:46:54.414 --> 00:46:55.748
-No, I was in Bern.
00:46:55.957 --> 00:46:58.334
-So, how are you?
00:46:59.127 --> 00:47:00.962
-I'm very sleepy.
00:47:01.170 --> 00:47:04.215
-Hey, didn't you like to hear us?
-Yes, of course.
00:47:04.757 --> 00:47:08.719
-We've been trying to locate you,
and until now they have given us the call.
00:47:09.011 --> 00:47:10.430
-Really?
-Yes.
00:47:13.474 --> 00:47:16.853
-Where did you spend Christmas Eve?
-In Bern.
00:47:17.478 --> 00:47:18.521
-With whom?
00:47:19.313 --> 00:47:22.108
-With the people that I'm living with.
00:47:22.525 --> 00:47:23.901
-Where you happy?
00:47:25.778 --> 00:47:27.530
-Hm... Not so much.
00:47:29.323 --> 00:47:30.450
-Noldi are you Ok?
00:47:31.159 --> 00:47:32.160
-I'm fine!
00:47:32.160 --> 00:47:34.662
-Are you in good health?
-Yes.
00:47:34.829 --> 00:47:37.248
-I'm going to say goodbye,
your dad wants to talk to you.
00:47:37.248 --> 00:47:39.292
-Bye mom.
-Bye.
00:47:39.959 --> 00:47:42.003
-Alo Noldi.
-Hi.
00:47:42.044 --> 00:47:46.591
-Hey, sorry we woke you up.
-It's okay.
00:47:47.592 --> 00:47:51.220
-Hey, I want to give you a Christmas present.
-Oh yeah, what is it?
00:47:51.220 --> 00:47:53.431
-When you get to Mexico, huh?
-Okay.
00:47:53.431 --> 00:47:54.724
-Hey Noldi.
00:47:55.600 --> 00:47:59.061
-Anneli is going to talk to you for a moment.
-Sure.
00:47:59.937 --> 00:48:06.319
-Noldi, we really want to see you here.
-Oh, me too!
00:48:06.694 --> 00:48:10.615
-Jennifer is going to talk to you, bye.
00:48:12.074 --> 00:48:14.452
-Noldi.
-Hello Jenny.
00:48:14.827 --> 00:48:19.165
-Hey, why haven't you written to me?
-Why don't you write to me?
00:48:19.582 --> 00:48:22.293
-You are the one who should write to me.
00:48:24.795 --> 00:48:29.509
-I'm going to write to you and you write to me.
-Yes, sure!
00:48:30.092 --> 00:48:33.638
-Ico is going to talk to you.
-Ok.
00:48:34.639 --> 00:48:36.724
-Hey what are you doing?
00:48:36.724 --> 00:48:40.561
-Hey man, this phone bill is going to be expensive.
00:48:42.438 --> 00:48:46.275
-So Noldi we say goodbye. See you soon.
00:48:46.275 --> 00:48:50.821
-Sure, good luck.
-We´ll talk on the phone
00:48:50.821 --> 00:48:52.490
-Bye Noldi!
-Bye.
00:49:14.136 --> 00:49:16.847
February, 1962.
00:49:18.099 --> 00:49:19.725
Dear Anne Marie,
00:49:20.643 --> 00:49:24.939
As I told you in the last letter, we will
be going to Europe this summer.
00:49:25.273 --> 00:49:27.942
And we will surely be in
Switzerland for a few days,
00:49:28.359 --> 00:49:30.528
becasuse Arnold really wants to visit you.
00:49:33.823 --> 00:49:36.534
We will also take the opportunity to see Noldi
00:49:36.534 --> 00:49:38.911
who is already in his third year at the boarding school
00:49:38.911 --> 00:49:41.664
and then we are going to
travel with him through Italy.
00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:46.127
Here life goes on.
00:49:46.752 --> 00:49:50.298
The children are still growing and next
year Willy will go on student exchange
00:49:50.298 --> 00:49:54.552
to a small town in northern
Wisconsin in the United States.
00:49:56.721 --> 00:49:58.639
We are remodeling the house.
00:49:59.181 --> 00:50:02.602
since we think the girls should have their own room
00:50:03.060 --> 00:50:06.522
and also we can expand the living room and the terrace.
