00:00:28.720,00:00:29.880
Well...

00:00:30.880,00:00:33.800
Different times all
have something good...

00:00:33.880,00:00:36.280
and something
bad about them...

00:00:36.920,00:00:40.080
But as a community,
the human species is a disaster.

00:00:41.400,00:00:42.640
A disaster!

00:00:42.640,00:00:46.040
So, it's hard to say,
that the past was better.

00:00:49.840,00:00:52.440
Fear?... No, not at all.

00:00:53.320,00:00:54.800
No... no...

00:00:54.880,00:00:57.120
I don't like it,
of course, obviously.

00:00:57.440,00:00:59.920
And now, well,
at my age...

00:01:00.760,00:01:03.200
When, let's say,
it's clear

00:01:03.880,00:01:06.000
that the exit
is right here,

00:01:06.640,00:01:07.880
No...

00:01:07.880,00:01:09.360
I’m not frightened of...
No, not frightened.

00:01:11.480,00:01:14.840
But one thing
I really don't like

00:01:17.120,00:01:19.040
is when people say...

00:01:19.120,00:01:21.680
“Oh, being alive
and dying and all that...”

00:01:22.600,00:01:24.120
For me, death is...

00:01:25.360,00:01:27.600
I don't know what awaits us,

00:01:27.680,00:01:30.120
or as I'm about to die...

00:01:30.560,00:01:33.240
what I'll make of it...

00:01:33.600,00:01:37.400
But for me, death right now
is the difference

00:01:37.400,00:01:40.560
between had been
and being no more.

00:01:42.320,00:01:46.440
This is what...
that is what really bothers me.

00:01:50.320,00:01:54.840
You're welcome Pepa,
lots of love and see you soon.

00:01:55.240,00:01:56.520
Bye, bye.

00:01:58.040,00:02:00.280
-Thank you...
-José Saramago.

00:02:00.280,00:02:01.640
Portuguese Nobel prizewinner
for Literature

00:02:01.720,00:02:04.040
is concluding his novel
“Small Memories”

00:02:04.120,00:02:06.640
which will probably
be published in November.

00:02:06.760,00:02:08.880
Let us finish with a phrase of his;

00:02:09.000,00:02:12.880
“The history of mankind is the history
of his misunderstandings with God.

00:02:13.000,00:02:16.440
He doesn't understand us,
we don't understand him”

00:02:16.560,00:02:18.960
Another great translation
by Pilar del Río,

00:02:18.960,00:02:20.760
lots of love, Pilar.

00:02:20.880,00:02:22.160
And now, some great music.

00:02:55.600,00:02:58.600
LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION

00:03:01.040,00:03:03.440
I once wrote that
everything is autobiographical.

00:03:03.520,00:03:07.320
That we all tell our story
in everything we do and say,

00:03:08.040,00:03:11.000
in our gestures,
in the way we walk and look,

00:03:11.200,00:03:14.600
in the way we turn our heads or pick
something up from the ground.

00:03:16.360,00:03:19.200
I mean, that we all live
surrounded by signs,

00:03:19.760,00:03:22.160
we ourselves are
a system of signs.

00:03:23.760,00:03:26.800
But be that as it may,
my readers needn't worry,

00:03:27.120,00:03:30.440
this Narcissus contemplating
himself in the water today,

00:03:30.520,00:03:33.080
will destroy his own
reflection tomorrow

00:03:33.200,00:03:34.800
with his own hand.

00:03:39.080,00:03:41.280
What is it?
"Young Armani".

00:03:41.400,00:03:44.240
When you get the chance,
snip it out with some small scissors.

00:03:46.440,00:03:47.720
It's incredible!

00:03:48.800,00:03:50.200
It's like a dream.

00:03:51.840,00:03:55.120
-Goodbye Armani, goodbye.
-Isn't that right?

00:03:55.760,00:03:57.160
I still have to translate it,

00:03:57.240,00:03:58.760
because I'm not really
sure what it's about...

00:03:58.840,00:04:01.440
-I've read a bit and it's about...
-No, it's not that...

00:04:01.800,00:04:03.720
The book will be titled,

00:04:05.320,00:04:07.200
"The Elephant's Journey."

00:04:08.320,00:04:09.600
It's not about the people

00:04:09.680,00:04:12.120
who go with the elephant,
who take him.

00:04:12.240,00:04:13.920
-Of course.
-It's the elephant.

00:04:15.320,00:04:18.240
And what does the elephant
do all this time?

00:04:20.480,00:04:24.120
It walks, walks, walks,
trudges on and on,

00:04:24.400,00:04:25.680
nothing else.

00:04:26.040,00:04:27.880
I still need more information,

00:04:28.280,00:04:31.320
things which seem pretty silly, right?

00:04:33.000,00:04:38.160
Are elephants like horses,
do they sleep standing up?

00:04:38.920,00:04:41.320
-I don't have the slightest idea.
-I've never owned an elephant.

00:04:41.400,00:04:43.640
-Right.
-And that's the problem right there.

00:04:43.720,00:04:47.920
It's small things like that, which
seem silly, but which are vital.

00:04:48.560,00:04:52.160
There's an idea, but...
It's very hard, very, very hard.

00:04:53.040,00:04:54.320
Let's see, let's see...

00:04:55.560,00:04:58.320
Let time pass,
let things mature...

00:05:00.280,00:05:04.680
And if it is meant to be, it will be,
and if it isn't, it won't. Period.

00:05:06.240,00:05:07.960
-Pilar!
-Yes, my love.

00:05:07.960,00:05:09.200
I'm going home.

00:05:09.280,00:05:11.600
ACT I
THE PREPARATION

00:05:12.440,00:05:15.360
THE HOUSE

00:05:22.160,00:05:23.440
Let's see...

00:06:15.920,00:06:17.200
No...

00:06:18.040,00:06:19.320
No...

00:06:19.560,00:06:21.280
I'm going to see
if I can do something here.

00:06:25.560,00:06:28.120
This one here and that one there.

00:06:29.120,00:06:30.360
I've won!

00:06:30.840,00:06:34.840
And then the cards...
perform a kind of dance...

00:06:39.880,00:06:41.600
It's funny,
it's really pretty.

00:06:44.120,00:06:46.440
It's good for keeping
Alzheimer's at bay.

00:06:46.800,00:06:52.000
Always assuming that Alzheimer's
wouldn't be able to beat this game,

00:06:52.120,00:06:53.360
or any game.

00:06:53.800,00:06:55.040
Nice, isn't it?

00:07:03.000,00:07:05.920
Hello to all our listeners
in Portugal.

00:07:11.080,00:07:14.360
José has a daughter called Violante,

00:07:15.560,00:07:19.440
he has two grandkids,
Tiago and Ana.

00:07:20.360,00:07:23.680
He also has a wife,
with whom you're speaking,

00:07:25.040,00:07:27.040
who is the oldest of 14
brothers and sisters

00:07:27.120,00:07:28.760
which means that Saramago
has a very big family.

00:07:28.840,00:07:30.680
OK, bye,
Lots of love, Paula.

00:07:30.840,00:07:32.120
Here's José.

00:07:34.080,00:07:35.840
Saramago's declarations

00:07:35.960,00:07:39.400
in the end are so naive
they're actually embarrassing.

00:07:39.520,00:07:41.280
If he was dazzled
by the Nobel Prize...

00:07:41.360,00:07:43.920
José Saramago owes it all to Portugal.

00:07:44.040,00:07:45.760
And he is no better than
any other Portuguese person.

00:07:45.760,00:07:48.720
José Saramago did for the
Portuguese language

00:07:48.880,00:07:51.520
what millions of his fellow Portuguese
citizens were unable to do...

00:07:51.800,00:07:54.120
We are now opening the forum
in which we debate the controversy

00:08:09.360,00:08:11.240
I really don't know what to say.

00:08:12.080,00:08:14.560
We'll say that?
we are literature students

00:08:14.760,00:08:16.280
and that is why we came to see him.

00:08:16.360,00:08:19.040
That our literary criticism teacher
recommended we visit him.

00:08:19.520,00:08:22.400
How beautiful is Lanzarote?
-Should we talk about literature?

00:08:22.400,00:08:24.600
-No.
-We'll ask him to sign our books.

00:08:25.200,00:08:27.280
And we can ask him
if he'll take a picture with us.

00:08:31.160,00:08:33.160
-Good morning!
-Good morning!

00:08:36.040,00:08:37.280
Sara.

00:08:40.240,00:08:42.440
-Francesca.
-Nice meeting you.

00:08:43.600,00:08:44.800
Alicia.

00:08:52.160,00:08:53.760
What language shall we speak in?

00:08:54.240,00:08:57.040
-English, Italian.
-A bit of Spanish.

00:08:57.560,00:09:00.000
-French.
-And a bit of French.

00:09:00.280,00:09:02.560
So, a bit of everything.

00:09:03.160,00:09:04.760
How's it going?

00:09:07.240,00:09:08.880
We decided to come?

00:09:08.880,00:09:11.360
So how are you coming
along in Portuguese...

00:09:11.440,00:09:13.000
the language and its literature?

