La aventura de Miguel Littín clandestino en Chile

by Gabriel García Márquez

A principios de 1985, el director de cine chileno Miguel Littín -que figura en una lista de cinco mil exiliados con prohibición absoluta de volver a su tierra- estuvo en Chile por artes clandestinas durante seis semanas y filmó más de siete mil metros de película sobre la realidad de su país después de doce años de dictadura militar. Con la cara cambiada, con un estilo distinto de vestir y de hablar, con documentos falsos y con la ayuda y la protección de las organizaciones democráticas que actúan en la clandestinidad, Littín dirigió a lo largo y lo hondo del territorio nacional -inclusive dentro del Palacio de la Moneda- tres equipos europeos de cine que habían entrado al mismo tiempo que él con diversas coberturas legales, y a otros seis equipos juveniles de la resistencia interna. El resultado fue una película de cuatro horas para la televisión y otra de dos horas para el cine, que empiezan a proyectarse por estos días en todo el mundo.
Hace unos seis meses, cuando Miguel Littín me contó en Madrid lo que había hecho, y cómo lo había hecho, pensé que detrás de su película había otra película sin hacer que corría el riesgo de quedarse inédita. Fue así como aceptó someterse a un interrogatorio agotador de casi una semana, cuya versión magnetofónica duraba dieciocho horas. Allí quedo completa la aventura humana, con todas sus implicaciones profesionales y políticas, que yo he vuelto a contar condensada en esta serie de diez capítulos.
Algunos nombres han sido cambiados y muchas circunstancias alteradas para proteger a los protagonistas que siguen viviendo dentro de Chile.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Spanish Literature, Politics, Latin American, Nobel Prize

152 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1986

About the author

Gabriel José de la Concordia Garcí­a Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garcí­a Márquez, familiarly known as "Gabo" in his native country, was considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

He studied at the University of Bogotá and later worked as a reporter for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador and as a foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Caracas, and New York. He wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in order to explain real experiences. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.

Having previously written shorter fiction and screenplays, García Márquez sequestered himself away in his Mexico City home for an extended period of time to complete his novel Cien años de soledad, or One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. The author drew international acclaim for the work, which ultimately sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. García Márquez is credited with helping introduce an array of readers to magical realism, a genre that combines more conventional storytelling forms with vivid, layers of fantasy.

Another one of his novels, El amor en los tiempos del cólera (1985), or Love in the Time of Cholera, drew a large global audience as well. The work was partially based on his parents' courtship and was adapted into a 2007 film starring Javier Bardem. García Márquez wrote seven novels during his life, with additional titles that include El general en su laberinto (1989), or The General in His Labyrinth, and Del amor y otros demonios (1994), or Of Love and Other Demons.

(Arabic: جابرييل جارسيا ماركيز) (Hebrew: גבריאל גארסיה מרקס) (Ukrainian: Ґабріель Ґарсія Маркес) (Belarussian: Габрыель Гарсія Маркес) (Russian: Габриэль Гарсия Маркес)

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, written by Gabriel García Márquez, resulted from an interview granted to him by the director, Miguel Littín. In Chile, many intellectuals and artists endured under the Pinochet regime. He was handled, beaten, imprisoned, and executed. Some were lucky enough to be exiled. Miguel Littín is one of the latter, but he was banned from staying in his own country. In 1985, he returned to Chile after a twelve-year absence, under a false identity, with three film crews from three different countries to make documentaries on life under the authoritarian regime, including repression, reduced living conditions, and resistance. After six weeks of risking his life, he always watches his back without trying to reconnect with his friends or see his family. Phew! Garcia Marquez condensed the interview into less than two hundred pages in over six hours.
Additionally, he attempted to respect Littin's narration and language as much as possible, which is quite different from his own. Fans of the Nobel Prize for Literature, you will not find his unique style. Since it is a transcription (fictionalized, yet still), the book emphasizes Littin's deeds, gestures, thoughts, and feelings. His nostalgia, then his disillusionment. Above all, his worry of being discovered, the constant fear. Finally, the satisfaction of the work accomplished. What an example of courage and determination! This book gives you an idea of ​​Chile's modern history, of the fight of the intelligentsia (which is not always as represented and hailed as the armed resistance fighters). It was an exciting read.

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early in 1985, the Chilean film director Miguel Littín - whose name was on a blacklist of 5,000 exiles forbidden to re-enter their homeland, spent six weeks working undercover with the help of personal disguise and deception. He shot something like 100,000 feet of film about the state of Chile after 12 turbulent years of military dictatorship. Entering under a false passport he successfully got away with being a Uruguayan businessman after altering his appearance, and along with other European film crews set out the travel the length and breadth of the country, even managing to film inside Augusto Pinochet's private office. García Márquez after interviewing Littín, and changing some details to protect real names, writes an account of his time there.

Márquez ditches his trademark magic realism, to write a book that was in Roberto Bolaño territory, and although it deals with a fascinating subject matter, I am not entirely sure it was written by the correct writer. Had Littín himself paged a work of factual non-fiction with greater depth (this is barely over a hundred pages long) it may have been far more engrossing. The result here is somewhere between a comedy spy thriller (which didn't suit the material) and an evocative slice of political reportage. So all in all, I found it a mixed bag. It does go some ways to offer a tragic summary of Chilean politics, and the poorer folk living through extreme fear, but the comical edge kind of ruined it for me.

