Cardiologist Roberto Canessa (Montevideo, 1953) is one of the sixteen survivors of the Andes accident in 1972 that gave rise to La sociedad de la nieve. In the film, that young medical student is played by the Argentinian Matías Recalt, Goya to the revelation actor. On a visit to Madrid, he says that if Bayona “does not win the Oscar, it will be for spurious interests”.
Are you surprised by the success the film is achieving?
Watching Bayona’s film The Impossible, which takes its name from our story, it seemed to me that he could reach people. And with A monster comes to see me, I saw how he controls people’s pain and that he could channel what we had experienced. He was the right person to tell the story, knowing it’s a movie. People ask me: “Was it that hard or is Bayona exaggerating?”, and I tell them: “If we really showed you how bad we had it, you’d get up and leave the cinema. The film is a bridge between what happened to us and the eyes of the world.
When he talks about how bad they had it, what’s on his mind?
That we were living in a cemetery where corpses could not be buried. A very gloomy, very sad and depressing place. I wanted to go out walking, it was one of the reasons, to die in the white snow, not there.
But did he think he would get there?
I thought I would give it my all. I learned in life not to bet on success, because sometimes success is delayed. And then you get frustrated and think you won’t get there. The important thing is the commitment to go where you want to go in life. And keep it. Know that success and failure are random.
What were the keys to the society that formed up there?
God’s help, giving to others, understanding that there is much more, beyond “I can’t do it anymore”. When you say you can’t do it anymore, it’s a lie, there is so much more, only the one who dies gives everything. Man’s limit is far beyond what you think. And then, how ambitions go down. Our motto was “While there is life there is hope and maybe tomorrow”. We did a reverse metamorphosis. Instead of a worm that transforms into a butterfly, we were butterflies that became snow worms. That different society with feelings incomprehensible to the civilized world. When you saw one die, you didn’t feel sorry for him; I felt sorry for you, because you were next on the list. When we were in the avalanche, I looked at the dead and envied them. It is very strange to be envious of a dead person. There is a different society, which transformed, and the sooner you transformed into that snow society, the better chance you had to save yourself.
Why didn’t that become a joke?
Because there is one more step after dying. I felt that my next boss would be God. And what would I say to him: well, I’m not that good, I’m not that bad either, give me a break. And it was heard on the mountain: if we don’t fight among ourselves, God will take us out of here. There was a bit of the idea of ??being good people, of dying in peace. And the pleasure of giving, of helping. Of feeling better than the other because you can help them. Rich is he who can give, and poor, he who needs help.
They never got into a fight?
Yes, of course. A couple of pineapples and a couple of things flew and then we hugged each other crying and apologized saying: “We won’t get out of here like this, this is not the way”. We all lived huddled together, suffering in silence and trying to get over it with joy. We laughed at our misfortune, looked at how thin we were and had the illusion of returning.
He was one of the first to make the decision to feed off his colleagues. How did he experience it?
I saw that the belt was getting tighter and narrower, that I was going to die and that the only possibility was this. And of course, as I always do, I agree with others what they think, to see if they bring me anything that I don’t see and make the decision. And I go there, I do it, and well, whoever wants to follow me, let him follow me. I respect everyone’s opinions, and if I die, I’ll gladly stop by the dinner to help my friends live their dreams. After death we are no longer what we were. You’re not there anymore. What I have is gratitude that we could survive with his body.
Did his medical studies help him in all those decisions? Did they give him another look?
I think what they did to us was a cursed hand that did an experiment on human behavior. And he said, well, instead of guinea pigs, we’ll put young people in. That way they last longer. Rugby players, who say they are so masculine; university students, to see if knowledge helps them, and well, if they believe in God, may God have mercy on their souls. It’s a behavioral experiment, which is why people get caught up in it, because everyone can identify with very diverse characters, there is no one formula to survive, but many.
What was yours?
Say: “Mom, don’t cry anymore, I’m alive”. I wanted to see her and tell her: “Don’t cry, stop crying”, because one day I had gone to the funeral of a friend and I had seen the mother broken, and the mother said: “If my son dies , I’m dying of sadness, I can’t continue living”. So I learned that the why in life is more important than the how I will survive. I knew why I wanted to survive.
How was the return to the plan? There was press that attacked them.
I was proud to have got out of it by ourselves, walking. Society did so much that it had abandoned us. All they had to do was ask for our forgiveness, not judge us. We were greeted with giant love, but in the silence a voice that screams makes a lot of noise. Everyone has their opinion. Some have told me: “If I hadn’t eaten the dead, I would have died”. Well, I don’t.
Does he treat children with heart disease because of that experience?
They are children we steal from death; if we left them, they would die. We too escaped death. Helping these children escape their death is revenge that gave me life.
