The truths of Zanussi

With the intent of shaking off the disillusionment of February 24th, and to dispel the expectation/frustration that these days have left me with, I decided to go to the movies.  A Polish film from the ‘70s that was playing at the Chaplin Cinema seemed ideal for avoiding the streets of Havana with all their conformity and patience.  The director, Zanussi, was invited to present his film to the Cuban public.  In Spanish mixed with Italian, but with a precision that any Spanish speaker would envy, this gentleman made me come down to earth instead of fly, and confront rather than avoid.

None of the images and the dialogues of the film “Camouflage” managed to keep me from thinking about the words of Zanussi’s introduction.  The dilemma of a graduate in Philology – any similarity is pure coincidence – and the concessions to integrate himself in an academic world marked by simulation and opportunism, hit me hard.  However, the knockout blow for me was a simple apology by the director, regretting the effect of his thesis about the “camouflage” and the simulation.

I am trying to escape and he is reminding me in a phrase that: “The  cynicism of the old is more permanent than we would have thought.”

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