[Ben Sharafski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining piece of reportage retracing the adventures and misadventures (most of them self-inflicted) of the protagonist while under cover in Pinochet's Chile. A quick enjoyable read.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

The back cover of this nyrb-classic (so it's their words) gives this set-up: the film director Miguel Littín, who fled his native Chile in 1973 when General Augusto Pinochet toppled the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende, returns in 1985 disguised as a Uruguayan businessman to secretly film his country and thus "tell the truth about Pinochet's benighted Chile--a film that would capture the world's attention while landing the general and his secret police with a very visible black eye."

And perhaps the film did that. I haven't seen it so I don't know. But this story tells of clean neighborhoods and a general calm. The trains run on time. There are poor people and unhappily so, but I suspect they were poor and unhappy under Allende, too. There are politically pissed-off pockets of resistance. I have not known it ever to be otherwise, just that the sides shift. There are police, yes, and secret police, but the anecdotes we are treated to show that they were mostly helpful or not very good at being secretive.

Look, I don't doubt that the United States supported the above-mentioned military coup, which we should not do, especially for a political motive (at best) or a financial motive (at worst). Neither do I doubt that Pinochet was repressive, maybe even guilty of a reign of terror, as the back cover alleges. It's just that no evidence of that was shared in this book.

And perhaps the economic philosophy practiced by the Pinochet government was "a spectacular flop." Again I don't know. The book blames the "tutelage of the Chicago School of economists." Nyrb goes beyond the cryptic and names names, citing "the poisonous prescriptions of the American economist Milton Friedman." I point this out not to ignite a theoretical or political debate but rather to show that it is not only one rightly-condemned world leader who engages in hyperbole and pandering.

This is a first-person account of Littín's return to Chile and Littín is the "first-person" of the account. But, the book was written by Gabriel García Márquez in Littín's "first-person" voice. What we have then is not tales of repression or even the anecdotal evidence of Chilean reality. Instead it is a cloak and dagger story of Littín attempting to maintain his disguise and avoid capture, without any real attempts to capture him. Heroically then (or comically, pick your term), Littín is able time and time again to evade his own imagined dangers. Or, in nyrb's words: a classic of modern reportage. Which is exactly what it was.

[Hulyacln · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miguel Littin saçlarını kesiyor.
On kilo verip, kaşlarını aldırıyor.
Yeni giysiler alıyor kendine.
Üç farklı ülkeden ekipler oluşturuyor, günü gününe planlıyor her detayı.
Kaybedecek başka şey kalmadı aslında. Çünkü o zaten ülkesini kaybetti.
Şimdi Şili’ye gidiyor.
Gizlice.
.
Miguel Littin sürgün edilen bir yönetmendi. Beş bin kişilik yasaklılar listesindeydi adı. Gittiği ülkede sanatına devam etti aslında, eşi de yanındaydı , arkadaşları da vardı.
Ama sahip oldukları, sahip olamadığı tek bir şeyi unutturamadı ona.
Yasaklı olduğu yere gitti. Kendi ülkesine. Eskiden içinde yaşadığı insanlara, şimdi ise Pinochet'ye ait olan Şili’yi göstermek istedi.
Ve Pinochet ayakta uyumalıydı, Littin gözlerinin önündeyken.
.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Littin ile yaptığı 18 saatlik görüşme sonrası bu kitabı kaleme aldı. Röportaj olarak değil. Littin’in ağzından Marquez kelimelerini kullanarak.
Bir varış öyküsü, bir ülkenin portresi, onurlu bir uğraş.. Littin’in peşinde, Littin ile birlikte. İşte bu kadar yakın hissetmemizi sağlayan da Marquez’in çekim gücü..
.
İlknur Özdemir çevirisiyle-

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a brilliant and touching preface by Francisco Goldman that I highly recommend. The book itself, however, is dull. Returning to Pinochet's Chile to produce a clandestine film about the horrors of the dictatorship. the narrator, Miguel Littín, is horrified to learn that Pinochet's Chile (in 1985) was essentially calm (if slightly bullied) and prosperous modern country -- even during the State of Siege.

Having been in Spain during the Franco years, I can attest that the presence of the Guardia Civile were was merely like an unnoticed backdrop -- no different that what one would find in a modern American city today, except that they wore funny hats and carried those funny little machine guns.


Violeta Parra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcaSPa...

Here - on a rec. from a friend is another version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOJ-A...

[Emily]

In the introduction to the NYRB edition of Gabriel Garcia Márquez's Clandestine in Chile, Francesco Goldman makes the claim that the book is most rewarding when read, not as the tale of adventure and political intrigue it seems at first glance, but instead as a study of the times (1985), the place (Chile), and the specific person: Miguel Littín, exiled middle-aged film-director who returns to his native country disguised as a Uruguayan businessman, to film a documentary about life under the Pinochet dictatorship. I tend to agree with Goldman's claim. As a gripping tale of resistance fighters battling a frightening adversary, and equally as an exposé of the horrible living conditions resulting from the Pinochet regime, the piece is undeniably lacking. As Goldman writes,

[Even] Littín briefly finds himself reflecting that he could easily live in this country. He and the teams of filmmakers he deploys like a spymaster throughout the country never seem to be in any real danger. There is some suspense over Littín's being unmasked, but one senses it would lead to nothing graver than his expulsion from the country; the reign of terror in this locked-up Chile seems to have subsided. There is little in this book that might disturb the tranquility of those who argue that, on balance, the coup and the Pinochet dictatorship were worth enduring because of the relative prosperity and stability, and the return to democratic rule that was its undeniable result.