00:50:07.898 --> 00:50:14.947
Everything is under construction and Arnold moved the
beds to the living room where we all sleep for now.
00:50:16.365 --> 00:50:21.954
We hope that by the time of our trip they will
have finished and we can return back to normal.
00:50:24.040 --> 00:50:30.546
Thank Rolph for all the cards he has sent
us and we hope to see you there soon.
00:50:32.381 --> 00:50:33.424
With love,
00:50:34.091 --> 00:50:34.967
Anita.
00:53:01.864 --> 00:53:06.202
During the trip, Anita and Arnoldo
meet again with their camera.
00:53:11.749 --> 00:53:17.463
They haven't filmed for a long time and the trip
offers an opportunity to use the image as a game,
00:53:17.797 --> 00:53:21.425
where they both strive to portray
themselves as if they were not tourists.
00:54:06.512 --> 00:54:09.306
When no one's around to film them together,
00:54:09.306 --> 00:54:15.396
they take turns for filming each other down the
same steps of museums, churches and palaces.
00:54:31.829 --> 00:54:36.667
Anita's habit of filming the world
from a window remains present.
00:54:56.145 --> 00:55:02.693
And even stranger is Arnoldo's obsession that
lies hidden between takes to portray himself.
00:55:08.741 --> 00:55:12.620
With speaking to the camera despite
the 8mm's lack of sound.
00:55:19.084 --> 00:55:24.882
Shot after shot, he seems to remind
the viewer, or maybe himself,
00:55:24.882 --> 00:55:27.426
important notes about what's
happening at that moment.
00:55:28.218 --> 00:55:32.222
What he thinks, what he feels, what he wants.
00:55:38.145 --> 00:55:39.647
And suddenly,
00:55:39.647 --> 00:55:46.737
among all these stagings, filmic obsessions and
tourists shots that don't want to be identified as such,
00:55:46.946 --> 00:55:50.783
some images evoke an honest and
deep affection between the couple.
00:55:58.666 --> 00:56:04.421
In multiple sequences, the camera's gaze
genuinely captures their close complicity.
00:56:07.841 --> 00:56:10.719
It traces the coordinates of a
life filmed in co-authorship.
00:56:11.345 --> 00:56:15.349
An authentic drawing that does not need
to be staged in order to flourish.
00:56:25.609 --> 00:56:28.070
July, 1962.
00:56:29.530 --> 00:56:30.531
Dear Eva,
00:56:31.907 --> 00:56:36.745
I am writing to you from San Sebastian,
where I have been alone for the last week.
00:56:37.871 --> 00:56:43.961
Arnold left for Switzerland to pick up Noldi
and the three of us will meet again in Venice.
00:56:44.878 --> 00:56:48.924
As you can imagine, it was a
plan that I did not agree with.
00:56:49.842 --> 00:56:57.224
We had avoided the subject during the whole
trip but finally we had to talk about it in Madrid.
00:56:58.517 --> 00:57:03.522
No matter what reasons I could give him,
and he made the decision by himself.
00:57:04.857 --> 00:57:10.154
I understand that he wants to improve his
relationship with Noldi and I totally support him,
00:57:10.446 --> 00:57:13.323
But it seems to me that
the way to do it is different.
00:57:16.201 --> 00:57:21.040
At the end I told him that he should
listen more to his son and less to himself.
00:57:25.544 --> 00:57:31.508
Anyway, these days alone have served me
to relax and think about many things,
00:57:32.176 --> 00:57:36.513
After Arnold's departure I was able to
take the trip with much tranquility,
00:57:37.097 --> 00:57:40.017
so I visited the villages around Burgos.
00:57:41.351 --> 00:57:45.397
A Roman road passes by that can still be visited.
00:57:47.066 --> 00:57:53.781
it is impressive how certain things can remain
almost intact despite the erosion of the years.
00:57:54.907 --> 00:57:59.828
It may sound silly, but that afternoon,
walking on the road,
00:57:59.828 --> 00:58:04.875
I felt more impressed by it than when
I was in front of the coliseum in Rome.
00:58:05.417 --> 00:58:11.757
And it is actually nothing imposing, it is
just a rural road paved without any grace.