00:09:16.160,00:09:19.920
We went to the book fair
in Turin,

00:09:20.000,00:09:24.880
in May, to meet you...

00:09:26.240,00:09:29.480
I have to go to Turin in September,

00:09:30.800,00:09:36.560
And on the same day,
will be opening at La Scala...

00:09:36.840,00:09:39.400
Not exactly an opera of mine,
because I'm not a musician, of course.

00:09:39.680,00:09:43.320
Because the idea that's been around for
I don't know how many centuries,

00:09:43.560,00:09:46.680
ever since Tirso de Molina,

00:09:46.760,00:09:52.960
that Don Giovanni is a scoundrel,
a bad, nasty person...

00:09:55.560,00:10:00.800
Well, it was a pleasure meeting you all,
and if you come back one day, you know.

00:10:02.480,00:10:06.440
I'll be here,
waiting to have a coffee with you.

00:10:14.800,00:10:16.160
And how's Berlusconi doing?

00:10:16.480,00:10:17.720
So, so...

00:10:18.360,00:10:19.600
Pilar.

00:10:19.840,00:10:21.120
I'm going home.

00:10:21.200,00:10:24.200
I mean, these texts
are important, very important.

00:10:24.200,00:10:27.880
Bloom's presentation, Harold Bloom,

00:10:28.000,00:10:30.040
I'm not sure whether it's in Coimbra
or New York...

00:10:30.520,00:10:35.160
It's great: that “The Cave”
has been selected.

00:10:35.680,00:10:38.160
We can save it or throw it away.

00:10:38.480,00:10:41.960
-How did José learn English?
-Unfortunately he didn't...

00:10:42.120,00:10:44.320
-José doesn't know English.
-No, we won't go...

00:10:44.520,00:10:46.680
Either we won't answer,
or we'll say we are unable to reply.

00:10:46.840,00:10:48.280
Say we can't, and that's that.

00:10:48.560,00:10:49.840
This is José!

00:10:53.920,00:10:56.000
The title is “City of The Blind“
based on “Ensaio sobre a cegueira”.

00:10:56.160,00:10:57.440
Sure...

00:10:59.200,00:11:01.400
The things men come up with.

00:11:01.800,00:11:04.240
Is this really supposed
to be a caricature of José?

00:11:06.040,00:11:08.440
These are things of mine which I...

00:11:09.240,00:11:12.080
-We got the letter...
-Is it done? Print it.

00:11:12.160,00:11:14.080
Is it about the war?

00:11:14.640,00:11:17.320
These are things which
people make and send us.

00:11:17.880,00:11:19.080
It's amazing!

00:11:19.080,00:11:23.320
I feel terrible tearing up
what these people have made.

00:11:25.200,00:11:26.440
Food!

00:11:27.520,00:11:30.240
Cod au gratin for 6...

00:11:32.880,00:11:34.160
This we'll save.

00:11:34.800,00:11:36.440
With horrible letters, it depends...

00:11:36.440,00:11:39.280
The insulting letters
go straight in the trash,

00:11:39.360,00:11:43.160
but the ones that say something useful,
we respect and reply to.

00:11:43.640,00:11:46.480
Dear José Saramago,
I would like to say that my father...

00:11:46.560,00:11:49.320
My dear narrator,
with all due respect to Pilar,

00:11:49.520,00:11:52.960
I would like to declare that you, José,
are the most important,

00:11:53.040,00:11:56.400
-and only man in my life...
-Sara Mago! Who is this lady?

00:11:56.400,00:11:58.160
And what does she have against God?

00:11:58.280,00:12:00.280
At your age,
Sara, dear,

00:12:00.360,00:12:03.160
you should start
making peace with everyone...

00:12:03.520,00:12:05.440
My birthday is on the 16th
of November too.

00:12:05.440,00:12:07.520
And I always think of you when
I blow out my candles.

00:12:07.520,00:12:11.640
Stupid, stupid,
neurotic jerk!

00:12:12.400,00:12:15.160
Too bad the inquisition isn't still
around,

00:12:15.400,00:12:18.480
you would have been
publicly burned at the stake

00:12:18.560,00:12:20.480
and I'd have watched
from a front row seat!

00:12:23.880,00:12:25.880
José, did you read the news...

00:12:26.120,00:12:27.640
...about how they want to recreate

00:12:27.720,00:12:29.280
the origin of the universe,
in Switzerland?

00:12:29.600,00:12:33.080
I don't know what's going to
come of that experiment...

00:12:33.600,00:12:36.840
I hope they don't create another
universe as bad as this one,

00:12:37.600,00:12:40.600
or a planet as crazy
as the one we live on.

00:12:41.440,00:12:46.880
... There'll be strong winds,
up to 60km/h, fanning the flames

00:12:47.000,00:12:49.240
and possibly producing a new front.

00:12:50.360,00:12:53.200
Fears of a war in the Caucasus
have grown...

00:12:53.560,00:12:54.800
February 4th.

00:12:54.800,00:12:57.520
We see the abyss,
right in front of our eyes,

00:12:57.720,00:13:02.080
and yet we head straight towards it,
like a bunch of suicidal lemmings

00:13:02.600,00:13:05.160
with the big difference that,
on the way,

00:13:05.240,00:13:08.880
we amuse ourselves,
by slaughtering each other.

00:13:13.960,00:13:16.160
José, these are the books
you have to write dedication for,

00:13:16.320,00:13:18.000
and their owners will give them to me.

00:13:18.360,00:13:24.560
These are books that people
leave at the library.

00:13:26.240,00:13:28.200
-We've come to this?
-Yeah...

00:13:28.680,00:13:31.040
You have to do it
otherwise they'll be asking:

00:13:31.800,00:13:34.280
”Is my book ready?
Is my book ready?”

00:13:35.120,00:13:37.000
This is getting out of hand...

00:13:37.120,00:13:38.800
Now comes the worst part.

00:13:41.720,00:13:43.240
I don't know where to begin!

00:13:43.600,00:13:45.960
Presiding the official
award ceremony.

00:13:45.960,00:13:47.280
Pilar... no,

00:13:47.280,00:13:49.720
Which should be happening
at the end of this June...

00:13:49.800,00:13:51.600
We'll be in Japan.

00:13:51.760,00:13:57.200
Istanbul... has to be one weekend
before the end of May.

00:13:57.640,00:13:58.880
Shit!

00:13:59.040,00:14:01.600
A weekend, 2 or 3 days
and that's it.

00:14:01.680,00:14:04.840
Sara, that diary with all the papers...
Bring it here.

00:14:05.280,00:14:07.040
Hello, hello.

00:14:08.560,00:14:11.920
I mean, you come in here
and don't even greet the boss!

00:14:13.720,00:14:15.400
What do you mean,
I don't greet the boss?

00:14:16.080,00:14:17.320
How are you?

00:14:17.320,00:14:21.400
-That's it, Italy.
-I don't know if it's worth it.

00:14:21.760,00:14:23.840
Going to Rome in December?

00:14:26.120,00:14:29.520
Since there's so much time,
we can always say yes...

00:14:30.200,00:14:31.560
and then look at it again later.

00:14:31.640,00:14:34.280
This for example,
they only want your support...

00:14:35.280,00:14:38.240
-Goodness, it's so hot!
-And what are they asking, dear?

00:14:39.200,00:14:40.480
-Support?
-Yes.

00:14:41.040,00:14:43.000
Maria Cortez, who is she?

00:14:43.000,00:14:44.280
It doesn't matter.

00:14:44.280,00:14:47.480
"What would happen if a man
killed another with his...

00:14:47.560,00:14:49.480
his seminal fluid, like poison..."

00:14:49.560,00:14:50.840
This one's gay.

00:14:52.160,00:14:53.680
Are you going to read it?

00:14:54.080,00:14:57.680
I should try to read these books
but they're so thick...

00:14:58.880,00:15:01.520
It's an association
from Madrid that...

00:15:02.640,00:15:05.840
has sent you a magazine
for you to see what they're doing.

00:15:06.720,00:15:08.440
There you are, you've seen it...
all seen.

00:15:08.520,00:15:10.320
How am I supposed
to write a preface

00:15:10.400,00:15:13.880
for an installation,
if I've never seen it?

00:15:14.040,00:15:18.440
-Say you can't.
-No, let me answer this one.

00:15:19.480,00:15:22.320
Shit, I haven't had time
to look at this.

00:15:23.000,00:15:25.800
-It's the Dalai Lama...
-And what does the Dalai Lama want?

00:15:26.160,00:15:30.440
To see if I want to be part of
an honorary commission...

00:15:31.440,00:15:34.360
He's not really much
to my liking.

00:15:34.440,00:15:36.720
We could?
No, I could write a letter saying;

00:15:37.160,00:15:39.840
“My husband agrees
to be part of the commission,

00:15:39.840,00:15:43.320
but does the Dalai Lama
know that Saramago is a communist?

00:15:44.640,00:15:46.000
And that he doesn't
believe in God,

00:15:46.080,00:15:48.760
nor will he even begin to believe
in him in the next 200 years?"

00:15:49.560,00:15:54.080
And another pile here where
we'll put all the Portuguese literature.

