The Hollywood actors’ strike led Javier Bardem (Las Palmas, 55 years old) to accept but not collect one of the Donostia awards at the last edition of the San Sebastian festival. Today, yes, today from the hands of his brothers, Monica and Carlos Bardem, and from his teacher Juan Carlos Corazza, the six-time winner of the Goya award for acting (plus two others as producer), the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. There is no country for old men, and the Silver Shell for Days are numbered will receive the award on the Kursaal stage during the opening gala of the 72nd Zinemaldia.
Before, she held a press conference to defend her way of seeing life, with a belligerent attitude towards injustice, humble in the face of recognition and a defender of a way of acting that is increasingly far removed from histrionics and unbridled dives into characters. And in passing, she announced that in January, in Fuerteventura, the filming of The loved one, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, alongside Victoria Luengo, where he will play an acclaimed film director who shoots a film with his daughter, an unsuccessful actress, after years of father-son estrangement and a difficult past that the two do not want to talk about.
Her talk began with an analysis of her social commitment: “There is no other option, because it surpasses any will or desire to do anything. I am a lucky person, blessed by life, but beyond that, I seek to support those who contribute to advances in civil and social rights. I have learned over the years that you have to choose sides. Unfortunately, these sides exist, and I am clear that there are unacceptable things. This commitment is born from the education I received from my mother, and later it has been nourished by my experiences with my colleagues, because I do not know an actor who is not extremely sensitive.”
He himself even confessed that he tears up easily. He hopes not to cry at the gala, “although it will happen.” And in response to that Donostia, he said: “Being awarded for my passion is incredible. And with all humility I still feel that I don’t deserve so much attention. When I received the Silver Shell for my passion thirty years ago, I was a bit worried about it. Days are numbered I already felt privileged. Today, even more so.”
The figure of Pilar Bardem, his mother, who passed away three years ago, has constantly hovered over the press conference, and many of the responses from her youngest son have revolved around her legacy to the Bardems: “Even today I discover how important she was to me, and now to my children. She instilled humility and empathy in me.” He drew from her his rebellion against some current events: “I cannot lose sight of the fact that I belong to a society. Individually, you cannot make changes, but in a group you can.” Among his treasures, a photo of the kiss he received from Pilar when it was announced at a press conference (previously the list of winners was made public hours before the gala) that he had won the Silver Shell with Days are numbered In 1994, Carlos recalled an anecdote that I, who am younger, do not remember. My mother worked a lot, she was a separated woman at a time when being separated was seen as bad. If we were lucky, there were days when we ate pork chops and pasta with tomato. Other times, we didn’t. And despite that, every month they came to ask for money for the rights of Sahrawi women and she gave it to them, which made that young Carlos angry. Actions change more than words. I hope to die being Pilar’s son.”
I hope to die being Pilar’s son”
The Bardems have never been afraid to express their opinion on current events, and they gave the longest answer in the press conference: “I have always lived in Madrid, except for the occasional period when I have been away for filming. So I follow all the current events. Do I sometimes think about keeping quiet? Yes, I am human. But self-censorship is what wins, those who attack human or civil rights. I refer to Gaza. What is happening is unacceptable, dehumanizing. The Israeli government is the worst in its history and is committing crimes against humanity. The merciless and terrible attacks by Hamas on October 7 do not justify Israel’s response or policy. Other nations such as Germany, the United States or the United Kingdom have to face and change their position on what is happening, which, I repeat, are crimes against humanity, especially against children.”
After a pause, he continued: “I know that what I say will make little difference. But criticizing the Israeli government does not mean that you are an anti-Semite. We have the right and the ethical duty to denounce injustices. This far-right Israeli government is not representative of Jews, or even of Israeli society. There is social unrest against these actions. It is our responsibility to ask the Human Rights Court to try (Benjamin) Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister) and the leaders of Hamas for their attacks.”
What is happening in Gaza is unacceptable and dehumanizing. Hamas’s merciless and horrific attacks on October 7 do not justify Israel’s response or policy.
And without stopping, he turned his speech to other current conflicts: “We have to fight against impunity. There are other terrible situations, which are less talked about, such as Uganda or Ukraine, well, this one a little more, or the climate emergency. With global warming we have reached a point no longer of improvement, but of what we can do to make it less bad. Or how we face the movement of human masses. If we are so worried about immigration, do not reverse the zero pollution zones like in Madrid. If you are worried about immigration, consider what we will do when in Africa the population lives in cities at 50 degrees. All these reflections make me receive the award with joy but without any mood of celebration.”
Javier Etxezarreta (EFE)
About his profession, which he generally defined as “fickle, variable, requiring endurance, persistence and faith,” Bardem has combined his thoughts on egos and imagination: “If you don’t like being watched, you’re screwed. You need a huge ego, because you want to be seen. That said, when you go on stage or in front of the camera, you have to let the ego disappear and become an instrument of the creator. That said, I’m not comfortable, I live with that when this exhibition is chosen, like now.” Has your way of approaching work changed over the years? “Yes. When I came to the shooting of the series, I was very excited about it. Monsterwhich premieres today on Netflix, I saw the two actors who were going to play my children with the entire burden of their characters’ emotional and even sexual abuse on their shoulders. And I reminded them that we were going to spend three months together, that they had real families who loved them and that if they carried that weight constantly they were not going to survive. I was like that (and points to his broken finger on the set of Ecstasy). Now I choose how to emotionally enter the sequences and above all how to exit. I think working from the imagination is more powerful than working from your own thing, because that is… only your thing. Who cares?