Nothing, that is, unless you count Littín's subjective disagreement with such an argument, based on his memories and the stories he's heard about life in Chile since 1973. The filmmaker enters the country convinced of what he will find there, awash with nostalgia and traumatized by the time, twelve years before, when he and his wife and children were forced to flee the country under real pain of death. Almost from the opening pages, though, the Chile Littín actually discovers is a severe anticlimax. He expects to find Santiago devastated and depressing; instead, he is disappointed to find, at least on the surface, a "radiant city":

The new Pudahuel airport, however, lies on an expressway with a modern lighting system and that was a bad start for someone like me who, convinced of the evil of the dictatorship, needed to see clear evidence of its failures in the streets, in daily life, and in people's behavior, all of which could be filmed and shown to the world. But now my disquiet gave way to frank disappointment. [...]

         Contrary to what we had heard in exile, Santiago was a radiant city, its venerable monuments spendidly illuminated, its streets spotlessly clean and orderly. If anything, armed policemen were more in evidence on the streets of Paris or New York than here.

Of course, the true test of a city's quality of life is not measured by the illumination of its monuments or the cleanliness of its streets, and Clandestine in Chile does not make the argument that life in Chile under Pinochet was devoid of repression. Neither, however, does it come up with first-hand accounts that prove very condemnatory. Littín has a stable of second-hand or twelve-year-old horror stories about repressions under the regime (professors arrested in front of their children and later killed, a father setting himself on fire so that his children be released from torture), but the actual events that occur within the book prove, at the most surreal, and more often merely routine. Littín and his crew, for example, are convinced it's a trap when they are granted permission to film inside Moneda Palace (Pinochet's headquarters), and they collaborate with their undercover contacts to make sure of several contingency plans before entering, but the filming proceeds in an uneventful, non-threatening way. Similarly, reports of one of his crews getting arrested turn out to be false; ticket inspectors on the airplane turn out not to be looking for him; even the carabineros (policemen) of whom he is so obsessively paranoid in the beginning of his trip turn out much more often helpful and sincere than sinister.

Indeed, on the few occasions when Littín does seem in real trouble, he has invariably brought the problem on himself, through his almost comical compulsion to test the boundaries of his own cover. And in fact, this ties in nicely with the quality that, ironically, I found to be Clandestine in Chile's saving grace: Littín's irresponsible and (there is no other word for it) dickish behavior is so odd, and the rest of his character so contradictory, that the reader can easily remain engaged throughout the book's 116 pages solely in trying to figure him out. What to make, for example, of his decision to seek out and provoke two carabineros working on his film site during one of the first shoots in Santiago, therefore making it more likely that they would examine the very false documents about which he was endlessly anxious? How to react to his claim that he "accidentally" ended up out after curfew with a crew member in the neighborhood of his childhood home and "unknowingly" directed the car to his mother's house, thereby enabling himself to visit his mother and uncle despite previous strict warnings not to go near them for fear of blowing his cover? There is the odd compulsion he feels to carry a huge number of packs of Gitanes cigarettes into the country, and his paranoid inability to get rid of any of the used-up packets. One of his most asinine moments comes shortly after his entrance into Chile, when he is beset by a sudden wave of nostalgia and jumps out of the taxi—ignoring the imminent curfew, abandoning his ostensible wife and generally calling both their cover into question; when she gets angry at him upon his return and then the female head of the Italian film crew requires him to go through all their pre-arranged passwords rather than just letting him in because she recognizes his voice, he seems to think her thoroughness threatens his manhood:

         But with the same rigorousness she was to display every moment of the days to follow, she would not open the door until the password game was complete.

         "Goddammit! I muttered to myself, thinking not just of Elena but of Ely [his real wife] too. "They're all alike." And I continued to reply to the interrogation in the manner I most detest in life, that of the housebroken husband.

Bizarre, right? I mean, if you didn't think so many passwords were necessary, why agree to them in the first place? It reflects very little on gender roles that one partner in a collaboration would expect to go through the full password exchange as rehearsed, rather than abandoning the plan just because the other person says "Stop screwing around and let me in." Throughout the book, Littín displays this odd mix of petrification at relatively innocuous setbacks, and a cavalier dismissal of the safeguards his collaborators think necessary.

Not that Littín is entirely unsympathetic; there were many scenes when I found him to be quite likeable. But this behavioral discrepancy reinforces the impression that Littín himself is unsure how seriously he takes his political work in Chile—it often seems that, although genuinely critical of the Pinochet regime, his true motivation stems more from a desire to explore his personal nostalgia than to criticize his political opponents from the inside. Paragraphs about the film's political raison d'être sometimes collapse at key points to give way to sentences like "I had lost the image of my country in a fog of nostalgia" and "now, for the first time, I had to question whether this harvesting of my nostalgia was worth the trouble." It is characteristic of the Littín character as crafted by Garcia Marquez, that he would refer to a political exposé as a harvesting of nostalgia.