00:15:54.440,00:15:57.400
We've already put all the
Central European literature there...

00:15:57.480,00:15:58.760
February 9th

00:15:58.760,00:16:01.040
At the front door,
there is the container

00:16:01.120,00:16:03.240
with the books which came from Lisbon.

00:16:03.320,00:16:07.200
Boxes and crates everywhere
out of which comes an occasional

00:16:07.280,00:16:10.000
forgotten object,
as if somebody from back home

00:16:10.080,00:16:13.360
had amused himself
by hiding memories in the crates.

00:16:13.480,00:16:14.760
A murmur saying:

00:16:14.760,00:16:18.600
We haven't forgotten you,
so don't you forget us.

00:16:19.400,00:16:20.760
February 12.

00:16:20.840,00:16:24.480
Another dog showed up here
around a month ago,

00:16:24.560,00:16:26.160
we don't know where it came from,

00:16:28.520,00:16:34.040
Camões was a bit wary at first,
perplexed by the intruder's small size.

00:16:35.040,00:16:36.360
March 21,

00:16:36.440,00:16:38.920
we were all very happy to think that

00:16:39.000,00:16:43.280
there might be something
by Siza Vieira here on Lanzarote.

00:16:43.680,00:16:47.440
It would be a good way to begin
Portugal's re-conquest of the island.

00:16:47.800,00:16:49.040
March 31.

00:16:49.320,00:16:53.680
Today, we planted two olive trees
in front of the library,

00:16:54.040,00:16:56.080
I doubt that,
in this climate,

00:16:56.200,00:16:58.920
they'll ever attain the heights

00:16:59.080,00:17:00.840
of the quince tree in Victor Erice's
film “The Quince Tree Sun”.

00:17:04.560,00:17:05.800
May 2.

00:17:05.800,00:17:08.760
I began to write
the story about the elephant.

00:17:13.720,00:17:17.360
WE ALWAYS ARRIVE AT THE PLACE
WHERE WE ARE EXPECTED

00:17:19.520,00:17:22.920
In time, everything
in the universe fits together.

00:17:23.000,00:17:27.200
And then there's the elephant.

00:17:29.120,00:17:32.040
Solomon had no idea
of what awaits him.

00:17:34.080,00:17:37.240
Listen, I'm going to talk very loudly
because I don't know if you can hear me.

00:17:37.320,00:17:40.520
I can hardly hear you because
of the building noise outside,

00:17:40.680,00:17:44.600
which has been going on for
I don't know how many months or years!

00:17:44.680,00:17:46.600
I don't think this library
will ever be finished.

00:17:46.680,00:17:48.800
Listen, we're going to give
José a surprise party

00:17:49.080,00:17:51.600
for his 84th birthday in Azinhaga.

00:17:52.160,00:17:56.120
He doesn't know, but it'll be
the launch of “Small Memories”,

00:17:56.200,00:17:59.080
not just the Portugal version
but the Spanish one as well,

00:17:59.160,00:18:00.680
if I can finish the translation.

00:18:16.840,00:18:18.600
The village... oh, shit!

00:18:18.680,00:18:20.040
The village is called Azinhaga.

00:18:20.200,00:18:23.640
And has, so to speak, been where it is
since the dawn of nationhood.

00:18:23.760,00:18:25.720
The house where I was born
no longer exists,

00:18:25.920,00:18:29.400
not that it matters, because I have
no memory of having lived in it.

00:18:29.400,00:18:31.040
about ever having lived
there anyway.

00:18:33.080,00:18:36.400
The regime was brought down,
by a military coup as expected.

00:18:36.640,00:18:39.200
I am at a loss for
words to describe that day,

00:18:39.280,00:18:41.360
the troops, the combat vehicles,
the happiness,

00:18:41.440,00:18:43.320
the emotional turmoil, the pure joy.

00:18:43.400,00:18:44.680
I am, at the moment, alone?

00:18:44.680,00:18:46.880
"Manual of Painting
and Calligraphy"

00:18:46.960,00:18:49.320
I think this text
is poorly translated,

00:18:49.400,00:18:50.600
I would never have
translated it like that.

00:18:50.600,00:18:52.600
"Death with Interruption"
"The Stone Raft"

00:18:52.720,00:18:54.920
"All the Names",
"The Gospel".

00:18:55.000,00:18:57.800
-Jesus is slowly dying, dying.
-Jesus is slowly dying, dying.

00:18:58.040,00:19:03.640
When suddenly the heavens overhead
open wide and God appears,

00:19:03.800,00:19:08.360
and his voice throughout the Earth.
This is my beloved Son,

00:19:08.720,00:19:11.240
in whom I am well pleased.

00:19:12.040,00:19:14.960
And Jesus realized then
that he had been

00:19:14.960,00:19:17.320
brought there under false pretences,
like a lamb to sacrifice,

00:19:17.400,00:19:19.240
that from the beginning his life had
been heading towards this death.

00:19:19.240,00:19:21.600
From the very beginning...

00:19:22.880,00:19:26.400
And he cried out to the open heavens,
where God was smiling down?

00:19:26.400,00:19:27.640
Men,

00:19:27.640,00:19:30.400
Forgive him for he knows not
what he does?

00:19:36.400,00:19:39.120
It's just a tall tale,
a huge hoax?

00:19:39.760,00:19:43.760
I went to church once or twice
when I was 6, but I didn't...

00:19:44.800,00:19:46.440
I wasn't convinced at all.

00:19:47.160,00:19:48.880
And I went and told my mother, no,

00:19:48.960,00:19:51.640
I'm not going, I'm not going there.

00:19:52.560,00:19:54.360
I didn't go and I never went again.

00:19:54.480,00:19:56.280
I never had religious crisis,

00:19:56.280,00:19:57.880
I'm not afraid of death,

00:19:57.960,00:19:59.480
I'm not afraid of Hell,

00:19:59.720,00:20:05.680
I'm not afraid of what you might call
eternal damnation,

00:20:06.640,00:20:09.640
because of my sins, I mean, what sins...

00:20:09.720,00:20:13.440
What is all this about sin?
Who was it who invented sin?

00:20:14.880,00:20:20.480
Once sin had been invented,
the guy who invented it had a fantastic

00:20:20.600,00:20:25.880
weapon he could use
to dominate other people.

00:20:26.560,00:20:28.680
And that's what the church did.

00:20:28.880,00:20:31.480
But not so much anymore, poor guys,

00:20:31.560,00:20:34.600
they don't have half
the power they used to.

00:20:34.680,00:20:37.800
It's just farce,
a tragic farce.

00:20:38.840,00:20:41.120
Where is God?

00:20:42.160,00:20:46.560
They used to say he was in heaven,
but heaven doesn't exist!

00:20:48.480,00:20:49.880
There is no heaven!

00:20:56.080,00:20:57.320
There's only space.

00:20:58.920,00:21:01.160
13 thousand million light years.

00:21:01.560,00:21:02.800
Imagine...

00:21:04.600,00:21:06.680
The limits of the Universe are

00:21:06.680,00:21:09.640
13 thousand 700 million
light years away...

00:21:13.520,00:21:14.760
Light years!

00:21:16.840,00:21:18.120
Where's God?

00:21:23.040,00:21:25.720
If you want to believe,
believe and have done with it.

00:21:27.680,00:21:31.680
I say it loud and clear,

00:21:35.240,00:21:36.720
not for me.

00:21:40.440,00:21:43.400
And remember,
83 is a good age

00:21:43.400,00:21:45.640
to begin thinking
about the future, right?

00:21:46.800,00:21:51.640
I mean, you can do
all kinds of stupid things in your life,

00:21:52.880,00:21:56.000
say a lot of absurd things
about the Lord,

00:21:56.680,00:21:58.640
but when you get to be 83,

00:21:58.640,00:22:01.680
you should begin
to be a bit more careful

00:22:01.760,00:22:03.080
about what you say.

00:22:04.080,00:22:06.600
But that doesn't change reality.

00:22:07.200,00:22:09.200
Reality continues the same
as always.

00:22:12.880,00:22:15.280
We're born, we live,
we die and that's it.

00:22:17.160,00:22:18.400
Nothing more.

00:22:19.600,00:22:21.240
I hope that doesn't happen.

00:22:21.320,00:22:23.320
I hope I die lucid
and with my eyes open.

00:22:26.960,00:22:30.120
At least that's
the way I'd like it to be.

00:22:36.960,00:22:38.280
July 7th

00:22:39.240,00:22:43.640
To feel that the end of each day
is an irreparable loss.

00:22:44.440,00:22:47.040
That is probably what old age
is all about.

00:23:14.560,00:23:18.280
One day, the sun disappears
and it's over.

00:23:18.560,00:23:22.840
And the universe won't even know
we ever existed.

00:23:24.200,00:23:28.640
The universe won't even know
that Homer wrote The Iliad.

00:23:35.200,00:23:37.720
LIBRARY INAUGURATION

00:23:37.720,00:23:41.080
I would like to welcome you all
to the library,

00:23:41.200,00:23:43.520
which was born
from a crazy idea,

00:23:43.800,00:23:45.960
because, every time
we needed a book at home,

00:23:46.040,00:23:48.120
we'd have to go out and buy it,
because we could

00:23:48.120,00:23:49.360
never find it...