00:58:12.841 --> 00:58:17.221
Maybe it was the fact that I found myself
alone and my mind was wandering
00:58:17.221 --> 00:58:24.144
but the idea of that road disappearing one day
and no one will give it the least importance
00:58:24.144 --> 00:58:26.522
moved me deeply.
00:58:36.990 --> 00:58:41.453
The other day I went out for a walk around the
city with no intention of getting anywhere.
00:58:44.540 --> 00:58:49.962
just walked and took a break in the
parts of the city that I found interesting.
00:58:56.718 --> 00:59:00.514
And the sea has nothing to do with Mexico's.
00:59:01.473 --> 00:59:04.143
I barely stayed in the cold water for a few minutes.
00:59:06.395 --> 00:59:13.318
Do you remember when father take us to Veracruz
and scold us because we spent the whole day in the sea?
00:59:15.279 --> 00:59:18.866
I still remember how our hands got all pruny.
00:59:20.450 --> 00:59:27.249
Now I'm finishing reading B. Traven's
White Rose, which just takes place in Veracruz.
00:59:28.292 --> 00:59:32.129
When we're going back and passing through
to see you, I'll lend it to you if you like.
00:59:35.841 --> 00:59:41.263
We will also have the opportunity to tell
you how the trip ended and Noldi's story.
00:59:42.014 --> 00:59:47.853
Though on second thought, it is likely that
this letter will reach you after we meet.
00:59:48.520 --> 00:59:50.898
You know how bad the mail is in Mexico.
00:59:51.481 --> 00:59:53.567
Give the children kisses for me.
00:59:55.485 --> 00:59:57.988
Your sister, Anita.
01:00:02.284 --> 01:00:03.911
And there a very big break happened.
01:00:03.911 --> 01:00:06.079
Both Noldi with his dad,
01:00:07.039 --> 01:00:09.917
and Arnoldo with Anita.
01:00:10.792 --> 01:00:14.546
And in hindsight, I think she was right.
01:00:15.589 --> 01:00:17.799
She was right to want him back.
01:00:18.050 --> 01:00:19.384
She wanted him with...
01:00:20.385 --> 01:00:21.428
With his family.
01:00:31.146 --> 01:00:34.316
You can't send someone so young,
so far from the family, just because.
01:00:35.067 --> 01:00:37.945
Well, my dad didn't understand it
very well, that was the problem.
01:00:52.125 --> 01:00:57.798
If someone encounter these images for the first time,
without knowing who is portrayed in them,
01:00:58.006 --> 01:01:00.300
they would think it was an idyllic family.
01:01:02.010 --> 01:01:06.098
That their hugs, walks and poses in
front of squares and monuments,
01:01:06.473 --> 01:01:10.644
are spontaneous flashes of affection that
the camera recorded almost by chance.
01:01:14.481 --> 01:01:19.861
But behind this collection of these happy moments,
lies a story trapped on the edge of the image.
01:01:20.862 --> 01:01:22.948
Everything we see hides something else,
01:01:23.824 --> 01:01:27.202
but we don't always want to see
what is hidden behind what we see.
01:01:43.343 --> 01:01:45.429
October, 1963.
01:01:46.305 --> 01:01:47.806
Dear Shorty,
01:01:48.223 --> 01:01:49.808
How are things going over there?
01:01:50.767 --> 01:01:54.187
Now that you enter Highschool you will
surely run into my brother Ico,
01:01:54.354 --> 01:01:55.689
who is now in Junior High.
01:01:56.064 --> 01:01:57.941
If you see him, keep an eye on him,
01:01:58.442 --> 01:02:01.695
so he won't end up hanging
out with people like you.
01:02:04.990 --> 01:02:06.908
I still have some time left here.
01:02:07.743 --> 01:02:11.163
My dad wants me to do the Swiss
military service after finishing school.
01:02:11.455 --> 01:02:13.040
But here it's not like in Mexico.
01:02:13.457 --> 01:02:16.835
The service lasts two years and all that
time you have to spend it in barracks.
01:02:17.836 --> 01:02:20.464
The truth is, I don't intend
to stay here any longer.
