Docu-drama sheds light on plight of immigrants
In Walter Salles’s 2004 movie, The Motorcycle Diaries, Gael García Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna retrace the 1952 journey of a young Che Guevara and his buddy Alberto Granado through South America. It’s a fiction film anchored in reality — the actors often interacted with actual inhabitants of the places they visited.
García Bernal is in Montreal this weekend to present another film that recreates an epic journey. Who Is Dayani Cristal? screens Saturday and Sunday as part of Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM). It’s a documentary enhanced by elements of fiction.
At a news conference Friday morning, before making his way to a sold-out speaking engagement Friday evening organized by RIDM and Concordia’s Student Union, the Mexican movie star spoke about the benefits of blurring lines.
“The Motorcycle Diaries, I feel, is a documentary,” he said. “We did it that way, with a small crew. We went and talked to people and said okay, we’re in 1959. This is what’s happening. Let’s not talk about (modern things). They would talk about reality, trying to avoid anything that would mention the current time. It worked.”
Directed by García Bernal’s friend Marc Silver, Who Is Dayani Cristal? is a followup of sorts to the pair’s 2011 four-part series Los Invisibles, made in conjunction with Amnesty International. The short films explore the plight of Latin American migrants making the dangerous pilgrimage across Mexico in hopes of entering the U.S. In 2009, nearly 10,000 migrants were abducted in a six-month period. (The film can be viewed for free at amnesty.org/en/theinvisibles)
García Bernal is a coproducer on Who Is Dayani Cristal?, and also appears in the movie, stepping into the shoes of a paperless migrant found dead in the Arizona desert after crossing the Mexico-U.S. border. The film retraces the man’s steps from Honduras (he was eventually identified), imagining what he might have experienced and shedding light on the dangers for Latin Americans trying to reach and enter the U.S. illegally.
Though García Bernal is a famous actor, he was able to better slip into his character’s skin when he and the film’s crew asked real migrants to pretend he was one of them.
“What’s interesting is that when (the migrants) started to become actors in the film, all differences were eliminated — nationality, language, racial, economic, cultural. … I think there is something really interesting and substantial that goes on through the acting process. … You can get into the skin, the reality of the mind more than if you were just doing a journalistic piece. We talked about our desires, dreams and fears, and engaged on the same level.”
García Bernal is co-founder of Mexico’s travelling Ambulante Film Festival — at which RIDM executive director Roxanne Sayegh used to work — along with actor Diego Luna and producer Pablo Cruz. The fest brings more than 100 documentaries to various cities over a threemonth period.
The actor says sharing his love of documentaries serves a greater purpose.
“Ambulante is a beautiful festival that is a celebration of a collective act, watching movies. In Mexico, there is a lot of freedom, but there are areas that are dangerous. Film festivals help introduce transparency and create witnesses of our reality, of what is happening in the world. At the same time, it makes people feel that they are not alone. They can fight, struggle and achieve a sense of freedom.”
Who Is Dayani Cristal?
screens Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Imperial and Sunday at 11 a.m. at Excentris as part of RIDM. García Bernal will introduce the film at both screenings. For tickets and information, visit ridm.qc.ca/en