00:23:49.360,00:23:52.720
It wasn't a crazy idea,
it was the idea of a crazy person.

00:23:56.280,00:23:59.800
Well, it wasn't exactly like that,
and it wasn't very nice of you

00:23:59.880,00:24:01.560
to applaud either.

00:24:44.080,00:24:47.600
Not everyone here will be aware
that João Afonso

00:24:48.320,00:24:52.160
was Zeca Afonso's nephew.

00:24:54.560,00:24:58.440
Being the nephew of a great artist
doesn't mean much

00:24:58.920,00:25:01.760
or maybe nothing at all...

00:25:03.280,00:25:05.200
There's a family connection...

00:25:08.840,00:25:10.200
Talk in Spanish!

00:25:10.520,00:25:12.880
José, do you want me to do
a simultaneous translation for you?

00:25:14.080,00:25:15.600
You're speaking Portuguese.

00:25:16.000,00:25:17.920
Yes, I do that sometimes.

00:25:20.480,00:25:22.080
You should all learn!

00:25:25.560,00:25:27.560
Not all of you here will be aware...

00:25:28.080,00:25:30.000
that's Spanish, isn't it?

00:25:32.360,00:25:35.240
Not all of you here will be aware
that João Afonso

00:25:36.520,00:25:41.640
is the nephew of the great,
unforgettable Zeca Afonso,

00:25:42.000,00:25:45.520
but what happened here

00:25:45.600,00:25:51.520
was a kind of
miracle of sound,

00:25:55.120,00:25:56.760
which allows us to think,

00:25:56.840,00:25:58.640
just once in a while,

00:25:58.640,00:26:00.280
that death doesn't exist.

00:26:02.520,00:26:05.000
and... that's all.

00:26:07.240,00:26:09.200
The reception lasted 3 hours.

00:26:09.880,00:26:11.520
I got tired of smiling,

00:26:11.600,00:26:13.840
of trying to sound intelligent.

00:26:13.960,00:26:16.560
The weather is cold, overcast.

00:26:16.960,00:26:18.240
July 10th.

00:26:18.360,00:26:20.440
I climbed Blanca Mountain yesterday.

00:26:20.720,00:26:23.400
I remember thinking,
while I was going up:

00:26:23.520,00:26:27.160
If I fall here and get myself killed
it's all over, no more books.

00:26:27.640,00:26:29.320
I was very aware of time,

00:26:30.400,00:26:33.200
because a book can take
one or two years to write,

00:26:34.440,00:26:36.600
and you don't have that much time.

00:26:36.800,00:26:38.040
Yes?

00:26:38.400,00:26:39.840
Hello, how are you?

00:26:39.840,00:26:43.760
When are the direct flights to Lisbon?
Which is the best one?

00:26:45.160,00:26:47.120
Yes, because from here to Germany,

00:26:47.200,00:26:49.280
there are flights all day and every day.

00:26:49.360,00:26:50.840
And for which dates?

00:26:52.920,00:26:55.960
But how can I leave Wednesday,
that's already the day after tomorrow?

00:26:56.200,00:26:58.360
I don't believe it, I was talking
with my mobile upside-down!

00:26:58.520,00:27:01.160
No wonder I could hardly hear what she
was saying and she couldn't hear me,

00:27:01.160,00:27:03.960
I was using it upside-down.
I was holding it like this,

00:27:03.960,00:27:05.720
and she was saying “I can't hear you”.

00:27:08.480,00:27:09.760
How funny.

00:27:14.800,00:27:16.080
Oh well.

00:27:18.280,00:27:24.240
We have to go over
my list of appointments.

00:27:26.040,00:27:28.080
See what we can take out?

00:27:28.400,00:27:33.880
I have to tell you that I am less
and less enthusiastic

00:27:33.880,00:27:35.880
to present

00:27:36.520,00:27:38.880
a book in Azinhaga.

00:27:40.360,00:27:44.600
I mean, I don't even know anybody
there anymore and each time that?

00:27:44.680,00:27:47.000
But you're not doing it for yourself,
you're doing it for the village.

00:27:47.480,00:27:48.800
Why am I doing it?

00:27:48.920,00:27:51.480
You're not doing it for yourself,
you're doing it for the village.

00:27:52.320,00:27:53.840
It's a gift to the village?

00:27:54.920,00:27:56.200
But the village?

00:27:56.880,00:28:00.000
The village will be so proud,
like that day the library opened there.

00:28:00.440,00:28:02.040
The village will be thrilled,

00:28:02.400,00:28:06.360
people will get involved and other
people will talk about your village,

00:28:06.440,00:28:07.880
and they'll like that.

00:28:09.160,00:28:10.440
No.

00:28:24.480,00:28:27.240
Yes, the phrase for the monument...

00:28:28.880,00:28:31.120
That's it, just a phrase,

00:28:31.120,00:28:33.280
"for those on the Civil War."

00:28:34.800,00:28:36.040
When I was a kid,

00:28:36.040,00:28:37.400
I had this nightmare...

00:28:37.600,00:28:39.000
terrible it was...

00:28:39.280,00:28:40.800
Which always went something like this:

00:28:40.880,00:28:45.040
I'd find myself in an enclosed space,
with no door or windows,

00:28:45.640,00:28:47.360
in a triangular space...

00:28:51.520,00:28:55.120
And I'd be at one of the
triangle's vertices.

00:28:55.360,00:28:58.160
And on the other side,
in the distance,

00:28:58.640,00:29:00.840
I could see something
on the ground,

00:29:00.960,00:29:02.920
something I could never
make out clearly.

00:29:03.080,00:29:04.400
And that something,

00:29:04.480,00:29:08.760
which could have been
water on the ground, or a stone...

00:29:08.880,00:29:10.280
Or both those things
at the same time,

00:29:10.360,00:29:12.160
but it wasn't that...

00:29:12.560,00:29:15.120
It would begin to grow
and there was some music playing,

00:29:15.240,00:29:17.920
which I could never
really make out either...

00:29:18.960,00:29:21.080
And that something
would grow and grow and grow...

00:29:21.160,00:29:22.680
and there was no escape.

00:29:22.760,00:29:25.840
It would grow and grow,
getting closer and closer...

00:29:26.400,00:29:30.600
until, I was almost suffocating,
and then, I'd wake up.

00:29:32.720,00:29:37.120
The 6-day Iberia Airline pilots' strike
is due to begin at midnight tomorrow,

00:29:37.120,00:29:39.560
and 1,500 flights
will be cancelled.

00:29:40.040,00:29:43.320
I'm going to ask my guests
what they think about this news.

00:29:43.400,00:29:44.760
Let me introduce Pilar del Rio,

00:29:44.760,00:29:47.080
-Good morning Pilar.
-Hello, Good morning.

00:29:47.080,00:29:48.800
Pilar, you are one
of those most deeply affected!!

00:29:48.800,00:29:51.920
Oh God! I have, next week alone,
11 flights in one week.

00:29:51.920,00:29:53.680
Then a strike is just
the right thing for you, Pilar!

00:29:53.760,00:29:56.120
You can get some rest.
Thank you so much,

00:29:56.120,00:29:57.880
I will now take my leave
until next season.

00:30:00.640,00:30:01.800
15th July.

00:30:02.080,00:30:06.240
Inevitably I think about my book,
“Small Memories”,

00:30:06.800,00:30:09.360
long promised and long postponed,

00:30:09.440,00:30:11.160
which isn't a book of
memories,

00:30:11.240,00:30:17.040
but the memory I have of myself.

00:30:18.320,00:30:21.320
ACT II
THE JOURNEY

00:30:24.160,00:30:26.600
Hours are too slow.

00:30:27.320,00:30:30.320
Days are too fast.

00:31:01.880,00:31:04.360
And we now go straight
to Azinhaga, Barbara.

00:31:04.440,00:31:09.920
And we can see a few images now
of Saramago's arrival.

00:31:10.320,00:31:15.360
With around 1000 people
Gathered, applauding.

00:31:15.800,00:31:19.040
These people were not
only local inhabitants,

00:31:19.120,00:31:21.720
but guests as well...

00:31:38.680,00:31:39.960
Pilar!

00:31:47.840,00:31:49.160
When Pilar told me:

00:31:49.240,00:31:52.520
"We're thinking of having your
book launch in Azinhaga"

00:31:52.600,00:31:53.880
I said:

00:31:53.960,00:31:55.320
"Oh Pilar, don't do that."

00:31:55.320,00:31:56.560
After all...

00:31:58.920,00:32:00.160
I'll tell you something...

00:32:00.240,00:32:05.320
I think that if there were fewer of you,
I would have already started to cry.

00:32:07.200,00:32:11.000
But there are so many of you
that I can't even cry.

00:32:13.720,00:32:16.040
I would like to inform you all
that José Saramago

00:32:16.120,00:32:17.920
will be seated at this table
giving autographs

00:32:18.000,00:32:20.680
and I ask you
all to organize a line.

00:32:20.800,00:32:22.560
Otherwise, nobody will be able
to get their book signed.