01:02:20.797 --> 01:02:23.508
I would prefer to go back to Mexico
and take a lot of pictures.
01:02:24.176 --> 01:02:29.431
Last month my uncle Rolph gave me a camera
for my birthday and I've been trying it out.
01:02:30.515 --> 01:02:33.643
I'm sending you the first ones
I took and I'll send you more later.
01:02:34.644 --> 01:02:38.190
Say hello to all the existentialists and
tell them I'm sending them a hug.
01:02:39.149 --> 01:02:40.150
Noldi.
01:03:23.193 --> 01:03:28.657
With Noldi absent, Arnoldo shoots
"Combate", his last fiction film.
01:03:33.703 --> 01:03:40.335
This time, he stands behind the camera
directing Willy, Jeniffer and particularly Ico,
01:03:41.086 --> 01:03:44.548
who by this time, wanted to be a pilot.
01:03:52.472 --> 01:03:56.435
"Combate" seems to be Arnoldo's way
of encourage Ico's aviator dreams,
01:03:57.310 --> 01:03:59.312
A way to assert himself as a parent.
01:04:00.230 --> 01:04:02.357
To state that despite their mistakes,
01:04:02.732 --> 01:04:05.318
there is still a chance for healing the wounds.
01:04:16.037 --> 01:04:23.211
If you think about it, he had no roots from anywhere.
01:04:23.211 --> 01:04:31.344
He was born in San Luis Potosí, but his father
sent him to Switzerland to be educated.
01:04:32.137 --> 01:04:34.723
So he grew up without his father.
01:04:34.723 --> 01:04:38.894
His father went to see him every 4 or 5 years.
01:04:40.312 --> 01:04:43.940
So his father figure was his uncle
01:04:44.441 --> 01:04:47.819
who gives him his first camera
01:04:49.196 --> 01:04:57.662
And this seed caught on in Arnoldo because when
he is about to come of age, he wants to study art.
01:05:00.916 --> 01:05:05.837
But his father wants him to do his
military service in Switzerland.
01:05:07.797 --> 01:05:12.260
And when he finishes it,
the idea of studying art hasn't gone,
01:05:12.469 --> 01:05:21.269
but his father has other plans and again he forces
him to come to Mexico to learn the printing business.
01:05:21.895 --> 01:05:23.939
Until he went to New York.
01:05:28.818 --> 01:05:34.824
Even there, his father blackmails
him or plays the victim
01:05:35.367 --> 01:05:41.623
so that he returns to Mexico to take care
of the business which is what he finally did.
01:05:42.332 --> 01:05:44.584
He ended up dedicating himself to
something that he didn't wanted.
01:05:47.295 --> 01:05:55.762
And his great misfortune is that he was very
clear that he didn't want to become his father,
01:05:55.762 --> 01:05:59.015
he didn't want to make the
same mistakes as his father.
01:05:59.599 --> 01:06:02.352
But in the end he ended
up transformed into him.
01:06:20.120 --> 01:06:23.081
March, 1975.
01:06:24.416 --> 01:06:29.629
Dear Anita, yesterday we said goodbye
to Arnold who left to Mexico.
01:06:30.380 --> 01:06:34.384
We enjoyed very much the two
weeks he was with us in Bern
01:06:34.551 --> 01:06:37.846
and we sent some gifts for you and the children.
01:06:41.141 --> 01:06:46.855
I don't want to sound alarmed or worry
about something that may not be important,
01:06:47.272 --> 01:06:51.359
But I would like to tell you about two
episodes that we lived with Arnold,
01:06:51.568 --> 01:06:55.447
which left both Rolph and I worried.
01:07:00.035 --> 01:07:04.122
The day of his arrival we went to
the train station to pick him up.
01:07:04.998 --> 01:07:11.087
Rolf checked the arrivals board and we realized that
it had been an hour since Arnold's train had arrived
01:07:11.087 --> 01:07:12.756
but there was no sign of him.
01:07:15.717 --> 01:07:20.513
After 20 minutes we found him in the parking lot.
01:07:20.597 --> 01:07:27.062
And when we talked to him he didn't seem
to recognize us, he simply smiled confusedly.
01:07:28.480 --> 01:07:34.110
After a few hours and after lying down
for a while he woke up well and lucid.