And indeed, the authorship of the book—Littín as filtered, or crafted, by Garcia Marquez—is one of the most interesting things about it. After Littín's real-life trip to Chile, he was interviewed by Garcia Marquez about his experiences; Garcia Marquez then whittled the long interview down to a novella-length piece of reportage, claiming to use only Littín's own words. To me this brings up quite interesting questions about what it means to "author" a work, since what Garcia Marquez did would more often be referred to as "editing." At the same time, sampling, cutting, and rearranging preexisting interview footage into a cohesive narrative is an approach to nonfiction that mirrors some of the cut-and-paste methods of the Beat poets—a cool application that would certainly not have occurred to me.

All in all, a curiosity, and one that I found compelling albeit for different reasons than I originally assumed.

[majo☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hero, I said; no one will erect on the soil of some public plaza your inspiring statue, no one. Instead, amid somber official laurels will be installed a mustached man in frock coat or with sword, a man who killed a peasant woman in the war, a man who whit a single bloody shell demolished a school for little girls, a man who usurped the Indians´lands, a hunter of doves, exterminator of black swans...

Las Aventuras de Miguel Littín Clandestino en Chile es una crónica novelada de la estadía secreta del director chileno Miguel Littín, exiliado durante la dictadura de Pinochet, quien regresó en 1985 a su país para filmar una película. El narrador es el propio Littín, pero el estilo es el de García Márquez. El libro se basa en Littín, sus ansiedades, sus reacciones inesperadas y sus frustraciones frente al no poder quedarse en su propio país. Nada de esto se puede constatar en la película, debido a que no es autobiográfica. Está hecha de relatos y de testimonios de aquellos que se habían quedado en Chile durante la dictadura, pero también de personajes importantes como Fidel Castro o el propio Gabriel García Márquez.

En los primeros capítulos, se presenta a un Littín perfectamente disfrazado, preocupado por no ser descubierto y que no pierde de vista su objetivo principal, que es hacer una película. El personaje visita lugares en los que se puede constatar el costo social del golpe de estado:el aumento de la brecha socioeconómica, la miseria en las minas, entre otros. La resistencia espontánea no-ideológica, conformada por los que eran niños en la época en que Littín abandonó el país le parece más eficaz para desestabilizar la dictadura que los esfuerzos de los militantes en el exilio. Asimismo hace un recorrido por el país buscando el rastro de Allende y de los primeros brotes revolucionarios que lo llevaron al poder. Es entonces cuando encuentra al Frente patriótico (la guerrilla chilena), conformada por aquellos que, más valientes que él, permanecieron en el país con una doble identidad.

Hacia el final ocurre un cambio en el personaje. Ofuscado por la constatación de su falta de valentía, Littín baja la guardia, se quita el disfraz y llevado por la nostalgia pierde de vista el objetivo de hacer una película y se decide a seguir los pasos de sus recuerdos y a actuar como él mismo. Por lo que tiene que hacer varias maniobras, entre otras una salida falsa, para poder abandonar del país con su película sin ser arrestado.

Acompañado de una narración amena y con un ritmo constante de sucesos, lxs lectorxs se verán sumergidos en la mente del valiente director, de sus dubitativas y de sus temores. Nos vemos centrados en un Chile afectado, desamparado y agrietado, a pesar de no estar físicamente presentes en el contexto histórico.

[عزام الشثري · Rating 5 out of 5]

يحكي الروائيّ الشهير: غابريل ماركيز
حكاية مثيرة للمخرج المناضل المنفيّ: ليتين
عن تسلّله إلى وطنه وتصوير حاله البائس
-دولة تشيلي تحت بطش سجّانها بينوشيه-

كيف استطاع الاتصال بالمقاومة في الخارج
ويغير شخصيّته مع علماء النفس وخبراء المكياج
كيف بدّل كلّ شيء من وجهه إلى طبقته الاجتماعية
وتقمص شخصية بجنسيّة ولكنة أخرى بذاكرة مخترعة
-تتضمن أحاديث الحلاق المجاور للمدرسة الابتدائية-
ثمّ كيف زوّر وثائقه كلّها وتسلّل متنكّرًا إلى داخل وطنه
كيف هرّب معه 3 فرق عمل في تزوير هائل ومحكم
وكيف وثّق ظلمات تشيلي وبؤس أهلها المغيّبن عن العالم
وكيف صادف حماته وأمه والجنرال المستبد شخصيًا
يوميات تغصّ بالضحك والرعب على حدّ سواء

كان كتابًا جميلًا، و
"الكتاب الجميل رزقّ"

