My Imaginary Country (Mi país imaginario)

Allende, the people support you!

When I was a young filmmaker,

I was lucky that Chris Marker came to Chile.

He liked my first film, "The First Year",

about Salvador Allende's first months in power.

He took it to France and organized its release in movie theaters there.

We exchanged many letters.

It was as if I were doing a correspondence course in film.

I was thrilled.

Later on, when we were making The "Battle of Chile",

he gave me some advice that I remember well:

"When you want to film a fire,

"you must be ready at the place where the first flame will appear."

MY IMAGINARY COUNTRY

On October 18, 2019,

a social outburst set Chile on fire.

This time, I wasn't able to film the first flame.

One year later,

when I arrived with my camera, I was reunited with my old friends

the stones of the Cordillera.

They are scattered around,

there are many of them.

As if it had been raining stones.

The young people, here,

seem to have very clear ideas.

They are preparing something that I wasn't expecting.

I see they are determined to take risks.

They are united by a single purpose

and they act as if they were one single body.

Without leaders, without ideologies.

This is new.

These are the accessories

that I use to protect myself.

With the hood on, it's better.

It protects me from the tear gas.

Do you always wear the flowers?

Yes, this hood is a part of me.

Why do you wear the flowers?

I think the flowers represent me.

I also have them tattooed on my body.

They represent me so much that...

In fact,

with the revolt, I've blossomed.

I could put it like that.

The uprising gave me strength, it gave me life.

Being able to help people, to fight for my people,

that's something that touched me here.

I have nothing to do with politics.

I'm not a member of any party.

And I'm not the only one.

There are many of us who think this way.

We might be killed.

I have a son, I'm doing this for him.

If they kill me, he'll live with my memory.

If I lose an eye, I'll still be there for him.

If they hurt my legs, I'll carry on.

If the cops arrest me, I'll suffer, but they'll let me go.

So nobody must worry, I'll be alright.

Look after my son.

Look after him and if anything happens to me,

take him in and look after him.

That's what I say to myself each time I leave home.

I know that each time I leave, I may not return.

But we must do this so that they listen to us,

so they pay attention to us.

Because there are people who have nothing to eat.

It happened to me.

I had to pay for university

and I had no money left to feed myself or my son.

He is nine years old.

He's a big boy.

He's nine years old.

He has his own hood.

He covers one eye when he sees the cops.

He detests the cops, but I didn't influence him.

It's because of what he sees on TV.

They showed things on TV.

Afterwards, it was censured, but that's another subject.

He saw it on social media.

Videos.

He wanted to be a police officer.

I would say to him:

"Tomás, it's your decision.

"I live my life as I want to, you must do the same.

"I won't say anything.

"But don't be a cop with no morals.

"I didn't bring you up that way."

And he would reply: "I will be a good cop."

Dumb cops!

Cops, I'm ashamed of you!

Murdering cops!

Bastards!

Murderers!

We're all on the frontline.

Everyone is equally important.

Some are braver than others, that's for sure,

but we are all on the frontline,

from those who carry the shields,

to the families sitting on the grass with their banners.

I believe we are all equally important.

It is thanks to us that this is becoming reality.

That's what scares the cops and the State.

We are acting out of love,

we act because we are courageous

and because we must fight.

We are courageous.

I wonder, how is it possible

that I am facing a second revolution in Chile?

What happened that woke up an entire country?

Each time I came back,

I noticed that Chile was turning into a shopping mall,

a display window that didn't show what was behind it.

That lasted for thirty years.

Meanwhile, three fearless generations were born.

When I was young, I lived through a revolution

that was led by the political parties.

Today, the movement is wary of the political parties

and of all the institutions.

I wonder how it all began?

In October 2019,

subway fares increased by thirty pesos.

I never imagined

that this would be the spark that set the country on fire.

Fare dodging, is another way of fighting

If you don't jump you're a cop!

Not paying your subway ticket

was an expression of anger and furious indignation.

The conflict spread.

Fires were started, stores attacked,

pharmacies and banks were looted.

A mixture of things that were hard to understand.

There was an atmosphere of liberation, adventure,

and street fights.

On October 19,

the President of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera,

declared a state of emergency.

We are at war

against an enemy who is powerful,

ruthless,

who respects nothing and nobody,

who is willing to use violence

and delinquency without limits,

even when that involves loss of human life.

An enemy willing to burn our hospitals,

our subways, our grocery stores

with one sole objective:

to create the maximum possible damage.

I had never seen, other than under the military regime,

a head of State deciding to call in the army

to resolve social conflict.

As a Chilean, seeing the soldiers in the street

reminds me of the coup d'État.

The people's rejection of them was immediate.

Soldiers get lost!

On Friday October 25,

1,200,000 people

gathered in Plaza Baquedano.

I had never seen anything like it.

They told their president:

"You are wrong, we are not at war!"

It was the biggest people's protest

in the history of Chile.

I am moved to see an entire country

breaking the silence with such determination.

I don't think anybody had foreseen

the effect of the revolt that altered the soul of Chile.

It was very strange

to enter a subway station

and to go out into a very different Chile.

I came out of Santa Lucía station

and there were people with saucepans.

They were shouting and walking towards Plaza Dignidad.

I burst into tears.

Seeing people shouting and waving banners.

People I never imagined I would see at protests.

And I began to cry.

I took my friend's hand and said to her:

"We've been saying it for years."

We've always spoken about this.

People have realized that we are exploited.

This system is permanently oppressing

women, the disadvantaged, the rural areas, the laborers.

It was very moving

to see the image of a woman with a banner

that demanded a rise in pensions or a new model,

while banging her saucepan.

She could be my grandmother who wasn't able to be there,

but people are protesting for her

and for all the victims of this shameful pension system.

It was amazing to come out of the subway into a different world,

a different Chile,

the Chile in which I'd wanted to live for a long time.

CHILE WITHOUT FEAR

I dream of a different society.

I want to live in a Chile that offers basic standards of living.

Not even dignified, just basic, such as housing.

Some children, in the shanty towns, do their homework on the floor.

The State has never taken measures to give them a decent home.

We will fight for what we deserve, which is dignity.

That is all I hope for of this Chile