00:32:22.800,00:32:27.960
An old, abandoned factory which
Saramago picked to hold his book launch.

00:32:28.360,00:32:31.440
And more than one thousand people
gathered, seated and standing

00:32:31.440,00:32:33.120
around to see José Saramago up close,

00:32:33.120,00:32:34.840
to hug him, kiss him,

00:32:34.920,00:32:37.560
and, of course, to get their books
signed,

00:32:37.640,00:32:40.720
as can be seen by this long line,
with hundreds of people,

00:32:40.880,00:32:44.240
has a cycle come to an end?
Has the author returned to his origins?

00:32:44.400,00:32:45.640
No. I mean,

00:32:45.640,00:32:47.360
I'm not sure this ends a cycle.

00:32:47.440,00:32:50.320
We can only tell when a cycle
has closed after it comes to an end.

00:32:50.720,00:32:52.680
And I'm not sure
It has come to an end yet.

00:32:53.960,00:32:55.760
Dad, there are still
a lot of people left.

00:32:55.760,00:32:58.520
-Do you want to stop?
-There's no point stopping...

00:33:00.560,00:33:02.400
J. Sicaia... could you write that?

00:33:02.640,00:33:04.320
-I'm not writing dedications.
-I'm sorry,

00:33:04.400,00:33:05.640
Carry on, carry on...

00:33:05.640,00:33:07.480
You have nothing to be sorry for.

00:33:07.560,00:33:09.240
It is I who must apologies,

00:33:09.600,00:33:12.600
for things being like this,
with so many people...

00:33:12.680,00:33:16.720
If I were to write dedications the line
would still be at the beginning.

00:33:25.280,00:33:27.200
A long life to you!

00:33:27.320,00:33:30.640
Happy Birthday to you!

00:33:30.760,00:33:36.680
Happy Birthday dear Saramago!

00:33:37.160,00:33:40.040
A round of applause.

00:33:42.200,00:33:44.560
José, honey, go autograph your books.
I'll cut. OK?

00:33:44.760,00:33:46.600
-Do you want anything to eat?
-No, thank you.

00:33:46.840,00:33:48.520
Go on, go sign your books.

00:33:49.120,00:33:50.520
Can I congratulate you?

00:33:51.320,00:33:52.680
Congratulations, much happiness.
Thank you.

00:33:55.680,00:34:01.120
José Saramago has, at the moment,
450 books to sign...

00:34:01.640,00:34:04.400
Our flight will last
approximately 12 hours

00:34:04.520,00:34:08.720
and we will be landing at 9:30,
6 hours behind local time.

00:34:09.880,00:34:11.120
Capital Radio,

00:34:11.120,00:34:13.400
Broadcasting from Guadalajara,
Jalisco.

00:34:13.480,00:34:15.160
The news with Manolo Tavares.

00:34:15.520,00:34:18.640
We have in our country, right now,
the Nobel prize-winning,

00:34:18.640,00:34:20.280
Portuguese writer, José Saramago,
for the opening

00:34:20.280,00:34:22.760
of the International
Book Fair of Guadalajara, 2006

00:34:22.920,00:34:26.880
The Author Gabriel García Márquez,
Nobel prize winner for literature.

00:34:27.520,00:34:31.240
Author José Saramago, also a Nobel
prize winner for literature.

00:34:33.920,00:34:36.760
José entered Granada
led by the hand of love.

00:34:37.080,00:34:39.680
Where he came upon
another enormity,

00:34:40.120,00:34:41.560
the enormity of Pilar's family.

00:34:42.200,00:34:43.600
And, knowing Pilar as well as I do,

00:34:43.680,00:34:48.000
I am absolutely convinced,
that there are two José Saramagos:

00:34:49.240,00:34:51.920
one José Saramago
before meeting Pilar,

00:34:52.200,00:34:55.080
and another José Saramago
after meeting Pilar.

00:34:57.640,00:34:59.920
Victory, victory,
my part of the story is over.

00:35:01.000,00:35:02.600
I met this family...

00:35:02.840,00:35:05.040
of 15 brothers and sisters.

00:35:05.120,00:35:08.600
And me, being this quiet man,
silent, melancholic,

00:35:08.880,00:35:11.520
a bit sad,
as I describe myself,

00:35:11.840,00:35:15.000
suddenly saw myself surrounded
by 15 barbarians,

00:35:16.360,00:35:18.920
because they are barbarians,
savages!

00:35:19.760,00:35:21.560
How many nights that...

00:35:21.720,00:35:23.120
I go to bed exhausted,

00:35:24.360,00:35:26.240
convinced that I'll be able to sleep,

00:35:26.320,00:35:30.320
and their voices follow me,
bellowing from the kitchen...

00:35:34.280,00:35:36.720
They are, though,
all very fine people.

00:35:39.520,00:35:41.840
Do I only have five
more minutes?

00:35:44.280,00:35:47.600
First of all, nobody told me
how many minutes I'd have!

00:35:48.520,00:35:51.800
So they can't come and tell me now
I only have five minutes left.

00:35:54.440,00:35:55.720
They'll have to wait.

00:35:57.320,00:36:02.560
Have you left anything out?
Because as a reporter they tell me:

00:36:03.080,00:36:05.920
“Declaration of the Third World War,
in 30 seconds”,

00:36:06.240,00:36:09.120
And so, if you are in a hurry,
I'll help you.

00:36:14.560,00:36:17.640
If it were you sitting here we'd all
be out on the street by now.

00:36:25.520,00:36:27.240
We have more time!

00:36:31.880,00:36:33.360
And what do we have now?

00:36:33.440,00:36:35.440
Let's talk about the play

00:36:35.560,00:36:38.440
about the reading in two
voices the day after tomorrow.

00:36:39.120,00:36:40.400
Introduce yourselves.

00:36:41.840,00:36:47.600
I'm afraid it'll be too much,
I see so many pages here.

00:36:48.240,00:36:50.400
The play is a recital...
you don't have to memorize it

00:36:50.480,00:36:53.560
This is what the tow of us were
supposed to do.

00:36:53.680,00:36:56.840
The person who copied it
didn't understand it.

00:36:57.600,00:36:58.800
Alright José.

00:36:58.800,00:37:01.640
We've got to... who reads it?

00:37:02.360,00:37:03.600
Or isn't it read?

00:37:03.720,00:37:05.320
José, we'll see about that later...

00:37:05.400,00:37:07.480
-What was the time again?
-At 3h30.

00:37:09.240,00:37:13.200
We'll talk to the writer
at 3h:30, okay?

00:37:13.600,00:37:15.800
The guy who conceived the whole thing.

00:37:16.280,00:37:19.800
You called me here for
a work meeting and I'm...

00:37:19.880,00:37:22.120
No, no, only for us to see
about the time...

00:37:22.280,00:37:24.960
-To schedule the rehearsals.
-It's the schedule for the rehearsals.

00:37:25.280,00:37:27.080
As this worries me,
it is only natural that I say something.

00:37:27.160,00:37:28.400
Of course.

00:37:28.560,00:37:29.840
But if this isn't the right time,
I won't say anything more.

00:37:29.920,00:37:32.760
Each one of us knows our part
and it'd be better

00:37:32.760,00:37:34.520
if we didn't interfere with
other people's territory.

00:37:34.600,00:37:36.520
But I don't want to interfere, Pilar!

00:37:36.960,00:37:39.120
-I don't interfere.
-We have a meeting at eight tonight...

00:37:39.640,00:37:42.240
What time can you make it to the
rehearsal?

00:37:42.320,00:37:46.280
At 12 tomorrow, my husband
has a press conference.

00:37:47.440,00:37:49.320
There's another one at 3:00...

00:37:49.480,00:37:51.280
at 5, a doctor's appointment...

00:37:51.360,00:37:53.960
José you don't have
to come to my conference!

00:37:54.600,00:37:56.120
Go to the rehearsal.

00:37:56.200,00:38:00.080
I have ideas for books,
and she has ideas for life.

00:38:01.360,00:38:03.920
And I don't know
which is more important.

00:38:04.680,00:38:06.400
Now that's nice!

00:38:06.520,00:38:08.080
Pilar, come here!

00:38:09.240,00:38:11.760
I just said something beautiful.

00:38:11.840,00:38:15.200
-What is it, dear?
-That I have ideas for books...

00:38:15.560,00:38:18.080
-Yes.
-And you have ideas for life!

00:38:18.160,00:38:19.360
That's nice!

00:38:19.360,00:38:21.600
And I don't know which is more
important!

00:38:22.520,00:38:24.440
-What do you think?
-I'm not so sure.

00:38:24.440,00:38:25.720
I think life!

00:38:27.200,00:38:30.520
Well, so I'll just have to
keep to my place.

00:38:31.880,00:38:33.240
You have an interview
waiting for you now.

00:38:33.440,00:38:35.880
Hold on, I'm going to see
how things are.

00:38:36.000,00:38:37.280
-An interview with who?
-Marisol.

00:38:39.160,00:38:43.120
Soon, dead photographers, reporters,

00:38:47.520,00:38:51.760
and as nobody is going to think
I'm the assassin,

00:38:51.840,00:38:55.120
as long as there are reporters,
I'm going to continue killing them.