[Albus Eugene Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Dappertutto pane, riso, mele; in Chile, filo spinato, filo spinato, filo spinato.» (Pablo Neruda)
L’11 settembre del 2001, l’attentato alle torri gemelle sconvolse il mondo e cambiò il corso della Storia in maniera irreversibile.
Ma molti anni prima, un altro 11 settembre aveva già sconvolto il Cile e le coscienze democratiche del mondo intero. Quel giorno del 1973 infatti, il generale Pinochet prese il potere alla guida dell'esercito. Quello stesso giorno, il Presidente Salvador Allende veniva assassinato durante l’assalto alla Moneda, il palazzo presidenziale a Santiago del Cile.
In tre anni il regime arrestò e torturò oltre 130.000 persone e di queste, diverse migliaia passarono in un attimo negli elenchi dei… desaparecidos.
Miguel Littín, il più importante tra i registi cinematografici cileni, presidente di Chile Films e sostenitore di Allende, riuscì a riparare con la famiglia in Messico e successivamente in Spagna.
Pinochet rimase al potere fino al 1990, ma nel 1985 Littín ritornò clandestinamente in Cile e, con l’aiuto di tre équipe cinematografiche europee, tra cui una italiana, e altre costituite grazie al contributo di membri della resistenza cilena, effettuò riprese in varie parti del paese, compresa la stessa, sorvegliatissima, Santiago.
Tutto il materiale girato divenne un documentario di due ore per il cinema, “Acta general de Chile”.
Nel 1986, García Márquez, dopo una lunga intervista allo stesso Littín, scrisse questo libro dove racconta di quelle sei rocambolesce settimane, e lo fa narrando in prima persona.
Un tuffo al cuore e un tuffo nel passato, quando nell’aula magna di architettura vidi per la prima volta la faccia di Pinochet abbellita dai baffetti ‘alla Adolfo’ e ascoltai le musiche degli Intillimani, di Violeta Parra e le poesie di Neruda. Poi vennero La tierra prometida e Actas de Marusia…
’Sarà forse perché è storia, sarà forse perché invecchio’… pero, madre mia, que emoción!

[Mohamed Samy · Rating 2 out of 5]

قصة وثائقية كتبها ماركيز واصفاً رحلة المخرج التشيلى ميغيل ليتين المحظور عليه العودة لوطنه تحت حكم نظام اوغست بينوشيه، المغامرة التى خاضها ليتين فى بلاده سراً لتصوير فيلما يعرض فيه حالة وطنه وشعبه تحت حكم ديكتاتورى من بينوشيه، يعرض ماركيز الأحداث والمواقف بلسان المخرج ليتين، لكن كانت فعلا قصة "وثائقية" بالمعنى الحرفى، لم أنجذب لها، فلم يضف لها ماركيز أى بعد أدبى او جمالى حتى فى لغة النص وهناك فارق ضخم بينها وبين "خبر اختطاف" والتى يحكى فيها ايضا قصة واقعية بلسان أبطالها.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεν είναι ο συνηθισμένος Marquez. Μια σύντομη και άνοστη, μάλλον, εξομολόγηση που μετατράπηκε από το συγγραφέα σε μια απλώς καλογραμμενη νουβέλα! Τίποτα το ιδιαίτερο!

[Tamoghna Biswas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The importance of this short journalistic account far outweighs its literary merit, but a Marquez prose with less merit still manages to deliver. The prose here, for that matter, isn't like the one in News of Kidnapping or Chronicle of a Death Foretold, it is more reminescent of his autobiographical Living to Tell A Tale, especially because of the assumed-first-person pov and heavy socio-political anecdotes. Quite the gem, but you might lose yourself a bit unless you are familiar with the political history of Chile. You can still be a part of the suspenseful ride, though, and in no way it reads less than like an espionage thriller.

[Kokelector · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una crónica verídica en torno a una aventura, pero de esas que si existieron y que hoy podemos recordar como una gesta, de enfrentar a una dictadura como la chilena. En 1985 el cineaste exiliado, Miguel Littin, entra al país con la identidad de un uruguayo, para grabar cerca de 7 mil metros de cinta (incluso dentro de La Moneda), para ejemplificar cómo se vivía 12 años después del golpe de Estado. Cómo le dijo a sus hijos antes de partir al entrenamiento, le pondría una cola de burro de 7 mil metros de largo a Pinochet: y así lo hizo. La famosa frase del dictador: “En Chile no se mueve una hoja sin que yo lo sepa” puede ser pasada al trasto de la basura, porque Miguel Littin recorrió de norte a sur nuestro país durante 6 semanas burlando al régimen dictatorial en sus narices, gracias a una resistencia organizada que le permitió incluso entrevistar a los más altos militantes del FPMR de ese entonces. Una vez hecha esta verdadera gesta y producido con lo grabado un documental para TV y otro para cine, conversó con Gabriel García Marquéz y este no podía creer lo que estaba escuchando: ¡esto si era realismo mágico! Por ello en más de 18 horas de conversación grabada, produjo este libro en primera persona, haciéndonos parte de un relato y de la historia.
Esta demás contar que cuándo el dictador se enteró de esto, mando a comprar 3 mil ejemplares del libro por parte del Estado chileno, sólo para destruirlo.

Aquí lo puedes encontrar.

[Steev Hise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short but fascinating true story of a film director from Chile, exiled after the Pinochet coup, who sneaks back into the country after 12 years in order to do a documentary about the state of the nation. Despite its factual nature, Garcia Marquez narrates the book in a dramatic first person style and it is a distillation of an 18-hour interview he did with the filmmaker.

Oddly, nowhere in the book is there mention of the name of the film that Littin produced from the 105 thousand feet of footage he and his 5 crews shot in Chile over the course of a month or so. I looked it up on IMDB though and it's called "Acta General de Chile" - it doesn't look like there's an english version, unfortunately. But, it can be seen on Google Video here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc...#

At any rate, the book is a great snapshot at what Pinochet's regime did to Chile after just 12 years, and an empathetic look at the effect of exile on a creative and patriotic artist.

[Shotabdi · Rating 3 out of 5]

আগ্রহোদ্দীপক বই। চিলির স্বৈরাচার শাসন নিয়ে জানার জন্যই বইটি পড়া।

[Simay Yildiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bu yazının orijinali CAN'la Bir Sene'de yayınlandı.