01:07:34.110 --> 01:07:38.365
So we thought it would have
been a passing episode.
01:07:40.950 --> 01:07:45.497
However, days later he went out
with Rolph to see a house for sale,
01:07:46.039 --> 01:07:51.544
since Arnold had told us that he wanted
to move soon to Switzerland for good.
01:07:53.213 --> 01:07:59.844
Both of them were walking around
downtown when Arnold was suddenly lost.
01:08:00.679 --> 01:08:08.353
He spent hours looking for him until he found
him wandering around the Nydegg Bridge.
01:08:10.313 --> 01:08:16.027
When Rolph reached him Arnold was
not talking nor answering his questions,
01:08:16.736 --> 01:08:22.283
He brought him back to the house and the
next day he was as if nothing had happened,
01:08:23.827 --> 01:08:30.709
When I asked him why he separated from Rolph
he just smiled and changed the conversation.
01:08:32.961 --> 01:08:39.592
Anyway, I hope he was just tired but
I thought it was the right thing to tell you.
01:08:40.593 --> 01:08:45.765
You know how much I love my cousin and you,
and we care about his health.
01:08:47.392 --> 01:08:50.019
I hope you will come next time,
01:08:50.395 --> 01:08:52.647
With love, Anne Marie.
01:11:32.307 --> 01:11:37.312
Not only he did not recognize anyone,
01:11:37.312 --> 01:11:40.607
but he also began to lose the Spanish language.
01:11:42.400 --> 01:11:47.113
He only remembered words in German
and no one could understand him.
01:11:53.828 --> 01:11:59.667
The last time Arnoldo took a movie camera was
to film the birthday of one of his grandchildren.
01:12:03.254 --> 01:12:06.132
The images show a disoriented cameraman,
01:12:06.925 --> 01:12:12.472
lost among a stream of childish faces that does
not let him guess which of them is the correct.
01:12:21.773 --> 01:12:23.232
Before the end of the reel,
01:12:23.650 --> 01:12:28.237
Anita must have realized that, so she pointed
him in the direction of her and her grandson.
01:12:33.117 --> 01:12:36.079
Was Arnoldo aware of who he was filming?
01:12:36.371 --> 01:12:40.708
Or did he simply point the camera in the
direction a stranger encouraged him to do?
01:12:50.927 --> 01:12:55.181
Since all the children had already left,
Anita was alone with him.
01:12:58.559 --> 01:13:02.355
And with Ico, the only one who had stayed.
01:13:06.317 --> 01:13:10.780
Ico had studied to be a pilot but he never
ended up practicing his profession.
01:13:11.155 --> 01:13:15.743
And what he ended up doing
was being Arnoldo's caretaker.
01:13:19.831 --> 01:13:29.966
To lighten Arnoldo days as he was locked up,
Ico encourages him to take pictures.
01:13:34.637 --> 01:13:40.476
So he spends his days photographing his garden,
01:13:42.020 --> 01:13:44.313
it was the only thing left to him to portray.
01:13:50.903 --> 01:13:52.822
Federico stays at home with my parents,
01:13:53.448 --> 01:13:56.617
during the time my dad got sick.
01:13:57.285 --> 01:14:00.455
And Federico was the one who
took care of him and his needs.
01:14:01.831 --> 01:14:02.832
Until...
01:14:03.750 --> 01:14:05.752
Federico died.
01:14:06.461 --> 01:14:07.462
Drowned.
01:14:30.318 --> 01:14:34.405
Ico is invited to sail On a Christmas Eve.
01:14:36.240 --> 01:14:39.827
That day was very windy and cold.
01:14:41.496 --> 01:14:43.331
The sailboat capsized.
01:14:49.629 --> 01:14:55.009
I went to Mexquitic and I said to myself: he
surely came out of the ice water like a madman,
01:14:55.384 --> 01:14:58.262
and got lost in the bushes.
01:14:58.554 --> 01:15:01.265
So I walked the dam and found nothing.
01:15:01.265 --> 01:15:04.060
I asked what had happened and they
told me that the sailboat capsized.
01:15:05.144 --> 01:15:08.439
Ico decided to swim to shore,
01:15:09.190 --> 01:15:10.191
and he just...