00:38:55.240,00:38:57.200
-C'mon, let's go.
-Most of all, photographers.

00:38:57.640,00:39:01.720
So begin killing them then,
television is waiting.

00:39:04.840,00:39:08.760
Do you all think that
at this point in life

00:39:09.000,00:39:11.440
anyone has something
to say...

00:39:11.840,00:39:13.360
that is worthwhile?

00:39:13.960,00:39:17.720
This phrase here is interesting,

00:39:18.280,00:39:22.560
“I live disquietly
and I write to disquiet”,

00:39:23.600,00:39:26.240
I said that I don't know
how many years ago

00:39:26.240,00:39:28.720
but I had forgotten
that I had said that.

00:39:28.720,00:39:32.960
So I'm going to recycle it,
and use it again.

00:39:46.080,00:39:47.400
Tell me when.

00:39:47.800,00:39:49.080
Are we recording? OK.

00:39:50.480,00:39:53.160
José, if you could give us
a greeting

00:39:53.480,00:39:56.560
for the program,
as it'll be broadcast at Christmas.

00:39:56.680,00:39:59.400
If you could just
greet Mexico in general...

00:40:00.360,00:40:03.440
But with this cube here,
so they can see it.

00:40:04.440,00:40:05.680
What should I say, Pilar?

00:40:07.600,00:40:10.400
That Christmas should be
all year round...

00:40:10.960,00:40:12.400
Because it's a Christmas greeting,
isn't it?

00:40:12.480,00:40:13.720
Yes, for Christmas, yes.

00:40:13.920,00:40:16.520
But, I hate Christmas,
how can I say that?

00:40:22.360,00:40:23.760
November 28.

00:40:24.000,00:40:26.040
Between 9:30 in the morning

00:40:26.160,00:40:29.040
and 1 o'clock in the afternoon,
4 interviews.

00:40:29.880,00:40:32.480
I just can't understand why
in the world they're so interested

00:40:32.560,00:40:35.000
in declarations they've heard
so many times, over and over again!

00:40:37.920,00:40:41.160
-Can I take a picture with you?
-Take your picture.

00:40:45.520,00:40:47.080
Thank you and good luck.

00:40:47.480,00:40:49.360
Tomorrow, at the Diana Theatre,

00:40:49.480,00:40:51.840
"Death with Interruptions"

00:40:51.920,00:40:55.000
with Gael García Bernal
and the author José Saramago.

00:40:55.000,00:40:56.280
Don't miss it.

00:40:56.280,00:40:58.640
The proceeds from ticket sales will
go to help children with cancer.

00:40:58.960,00:41:03.120
... Which means that for all
those people who should already be dead,

00:41:03.240,00:41:05.360
the candle of life will
only go out when

00:41:05.440,00:41:08.240
the last toll of the bell
fades out at midnight.

00:41:09.280,00:41:11.480
Nobody died the following day!

00:41:11.680,00:41:12.920
Beautiful!

00:41:13.920,00:41:15.920
Wouldn't it be nice
if that were true, huh Pilar?

00:41:16.160,00:41:17.400
But it's not?

00:41:17.400,00:41:19.600
All I can say is that
I'm not very fascinated

00:41:19.680,00:41:21.400
by the idea of straightening
my relations with death.

00:41:21.400,00:41:24.080
But as she is inevitable
the best thing you can do...

00:41:24.560,00:41:26.000
Is sleep with her?

00:41:26.000,00:41:27.280
To get used to the idea?

00:41:27.400,00:41:29.160
Well, nothing would happen...

00:41:29.680,00:41:31.720
No, the worst part is that
everything would happen.

00:41:31.920,00:41:35.640
The worst part is that everything would
happen, a pain in the ass, dear...

00:41:36.080,00:41:38.840
And now I have a press conference,
no more, no less.

00:41:38.920,00:41:40.200
How nice!

00:41:40.920,00:41:42.920
I just came from a promo event...

00:41:43.000,00:41:45.320
And from various other places...

00:41:46.360,00:41:49.080
-Hour long conferences, huh?
-Yeah. They're unbearable.

00:41:49.200,00:41:52.320
The question that most?
that I can't stand...

00:41:52.400,00:41:53.720
is: “what do you feel?”

00:41:53.800,00:41:55.160
"what do you feel about being here?"

00:41:55.240,00:41:56.520
"What do you feel...?"

00:41:56.520,00:41:58.440
What do you feel about being in
Guadalajara today?

00:41:59.200,00:42:00.840
What do you feel being here?

00:42:00.920,00:42:02.200
What do you feel?!
Weird.

00:42:02.600,00:42:04.480
Well, I guess, I don't know...

00:42:04.920,00:42:06.240
it's different, no?

00:42:06.560,00:42:07.800
I don't think so...

00:42:07.800,00:42:10.040
And when they ask you...

00:42:10.040,00:42:12.080
“Can I take a picture with you?”

00:42:12.520,00:42:13.760
It's awful!

00:42:14.560,00:42:16.400
I could say no,

00:42:16.480,00:42:19.720
"Look, I don't have time right now",
whatever,

00:42:19.840,00:42:21.120
but, well, I do it.

00:42:21.760,00:42:23.840
But I don't do it to be nice,

00:42:23.920,00:42:25.440
I do it because...

00:42:25.800,00:42:27.320
How can I say to someone:

00:42:27.400,00:42:30.480
"No. Don't take the picture”.

00:42:30.560,00:42:31.800
For what reason?

00:42:33.040,00:42:34.640
José, a picture!

00:42:37.560,00:42:41.640
Please, look at the camera,
just a photo!

00:42:43.800,00:42:50.080
We live disquietly
and write to disquiet.

00:42:50.400,00:42:52.720
We do not want inactive readers,

00:42:52.960,00:42:55.200
we do not want conformist readers,

00:42:55.640,00:42:57.960
we do not want resigned readers,

00:42:58.080,00:43:01.240
I don't want to live off
the money of these types of readers.

00:43:01.400,00:43:04.040
I want to live off
the money of the other readers.

00:43:04.360,00:43:06.320
...made me think, sing,

00:43:06.400,00:43:09.360
dance, recite, recite poetry,

00:43:09.640,00:43:12.080
"Jesuza when are you going to get
married?

00:43:12.360,00:43:14.120
And she answered on the spot:

00:43:14.280,00:43:17.760
"I'm married to a woman
and I'm really happy."

00:43:18.000,00:43:21.880
Decisive acts of the 16th
Latin-American Literary prize...

00:43:24.280,00:43:26.760
In the city of Guadalajara,
Jalisco,

00:43:27.160,00:43:31.760
The jury is meeting for the 16th
edition of the prize-giving?

00:43:32.160,00:43:36.720
...the creativity has reinvented
the forms of journalistic short story?

00:43:36.920,00:43:39.800
the literary essay,
contemporary thinking...

00:43:39.960,00:43:44.920
the riches of popular culture,
the spectacle of urban modernization,

00:43:45.080,00:43:50.880
and codes of power and mentality
over the 40 years of its existence.

00:43:51.800,00:43:57.200
MIGUEL RÍOS' CONCERT

00:44:15.120,00:44:20.440
A symbolic moment in which important
personalities hand over this check

00:44:20.560,00:44:23.120
to help benefit children with cancer.

00:44:23.200,00:44:24.880
We thank you all for this moment:

00:44:26.160,00:44:29.960
Gael how do you feel about being
back home in Guadalajara?

00:44:30.800,00:44:33.680
All I can say is that
I am happy to be here

00:44:33.760,00:44:36.360
acting alongside you, “master".

00:44:38.320,00:44:41.800
All I can say is that the “master”
is a great actor,

00:44:42.960,00:44:44.320
...most definitely!

00:44:44.440,00:44:46.320
And like all great actors,
will deny it.

00:44:46.720,00:44:48.080
Attention.

00:44:48.200,00:44:50.600
This is the third curtain call.

00:44:50.880,00:44:52.160
We will begin.

00:44:53.000,00:44:55.840
Nobody died the following day.

00:44:56.880,00:45:00.960
Being so different to the
usual norms of life,

00:45:01.040,00:45:03.760
it caused enormous anxiety
among the spirits...

00:45:04.200,00:45:07.920
This, my message,
I undersign with the name

00:45:08.320,00:45:10.480
I am generally known by:

00:45:11.320,00:45:12.600
Death.

00:45:21.600,00:45:23.000
Gael, I love you!

00:45:32.080,00:45:35.120
When I come back
from these trips next time.

00:45:35.200,00:45:37.440
I'll do everything... The face?

00:45:37.440,00:45:40.280
-Massage?
-Massage, I mean, really!

00:45:40.440,00:45:41.760
A body massage will be enough.

00:45:56.280,00:46:00.120
PILAR'S BIRTHDAY

00:46:02.440,00:46:05.240
INTERVIEW TO THE NATIONAL
RADIO OF SPAIN

00:46:05.360,00:46:07.640
INTERVIEW - TV YLE

00:46:08.040,00:46:10.240
TÀPIES AND JOSÉ'S BOOK
PRESENTATION

00:46:18.560,00:46:22.360
José Saramago is the author of
a vast and intense literary production

00:46:22.440,00:46:25.480
and the first Nobel Laureate
in Portuguese literature,

00:46:25.560,00:46:28.000
one of the world's most
widely spoken languages.