Şili'de Gizlice, 1985 yılı başlarında memleketine girebilmek, askeri diktatörlükle yönetilen ülkesinin içinde bulunduğu durumu ortaya koyacak bir film çekmek için kılık ve kimlik değiştirerek Şili'de altı hafta geçiren yönetmen Migüel Littin'in hikayesi. Marquez, Şili'de Gizlice'yi Littin ile gerçekleştirdiği, teypte 18 saat, kağıt üzerinde ise 600 sayfa olan röportajdan derlemiş. Ki bence 600 sayfa olsa da yine aynı heyecanla okunurdu bu anlatı...

Bu kitap sayesinde adını öğrendikten ve biraz araştırma yaptıktan sonra farkettim ki Miguel Littin'in hiç bir filmini izlememişim. Tatil dönüşü ise özellikle Şili'de Gizlice'ye konu olan filmi bulup izleyeceğim bir şekilde. Kişisel olduğu kadar bir ulusun geçirdiği kara döneme de ışık tutan Şili'de Gizlice'nin benim için biraz sinir bozucu olduğunu da itiraf etmem lazım. Neden derseniz, neredeyse 30 yıl önce (yani benim hayatta olduğum süre kadar öncesi) Şili'de gerçekleşen olayların çoğu, şu anda bizim ülkemizde oluyor. Salvador Allende'nin ardından yönetimi eline alan diktatör Pinochet, Allende'nin ulusallaştırdığı her şeyi satıryor, bir çok şeyi özelleştiriyor, memleketin canına okuyor. Tanıdık geliyor mu?

Özellikle şu kısımda çok irkildim mesela:

Allende rejiminin sonuna kadar Şili yalnızca alçakgönüllü bir ülke olarak kalmıyordu, aynı zamanda tutucu burjuvazisi bile sadeliği ulusal bir erdem olarak görüyordu. İşbaşına gelen askeri cunta, ülkenin varlık içinde yüzdüğünü etkileyici bir biçimde göstermek isteyince Allende'nin kamulaştırdığı her şeyi hemen yeniden özelleştirdi, değerli ne varsa girişimcilere ve çokuluslu şirketlere sattı. Bunun sonucunda, gösterişli lüks mallarda büyük bir patlama oldu, kamu işlerinde göz boyayıcılık aldı yürüdü, böylece de ülkede görülesi bir zenginlik ve ekonomik denge olduğu yanılsaması yaratılmış oldu.

Yine soracağım: Tanıdık geliyor mu? Geliyordur. Ve ne yazık ki Littin'in maceralarının büyük bir kısmı size tanıdık gelecek. Gelmeyen kısımlarda ise kendinizi "bu da mı gelecek acaba başımıza?" diye endişelenirken bulacaksınız.

[Ahmed Almawali · Rating 5 out of 5]

من الوهلةِ الأولى بالنظر لعنوان الكتابِ خمنتُ أنني سأرى رحلةَ مغامرٍ مطعمة بألبومِ صور، ولكن الذي حصلَ أنني لم أجد ذلك؛ فتعبير ماركيز جعلَ للكلمات تأثيرا يفوقُ الصور، فهو يقص الأحداثَ وكأنها صور حيةٌ تتحرك.
هذه المخاطرة جعلتني متوترا مضطربا فهي رحلةٌ محفوفة بالمخاطر،متشوقا للمرحلةِ القادمة، حتى وعندما انتهت كنت أتسائل عن مصيرِ الفيلمِ المصور إلى أن ذكر في الصفحة الأخيرة ما آل إليه أمره.
الكتاب يحكي مغامرةً، وتحد جسورِ الدكتاتورية، بهيئة تنكريةٍ دخل تشيلي بالتعاون مع فرق تصوير إيطالية وهولندية وفرنسية تحت غطاءاتٍ مزيفة حتى وصلت ببراعتها أنها وصلت للقصرِ الرئاسي!، استبدلها بعد ذلك بفرق تصوير محلية.
ابداعٌ لا يختلفُ عن باقي روائعِ ماركيز، وإن كان هنا له فضلُ القص والحكايةِ على لسانِ البطل ليتين.

[Nusrat Faizah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads book description:
১৯৭৩ সালের ১১ সেপ্টেম্বর, চিলির আধুনিক ইতিহাসের এক অন্ধকারময় দিন। সালভাদর এলেন্দের বামপন্থী সরকারের বিরুদ্ধে সেনাধ্যক্ষ পিনোচেতের সামরিক বাহিনী এক হিংস্র অভ্যুত্থান ঘটিয়ে ক্ষমতা দখল করে। হাজার হাজার মানুষকে নির্বাসনে পাঠানো হয়। কমিউনিস্ট, সোশ্যালিস্ট ও বামপন্থীদের উপর আক্রমণ ছিল কেন্দ্রীভূত। চিলির বিখ্যাত পরিচালক মিগুয়েল লিটিন অভ্যুত্থানের পরেই দেশ থেকে নির্বাসিত হন। পরে তার নাম স্থান পায় অবাঞ্ছিত ব্যক্তিদের ঘোষিত তালিকায়। বারো বছর পরে মিথ্যা পরিচয় নিয়ে ছদ্মবেশে তিনি চিলিতে ঢুকেছিলেন সামরিক শাসনের বিপর্যয়কর পরিবেশে নিজের দেশ আর দেশের মানুষকে নিয়ে ফিল্ম করতে। সেই লোমহর্ষক কাহিনী তিনি শুনিয়েছিলেন তার ঘনিষ্ঠ বন্ধু স্বনামধন্য ঔপন্যাসিক গ্যাব্রিয়েল গার্সিয়া মার্কেজকে। মার্কেজ সেই অভিযানকে তুলেছেন 'ক্ল্যাণ্ডেস্টাইন ইন চিলি' গ্রন্থে।

[Sara Jesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuo a adorar o modo que García Márquez nos transporta para as suas histórias. Neste livro tive a sensação de estar dentro do comboio, observando cada pormenor da paisagem social e política da história.