01:15:10.691 --> 01:15:12.443
and he doesn't arrive.
01:15:12.443 --> 01:15:14.529
Instead, he drowned in the cold water.
01:15:18.032 --> 01:15:23.287
So he stays in the water during
the 24th, the 25th, the 26th,
01:15:24.205 --> 01:15:27.208
and in the 28th I think we found him.
01:15:27.750 --> 01:15:30.002
We got him out of the water,
01:15:30.545 --> 01:15:35.091
When I saw him he was
completely blue from the cold.
01:15:35.466 --> 01:15:39.679
So we put his body in the ambulance
and they take him to the Red Cross.
01:15:42.098 --> 01:15:47.103
I went to your grandparents' house and
asked your grandmother to give me a suit.
01:15:47.895 --> 01:15:49.897
We dress Ico.
01:15:50.481 --> 01:15:57.071
Until they came for him to take
him dressed to the funeral home.
01:15:58.990 --> 01:16:00.783
They take him and that's it.
01:16:02.618 --> 01:16:03.703
That's the end of the tale.
01:16:07.039 --> 01:16:11.961
The dinner table at my house
stayed set for more than a week.
01:16:12.712 --> 01:16:15.631
No one cleared the Christmas dinner table.
01:16:24.056 --> 01:16:29.187
There is no film that captured the dark
anguish in family conversations,
01:16:30.021 --> 01:16:32.899
the incessant hammering of the
telephone in the living room,
01:16:33.316 --> 01:16:37.445
the unbearable parade of neighbors,
onlookers and policemen.
01:16:40.656 --> 01:16:44.327
We treasure thousands of images that
illustrate our passage through this world,
01:16:44.827 --> 01:16:48.414
but as we leave it the only
witnesses to our departure,
01:16:48.581 --> 01:16:53.920
are a few documents signed by bureaucrats,
issued in a government office.
01:16:57.381 --> 01:17:00.551
But these administrative papers that we despise,
01:17:00.927 --> 01:17:05.765
show without any filter what
the image is terrified to portray.
01:17:13.856 --> 01:17:21.155
Coincidentally, the last reel on the 16mm
Bolex was film made by Ico.
01:17:28.246 --> 01:17:36.045
Like his parents, Ico films a scene played by an actor,
in this case a builder who does the cement.
01:17:38.673 --> 01:17:41.550
He repeats the shot because a car ruined the first one.
01:17:46.180 --> 01:17:51.310
He collects out-of-focus images of his friends
in what appears to be a heated argument.
01:17:53.187 --> 01:17:58.234
He captures the light getting lost behind
the hills and the chimney of the zinc mine.
01:18:02.196 --> 01:18:05.741
And at the end of the footage, as if
hiding the background of a memory,
01:18:06.158 --> 01:18:08.286
the image of a woman appears.
01:18:15.084 --> 01:18:19.380
A leap into the void leaves a mystery
in a story impossible to reconstruct.
01:18:29.765 --> 01:18:33.436
My mom stopped painting her hair,
she stopped wearing earrings.
01:18:34.353 --> 01:18:35.980
She no longer left her house.
01:18:36.272 --> 01:18:38.482
It affected her greatly.
01:18:38.691 --> 01:18:39.442
Greatly.
01:18:39.442 --> 01:18:40.776
She was never the same again.
01:18:41.610 --> 01:18:42.820
She was never the same again.
01:18:54.415 --> 01:19:00.671
From then on, Anita decided not to celebrate Christmas
or birthdays again, neither for Ico nor for Arnold.
01:19:03.007 --> 01:19:08.262
And she was alone in the house,
it became very complicated.
01:19:10.097 --> 01:19:15.102
So she took a difficult decision,
to send Arnold to a nursing home.
01:19:16.562 --> 01:19:18.481
And sends him to the "Swiss House".
01:19:20.358 --> 01:19:23.903
Perhaps she choose that place so
that Arnold in his fantasy
01:19:23.903 --> 01:19:26.947
thought that he had finally
moved to Switzerland.
01:19:27.907 --> 01:19:31.202
And finally fulfilled the desire he
wanted for years and never could do.