00:46:28.080,00:46:29.560
And because of this,
we request he be granted

00:46:29.640,00:46:32.120
the title of Doctor Honoris Causa.

00:46:40.080,00:46:43.040
-Are you OK? Feeling alright?
-Me? Yes, yes... I'm fine.

00:46:43.120,00:46:44.680
After 3 hours of interview...

00:46:44.760,00:46:46.760
I only say this because of your heart,
nothing else.

00:46:47.480,00:46:52.040
“On the 29th June 2007 in Lisbon,
in the notary public's presence,

00:46:52.120,00:46:56.240
the grantor, José de Sousa Saramago,
hereby institutes,

00:46:56.320,00:46:58.040
by means of the present deed,

00:46:58.120,00:47:01.800
the foundation to be henceforth called
the José Saramago Foundation.”

00:47:01.800,00:47:04.520
DEED OF THE FOUNDATION
JOSÉ SARAMAGO

00:47:04.520,00:47:06.080
It's done, it exists.

00:47:07.120,00:47:08.360
It was just born.

00:47:08.680,00:47:11.960
I was at the bank today and suddenly
realized that I had become poor.

00:47:12.040,00:47:14.880
I mean, my accounts
had been mine up to now.

00:47:15.600,00:47:17.880
Suddenly, it all goes
to the Foundation,

00:47:18.400,00:47:20.920
and the only two people
who can administer them

00:47:21.680,00:47:25.320
are: Mrs. Dona Pilar -
“presidenta” in the feminine!

00:47:25.640,00:47:28.400
and Mr. Sucena who is General Director.

00:47:28.480,00:47:30.080
I can't utter a peep!

00:47:31.680,00:47:33.880
Which country doesn't have an
extradition agreement with Portugal?

00:47:34.040,00:47:35.960
And they insist I still keep working...

00:47:36.960,00:47:39.160
To make sure the tit doesn't run dry...

00:47:39.240,00:47:42.600
Just kidding, but the other day
we were at home and Pilar...

00:47:42.760,00:47:45.840
We were talking about various things
and at one point Pilar asked me:

00:47:45.920,00:47:48.200
“But, tell me then,
what do you want me to do?"

00:47:49.600,00:47:52.040
And although I had never
thought about it before,

00:47:53.080,00:47:56.120
I had a ready answer:

00:47:57.400,00:47:58.640
"Continue me”.

00:48:03.520,00:48:07.640
Yesterday I said that I hadn't realized
how tiring the trip to America had been.

00:48:07.840,00:48:11.560
It was only afterwards that I realized.
But we're not going to rest.

00:48:11.920,00:48:16.880
José is going to write his book,
and I'm going to reorganize

00:48:16.960,00:48:19.800
all the foundation's pending issues
and draw up the agenda

00:48:19.880,00:48:21.440
for the last quarter.

00:48:21.520,00:48:24.240
The word “rest” is not a part of our
vocabulary.

00:48:25.120,00:48:29.560
This is something I would like
to say and make very clear,

00:48:30.320,00:48:31.920
because a lot of people,

00:48:32.040,00:48:34.240
(and increasingly this annoys me more
and more)

00:48:34.600,00:48:36.000
come up and say:

00:48:36.080,00:48:41.200
“Well, Saramago is getting on in years
and should slow down a bit,

00:48:41.320,00:48:44.160
and that he's tired,
and I don't know what else”

00:48:44.240,00:48:45.880
And I say: OK, let me ask you.

00:48:45.960,00:48:47.840
What do you think he should do?

00:48:47.960,00:48:54.400
For Saramago to sit with a
stripe blanket over his legs?

00:48:55.640,00:48:56.920
Some people would like that.

00:48:57.000,00:48:59.440
But he's not going to do it.
What do they want?

00:48:59.920,00:49:04.040
For me to be more domesticated,
stay at home and wash the dishes?

00:49:04.120,00:49:06.680
Well that's not going
to happen either!

00:49:07.640,00:49:13.480
If we completely exhaust
our energy one day,

00:49:13.880,00:49:17.680
we sleep, get our strength back
and continue forging ahead.

00:49:17.920,00:49:21.400
And we have eliminated the word “tired”,
as there are already

00:49:21.480,00:49:23.760
so many young people who are tired,
who were born tired

00:49:23.760,00:49:25.440
and spend the whole day tired.

00:49:25.640,00:49:30.320
Honestly! We have all eternity,

00:49:31.320,00:49:35.040
A concept that is hard
even to conceive, to rest.

00:49:36.280,00:49:39.880
What do we have to do today?
Something at the village... great!

00:49:40.240,00:49:45.120
The day before yesterday where were we,
with four heads of state... Great!

00:49:45.520,00:49:49.200
And then the next, to travel
grieving because your mother died

00:49:49.320,00:49:50.800
and you were unable to arrive in time.

00:49:50.800,00:49:52.440
It's all part of life.

00:49:55.320,00:49:58.600
“Mail for the “tribe”
on Friday the 13th

00:49:58.680,00:50:00.920
most of the tribe will be arriving.

00:50:01.000,00:50:04.760
On Sunday the 15th we will
inaugurate a park called “Small Memoirs”

00:50:04.840,00:50:07.000
because mamma was very happy there.

00:50:07.760,00:50:10.360
On her patron saint's day
there will be a surprise:

00:50:10.360,00:50:12.720
José and I are going
to take our wedding vows again.

00:50:12.800,00:50:14.440
It might sound like a mere formality
but it isn't.

00:50:14.600,00:50:15.800
We had promised mamma.

00:50:15.880,00:50:18.200
She would have liked to be present...

00:50:18.400,00:50:20.320
We arrived a couple
of months too late,

00:50:20.320,00:50:22.280
but we're finally here,
that's what matter.

00:50:26.120,00:50:28.160
We're almost there,
it's there up ahead.

00:50:30.000,00:50:31.240
Mamma has died.

00:50:31.360,00:50:34.080
PILAR'S MOM VILLAGE

00:50:34.080,00:50:36.040
Oh Lord, glory of heaven,

00:50:36.480,00:50:40.920
we beseech thy kindness in gathering

00:50:41.200,00:50:43.520
into your fold your daughter Carmen,
my mother.

00:50:43.720,00:50:49.720
Here there are a few of my brothers
and sisters who aren't very religious...

00:50:49.880,00:50:51.120
Let's leave it like that?

00:50:51.120,00:50:54.960
Our mamma sitting silently circled
by her angels, that was her world,

00:50:55.040,00:50:57.200
and for this reason
she contrasted so much with us!

00:50:57.440,00:51:00.840
noisy, rebellious, lefties, trouble
makers, drinkers, smokers, charlatans.

00:51:00.840,00:51:03.360
Mamma took with her
a very important part of our past,

00:51:03.440,00:51:05.800
it will be hard, of course,
to learn how to live without mamma.

00:51:19.760,00:51:21.000
July 15.

00:51:21.600,00:51:25.880
God doesn't need man for anything,
except to be God.

00:51:27.000,00:51:29.680
Each man that dies is a death of God.

00:51:30.160,00:51:34.440
And when the last man dies,
God will resuscitate no more.

00:51:44.280,00:51:48.640
You drew in your horse
and came close to me

00:51:48.800,00:51:51.440
and never in my life

00:51:51.520,00:51:57.160
have I seen
such green eyes.

00:51:57.160,00:51:58.320
Let's sing another.

00:51:58.560,00:52:01.080
Another pretty one she liked.

00:52:01.560,00:52:04.160
Mamma! Mamma!

00:52:05.320,00:52:07.600
Eugenia de Montijo!

00:52:08.200,00:52:12.360
What a pity, such a pity
that you're leaving Spain

00:52:12.680,00:52:15.160
to become a queen.

00:52:15.280,00:52:17.880
What a pity, such a pity?

00:52:17.960,00:52:19.920
A round of applause for mamma!

00:52:25.480,00:52:27.560
My mother would be
very happy here today.

00:52:27.640,00:52:31.520
And I'd like to add that Paco Ibañez's
mother would be too.

00:52:31.600,00:52:37.080
Paco Ibañez's mother was a Basque
woman and as you all know there is a

00:52:37.280,00:52:39.040
sort of matriarchal society
in the Basque country.

00:52:39.240,00:52:40.760
To hell with the Basques!

00:52:42.400,00:52:45.320
Well, if it bothers anyone,
let me be impertinent here,

00:52:45.440,00:52:46.920
feel free to leave,

00:52:47.200,00:52:51.760
as this ceremony is for human beings,
who respect and understand each other.

00:52:52.440,00:52:53.840
But if anybody is bothered,

00:52:53.920,00:52:58.200
someone in this place called Spain
with 5 different nationalities,

00:52:58.320,00:53:02.680
with 20, 17 nationalities
and 4 languages they can leave

00:53:03.160,00:53:06.960
because all the languages in this
country are Spanish languages!

