{"id":3723,"date":"2023-10-31T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3723"},"modified":"2023-10-30T10:26:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T09:26:20","slug":"enduring-love-everlasting-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2023\/10\/31\/enduring-love-everlasting-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Enduring Love, Everlasting Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eternal Memory (La Memoria Infinita)<\/em> (Maite Alberdi, Chile, 2023), winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in Documentary Competition at Sundance Film Festival 2023<\/strong>
\nReview by Khalid Ali, film, and media correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Released in the UK Friday 10th November<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many films portraying dementia focus on the loss of identity of affected individuals, the carers\u2019 burden, or the unrelenting impact on families; of these, The Iron Lady<\/em> (Phyllida Lloyd, UK, 2011), Amour <\/em>(Michael Haneke, France, 2012), Still Alice<\/em> (Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, USA, 2014), and Vortex<\/em> (Gaspar No\u00e9, France, 2021) are notable examples. Maite Alberdi, Oscar-nominated Chilean film director, subverts that tradition by portraying the life of Augusto G\u00f3ngora and his devoted wife Paulina Urrutia, as a love story that defies the affliction of dementia. Before being diagnosed with dementia, Augusto had been a renowned political and cultural reporter who exposed the atrocities of the Pinochet dictatorship. Paulina is an actress who also served as the Minister of Culture and the Arts in Chile from 2006\u20132010. The film follows the last 6 years of their loving relationship with a background of home videos and archival footage chronicling the socio-political milieu of the Pinochet regime.<\/p>\n

\"Maite
Maite Alberdi in conversation with Khalid Ali at the London Film Festival, October 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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By observing Augusto and Paulina\u2019s daily routine, we are introduced to their jointly positive approach to the reality of dementia, <\/em><\/strong>an attitude best characterized by a palpable and continuous enjoyment of life. As husband and wife, they are both in the moment when recounting milestone memories of their 23 years as a couple. Their humour and intimacy comprise an essential element of their recipe for well-being. Daily exercises that include walking, stretching, and cycling is a pleasurable feature of their relationship. Such activities are not always a walk in the park, literally or figuratively; Augusto needs constant reminders to cycle in a straight line, but Paulina is content to be his watchguard and companion. Doing almost everything together is their way of experiencing joy for whatever time left. Dancing, touching, or talking maintains their deep emotional connection.<\/p>\n

While caring for Augusto, Paulina manages to avoid giving up her career as an actress or otherwise losing her professional identity. Their firm pact of sharing everything remains and thrives. Neither marginalized nor hidden away, Augusto is present at all of Paulina\u2019s plays. Maite Alberdi explains: \u201cI wanted to portray caregivers such as Paulina as people who can remain socially engaged and contributing to society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on their earlier years, neither one shies away from remembering traumatic events such as the assassination of one of Augusto\u2019s close friends. Reminiscing on both the exultant events they celebrated and the sad history they endured is their way of life. \u201cWithout memories, we don\u2019t know who we are.\u201d In the film we see Augusto introducing a book he co-wrote Chile: La Memoria Prohibida (Chile: The Forbidden Memory)<\/em> at its launch in 1989. Augusto emphatically states \u201cChileans need to reconstruct their emotional memory to assert their identity and to understand and recover from their collective trauma. As such remembering becomes a brave act of defiance\u201d. To this Alberdi adds: \u201cPaulina was moved by the film and sees it as Augusto\u2019s legacy. His professional and cultural identity is there for generations to come through his book and the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

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