O que não me agradou foi, na minha opinião, não existe uma personagem que se destaque e falto um pouco do realismo mágico que caracteriza tanto as suas obras. O que mais gostei desta pequena história foi por mostrar ser actua nos dias de hoje. Representa a realidade dos exilados, clandestinos e refugiados que tem várias pátrias.

[Shuhan Rizwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Dostoyevsky keeps asking so many fundamental questions through his novels, I decide to take a break.

A light read from Gabo.

[Alyssa Mawussi · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING NO NOTES

[هيثم Elwazery · Rating 5 out of 5]

المجد لكم أيها التشيليون .. كتاب بقدر ما امتعني بقدر ما جعلني أدرك أن بلدنا تلك هي بلد أشباه الأشياء .. شبه ثورة .. شبه انتخابات .. شبه سياسة .. شبه ديكتاتورية .. احنا ضايعين أوي

[Ülkü · Rating 4 out of 5]

directing a movie while being a fugitive in your home country is exactly the kind of thing i wanna do when i am a very famous director

[Abu Bakar Shaim · Rating 4 out of 5]

১৯৮৫ সালের শুরুর দিকে নির্বাসিত ও চিলিতে নিষিদ্ধ চিলিয়ান চলচ্চিত্র পরিচালক মিগুয়েল লিতিন সেখানকার চলমান সামরিক স্বৈরশাসন নিয়ে একটা ডকুমেন্টারি শুট করতে ছদ্মবেশে চিলিতে প্রবেশ করেন। নির্বাসিত হওয়ার ১২ বছর পর একজন উরুগুয়ানের ছদ্মবেশে নিজ জন্মভূমিতে ছয় সপ্তাহ কাটান তিনি। সেই ছয় সপ্তাহের নাটকীয় আর রোমাঞ্চকর অভিজ্ঞতা নিয়েই এই বই। বইয়ে উঠে এসেছে নাম-পরিচয় বদলে লিতিন কীভাবে একজন ব্যবসায়ী আর বিজ্ঞাপন পরিচালকের ছদ্মবেশে চিলিতে কাটিয়েছেন প্রায় দেড় মাস। কীভাবে বিপজ্জনক পরিস্থিতির ভেতর দিয়ে একের পর এক ধারণ করেছেন স্বৈরশাসনের চিহ্ন। দেশ, কাল, সমাজভেদে পার্থক্য থাকলেও পৃথিবীর সব দেশে, সব কালেই যে স্বৈরশাসকরা নিজেদের প্রভাব প্রতিপত্তি টিকিয়ে রাখতে কিছু কমন প্যাটার্ন ফলো করে সেটাও টের পেলাম বইটা পড়তে যেয়ে। চিলির সেসময়কার রাজনৈতিক, অর্থনৈতিক আর সামাজিক অবস্থারও খানিকটা টের পাওয়া যায় বর্ণনা থেকে।

মূলত মিগুয়েল লিতিন তার অভিজ্ঞতা নিয়ে গ্যাব্রিয়েল গার্সিয়া মার্কেজকে একটা সাক্ষাৎকার দিয়েছিলেন। সেই সাক্ষাৎকারটাকেই অল্প-বিস্তর ঘটনা, চরিত্র বদলে নিজের মতো করে সাজিয়েছেন মার্কেজ, যেটা পড়লে মনে হবে লিতিন নিজেই তার ভ্রমণাভিজ্ঞতা লিখেছেন। ঘটনার বর্ণনা দিতে যেয়ে শুরুতে লেখক নিরপেক্ষ থাকার চেষ্টা করলেও শেষ পর্যন্ত বারবারই নিজের রাজনৈতিক আদর্শের প্রতি তীব্র দুর্বলতা দেখিয়েছেন। সেভাবেই পরিস্থিতিকে দেখেছেন, লিখেছেন।

যেহেতু আমি বইটার বাংলা অনুবাদ পড়েছি তাই অনুবাদের কথাও বলতে হয়। তুষার তালুকদারের অনুবাদ বেশ ভালো লেগেছে। ঝরঝরে সরল অনুবাদ, পড়তে আরাম। সব মিলিয়ে সুন্দর একটা বই পড়লাম।

[Julius M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein herausragendes Buch, basiert auf einer wahren Geschichte. Der von der chilenischen Militärdiktatur verbrannte Regisseur und Sozialist Miguel Littin nutzt seine Kontakte in der Widerstandsbewegung um aus dem Exil illegal nach Chile einzureisen und einen Film über die Zustände in der Diktatur unter Pinochet zu drehen.