01:19:35.915 --> 01:19:41.253
And that was the end of Arnold.
01:19:43.047 --> 01:19:48.344
Not only he died in complete solitude,
01:19:49.512 --> 01:19:53.933
but also in complete ignorance of his own reality.
01:20:17.998 --> 01:20:21.377
Hidden among my father's films,
01:20:22.128 --> 01:20:24.171
lies the last image of Arnoldo.
01:20:30.845 --> 01:20:33.264
It portrays to the day he left for the nursing home.
01:20:34.265 --> 01:20:39.270
My mother carries me in her arms in front
of the plane that will take him to Mexico City.
01:20:41.856 --> 01:20:45.401
For a very brief moment,
2 seconds and 20 frames,
01:20:45.985 --> 01:20:49.530
the actor who lived inside my grandfather
seems to come to life in a fleeting way.
01:20:53.576 --> 01:20:56.787
Ignoring the camera, he nods with a smile
01:20:56.954 --> 01:20:59.415
and throws out an indecipherable line of dialogue
01:20:59.665 --> 01:21:02.460
just like he did hundreds of times in his movies.
01:21:09.341 --> 01:21:14.305
Despite having visited him years later,
I do not keep any structured memory of him.
01:21:14.847 --> 01:21:18.767
I only manage to rescue the vague image
of a shadow in front of a white wall.
01:21:19.435 --> 01:21:26.150
an incomplete drawing filed in the confines of my
memory that is mixed with his films and photographs.
01:21:26.442 --> 01:21:29.069
from where I have tried to reconstruct his identity.
01:21:35.784 --> 01:21:40.956
And it is here, in this image, where
I think lies the secret of his character.
01:21:43.876 --> 01:21:49.089
Even though the shadow is projected to the left,
his shoe appears to be projecting it downward.
01:21:51.091 --> 01:21:57.014
Above, in the hand that holds the violin,
a strange silhouette runs through his hand,
01:21:57.056 --> 01:22:02.811
while on the other side, the bow
seems to fade to appear higher.
01:22:04.647 --> 01:22:11.237
Finally, the outline of his face is suspicious;
cut out, overlapped.
01:22:13.155 --> 01:22:17.576
Apparently, Arnoldo never became a
New York City orchestra director.
01:22:18.786 --> 01:22:22.623
Instead, he used the image to another story.
01:22:23.249 --> 01:22:25.209
A truth made of paper.
01:22:40.724 --> 01:22:45.020
I'm not sure that all this footage
accurately portrays its protagonists.
01:22:45.604 --> 01:22:47.982
Nor that there is any way to do it.
01:22:58.117 --> 01:23:02.580
In the end, the image is nothing
more than a mirage of ourselves.
01:23:02.621 --> 01:23:05.958
An illusion that insists on
telling a story to create truth.
01:23:13.632 --> 01:23:18.470
Perhaps the only really important thing
is the attempt to decipher this reverie.
01:23:18.929 --> 01:23:21.015
Not so much to find out who we were,
01:23:21.307 --> 01:23:24.101
but rather, who it was that we wanted to be.
01:23:46.665 --> 01:23:51.587
OUR HOME
01:24:09.104 --> 01:24:13.859
On February 20, 1951 Ico was born in this house.
01:24:18.322 --> 01:24:25.788
Venustiano Carranza 437, where the
Kaiser family lives very happy.
01:24:32.252 --> 01:24:34.004
Look how colorful!
01:24:36.882 --> 01:24:40.302
Here comes the king of the house with
his coat because it was quite cold.
01:24:43.430 --> 01:24:45.808
In that pool we swim at summer.
01:24:50.312 --> 01:24:53.816
It looks like a king's castle.
01:25:00.239 --> 01:25:02.574
The most beautiful rose is my wife.
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 90 minutes
Date: 2022
Genre: Expository
Language: Spanish; German
Grade: Middle School, High School, College, Adults
Color/BW: /
Closed Captioning: Available
The is title is available for licensing on the Pragda STREAM site.
Existing customers, please log in to view this film.
New to Docuseek? Register to request a quote.
Related Films
An investigation into the persistence of silence as a tool to erase memory…
Filmmaker Nanni Moretti recounts the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, which…