[Farhana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going through some significant reader's block and this book actually helped me overcome it! Even though this book is based on interviews, it didn't feel less than a thriller novel. Kudos to Márquez for keeping the suspense and sparks alive 🌟

[Tiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um livro que relata uma história real. Em 1985, o cineasta chileno Miguel Littín. exilado pela ditadura chilena desde 1973 e parte de uma lista de pessoas banidas de entrar no país, viaja de forma clandestina ao Chile para filmar um documentário a respeito da vida no país sob a ditadura do general Augusto Pinochet. Quando regressou a Europa, Littín deu uma longa entrevista a Gabriel García Márquez e este condensou quase 18 horas de conversas ao longo de 1 semana neste pequeno livro de menos de 200 páginas com um relato em primeira pessoa a respeito desta epopéia sob o ponto de vista de Littín. O documentário ficou pronto em 1986 e se chama Acta general de Chile.

A leitura flui muito bem. Miguel Littín conta detalhes a respeito da sua transformação em um homem de negócios uruguaio e de como combinou com equipes de filmagens estrangeiras (da Holanda, Itália e França para filmarem em diferentes localidades) do Chile e sob diferentes pretextos oficiais (por exemplo, os italianos foram filmar o Palácio de La Moneda sob o pretexto de estarem produzindo um documentário sobre prédios inspirados na arquitetura italiana). Como também é preciso passar por uma grande rede clandestina de contactos, o relato tem uma 'vibe' de novela de espionagem e há vários momentos onde dá para sentir o temor de todos serem desmascarados e presos.

Littín dá um panorama de como era o Chile em 1985. Fica claríssima a sua desaprovação dos rumos tomados pelo país durante a gestão Pinochet, principalmente no que diz respeito a economia. O cineasta visitou a cidade de Concepcíon, um dos berços do movimento de esquerda que levou Salvador Allende ao poder em 1970 e também visitou mineiros de carvão na pequena cidade de Lota, que fazem quase que um culto a personalidade do ex-presidente.

Ao longo da narrativa, há várias recordações pessoais de Littín como, por exemplo, o próprio dia 11 de Setembro de 1973 e de como escapou de ser capturado (e possivelmente morto) neste dia. Também temos relatos de eventos importantes na ditadura como o caso dos degolados e o caso de Sebastián Acevedo que se incendiou em frente a catedral de Concepcíon em protesto contra a tortura dos seus filhos.

Há pequenos momentos bem humorados como a tentativa de Littín fazer a barba que quase o entrega como um chileno de uma geração mais antiga ao usar 'rasurar' no lugar de 'afeitar' ao pedir para fazer a barba. Há momentos de grande apreensão, especialmente quando um policial/carabinero aborda Littín ou as equipes de filmagens.

É uma leitura rápida e tem um nível de ação que até daria para fazer um "filme a respeito da história da produção do filme".

[Saman]

حکایت کتاب ( ماجرای اقامت پنهانی میگل لیتین در شیلی) از این قرار است که در آغاز سال هزار و نهصد و هشتاد و پنج-میگل لیتن- که نامش در فهرست پنج هزار تبعیدی شیلیایی است که ورودشان به کشور اکیداً ممنوع است، پنهانی وارد شیلی می‌شود و شش هفته در شیلی به سر می‌برد و در این مدت می‌تواند بیش از سی و دو هزار متر فیلم درباره‌ی واقعیت زندگی کشورشٰ دوازده سال پس از برقراری دیکتاتوری نظامی، تهیه کند. لیتین، پس از تغییر قیافه ، تغییر شیوه‌ی پوشش و گفتار، با در دست داشتن اوراق هویت جعلی و به کمک سازمان‌های دموکراتیک مخفی و زیر حمایت آن‌ها در این مدت سراسر خام شیلی را در نوردید و حتی به داخل دیوارهای کاخ ریاست جمهوری راه یافت و موفق شد سه گروه از سینماگران اروپایی که هم‌زمان با وی زیر عناوین قانونی گوناگون به شیلی وارد شده بودند و نیز شش گروه جوان از اعضای مقاومت داخلی شیلی را در کار فیلم‌برداری رهبری کند. این کتاب حاوی شرح کارها و عملیات او برای انجام این مهم است که با روایت نویسنده‌ی معروفی چون (مارکز) تحریر شده است

[عبدالله ناصر · Rating 3 out of 5]

ماركيز يكتب حكاية المخرج التشيلي من أصل فلسطيني ميغيل ليتين - و هو المخرج الأكثر شهرة في تشيلي و أحد عمالقة أمريكا اللاتينية - حيث يتصدر قائمة المنفيين عن البلد و الممنوعين من دخول سنتياغو و المخرج أحد أشد مناصري الليندي و قد أنقذه من الإعدام إبان انقلاب الجنرال بونشييه إعجاب العسكري بأحد أفلامه و هكذا استطاع الفرار إلى المكسيك و من ثم إلى أوروبا. ماركيز يكتب بأسلوب تقريري حيث لا واقعية سحرية و لا شيء من هذا القبيل. المخرج يعود إلى تشيلي متنكراً بشخصية رجل أعمال أورغواني بعد أن قام بتغييرات كبيرة مثل خسارة 20 كجم من وزنه. يعود إلى وطنه بهدف تصوير البلاد تحت حكم الديكتاتور بونشييه و الخوف و الجوع الذي يلف
المواطنين و الحراك السياسي. نجحت المهمة بعد كثير من المتاعب و شكوك المنظمات السرية وريبة الجواسيس.