00:53:07.200,00:53:09.200
And the Basque country is Spain!

00:53:10.720,00:53:15.320
And if you like,
we will make this night a tribute

00:53:16.080,00:53:18.480
to all the mothers
who have already gone before us.

00:53:18.560,00:53:20.240
Because they gave us life, right?
What do you think?

00:53:20.600,00:53:25.640
This world is a road
leading to another which is home

00:53:25.880,00:53:28.120
with no sorrow

00:53:28.280,00:53:30.600
but we should have
the good sense

00:53:30.600,00:53:35.160
to make the journey
without error

00:53:35.680,00:53:38.200
the journey begins
when we are born,

00:53:38.360,00:53:41.560
walk while we live,

00:53:47.520,00:53:53.760
so when we die,
we rest.

00:53:59.480,00:54:01.200
36 degrees

00:54:01.280,00:54:05.960
and now Andaluzia Music Radio
gives you, for all of you in love.

00:54:42.800,00:54:44.040
Pilar and José,

00:54:44.560,00:54:49.000
our words begin here
and here they should end.

00:54:49.800,00:54:52.720
I say Pilar and José
and I speak of love,

00:54:52.920,00:54:55.600
of the verb, of greater words.

00:54:56.120,00:54:59.000
In Pilar and José's love story,

00:54:59.080,00:55:00.880
there is room for us all,

00:55:01.120,00:55:03.240
and what I mean is:
Pilar and José, yes we love you!

00:55:06.600,00:55:10.320
The civil code states that the spouse's
rights and obligations are as follows:

00:55:10.560,00:55:13.400
Husband and wife should
mutually respect and help each other,

00:55:13.520,00:55:15.200
The married couple must live together

00:55:15.320,00:55:17.640
and swear fidelity
and come to each other's aid.

00:55:21.840,00:55:25.320
José, do you take Pilar
as your lawful wedded wife?

00:55:26.440,00:55:27.720
I do.

00:55:29.480,00:55:31.840
Pilar, do you take José as your
lawful wedded husband?

00:55:32.360,00:55:33.600
Oh lord, of course!

00:55:33.760,00:55:37.080
that being so, José and Pilar, I,
as president of the Castril town hall,

00:55:37.160,00:55:38.400
declare you man and wife.

00:55:38.880,00:55:40.240
Can we kiss?

00:55:55.080,00:55:56.720
Because if I throw and get it wrong.

00:55:58.760,00:56:00.080
For whoever wants it!

00:56:02.600,00:56:04.680
-Long live the newlyweds!
-Hurrah!

00:56:04.680,00:56:07.040
-Long live the newlyweds!
-Hurrah!

00:56:09.160,00:56:11.200
This one has two dates on it.

00:56:12.000,00:56:16.920
The date we met,
and then that of our wedding.

00:56:17.320,00:56:20.840
She called me, introduced herself
and said:

00:56:20.920,00:56:22.800
"I am Pilar Del Rio, reporter,

00:56:23.720,00:56:27.600
I am a big fan of yours
and as I am going to Lisbon

00:56:27.720,00:56:32.480
would like to meet you personally,
if you are free".

00:56:33.720,00:56:35.800
-And that's what happened.
-Oh yeah?

00:56:35.800,00:56:39.080
She didn't say she wanted an interview,
only that she wanted to meet you.

00:56:39.200,00:56:42.800
No, no? there was no interview,
never was.

00:56:44.120,00:56:47.840
And when she showed up,
and I didn't know it was her,

00:56:49.160,00:56:52.560
she came walking in my direction,
and I thought to myself,

00:56:53.720,00:56:55.960
wow.. now that's something?!

00:56:56.080,00:56:57.960
And you never thought of having kids?

00:56:58.960,00:57:03.560
At the beginning yes, but 63 is 63.

00:57:04.280,00:57:07.080
So you didn't want
to have kids.

00:57:08.400,00:57:10.920
it would just complicate our lives.

00:57:12.160,00:57:16.840
For me, I think that reason
should guide our will.

00:57:17.960,00:57:21.960
This seems to be the coldest,
the strongest thing one can say.

00:57:22.240,00:57:26.200
I think we are rational beings and
we have an obligation to be rational.

00:57:26.280,00:57:29.240
And never let ourselves
be guided by instinct.

00:57:29.440,00:57:32.440
Or, in other words,
I refuse to cry,

00:57:33.680,00:57:36.000
to let myself get
dissatisfied and depressed.

00:57:36.080,00:57:39.920
Oh, depression exists,
yes, but we can take

00:57:39.920,00:57:42.080
a couple of pills and get down to work.
Period.

00:57:43.560,00:57:45.560
I'm in favor of pharmaceuticals.

00:57:47.080,00:57:52.520
A whole life of pain, and now
we have drugs to help us get over them

00:57:53.000,00:57:56.000
and then the gurus come along and say:
“No... they're bad for you!”

00:57:56.240,00:57:58.120
No, what's bad for you is being sick!

00:57:58.360,00:58:00.000
We have to be less dramatic.

00:58:00.840,00:58:03.120
Especially those of us are privileged.

00:58:03.800,00:58:07.720
I cannot? I cannot allow myself,

00:58:08.040,00:58:12.080
the luxury of being desperate,

00:58:12.080,00:58:13.960
or hopeless, or sad.

00:58:15.040,00:58:16.360
Because I have everything.

00:58:16.480,00:58:20.600
Furthermore,
I have the strength to fight,

00:58:21.560,00:58:22.880
which is the greatest privilege of all.

00:58:23.080,00:58:24.320
Canal Sur Radio

00:58:24.320,00:58:25.560
Hello, and good morning, Pilar,

00:58:25.560,00:58:26.840
where are we speaking from?

00:58:26.840,00:58:28.760
From Finland where
I was walking on water.

00:58:28.880,00:58:30.160
Like Christ!

00:58:30.320,00:58:33.000
I was walking on frozen water,
which is easier.

00:58:33.120,00:58:36.080
I've got something in common with
Christ, I don't like the weak.

00:58:36.360,00:58:38.720
-I champion passion.
-I can tell, Pilar.

00:58:38.720,00:58:39.920
Let's talk about the quotas.

00:58:40.000,00:58:42.800
Ok, let's talk about them,
because enough is enough.

00:58:42.880,00:58:44.760
50% of men and 50% of women?

00:58:44.840,00:58:46.040
100% of women,

00:58:46.440,00:58:49.600
so we can save what
they have destroyed.

00:59:11.120,00:59:15.160
The officer talks on the phone

00:59:15.240,00:59:20.160
and they then want to find
a guilty party, why?

00:59:20.760,00:59:22.400
Because they need to.

00:59:22.680,00:59:26.480
They need someone
who can be held responsible.

00:59:29.320,00:59:30.560
And the last one.

00:59:36.360,00:59:38.080
What is a writer's duty?

00:59:38.520,00:59:39.800
To write.

00:59:40.920,00:59:44.720
A writer is also a citzen.

00:59:45.520,00:59:48.240
To intervene in society
as the citizen he is.

00:59:49.560,00:59:52.160
-What do we do now?
-I think we're going to have lunch.

00:59:52.160,00:59:55.440
-Another journalist is coming now.
-Another one?

00:59:55.800,00:59:58.400
Another one, from
the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper,

00:59:58.400,01:00:00.760
a famous newspaper.

01:00:00.760,01:00:02.680
-Now?
-Yes, yes, now.

01:00:03.320,01:00:04.600
He's here already!

01:00:04.960,01:00:08.200
Brief answers, the shorter
the better for everyone.

01:00:08.560,01:00:12.120
And José has to have a break since
he didn't sleep very well last night,

01:00:13.000,01:00:14.520
and rest a bit before 4:30?,

01:00:14.600,01:00:17.120
4:30 at the bookstore?
A signing session...

01:00:30.600,01:00:34.280
PRESIDENT OF FINLAND

01:00:38.040,01:00:39.920
We thank you for your patience.

01:00:40.160,01:00:43.480
Our literary guest
has been most patient,

01:00:45.880,01:00:50.000
If you have more than one book,
don't hesitate to ask

01:00:50.160,01:00:55.600
and he'll willingly
autograph them all.

01:01:04.840,01:01:07.280
PREMIER OF THE OPERA
"BALTASAR AND BLIMINDA"

01:01:12.520,01:01:14.800
INTERVIEW

01:01:17.160,01:01:18.520
LECTURE FOR UNIVERSITY

01:01:18.600,01:01:19.960
TAMMI PUBLICHER

01:01:20.160,01:01:21.520
SPAIN

01:01:23.520,01:01:25.520
LECTURE: THE CYBERSPACE
AS PUBLIC SPHERE

01:01:27.320,01:01:31.080
SHORT FILM PREMIERE: "THE
BIGGEST FLOWER IN THE WORLD"

01:01:37.440,01:01:43.320
FUTURE JOSÉ SARAMAGO
FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS

01:01:43.440,01:01:45.440
INTERVIEW

01:01:45.520,01:01:47.960
TRIBUTE TO SIZA VIEIRA

01:01:55.640,01:01:58.680
AUTOGRAPH SESSION

01:02:00.240,01:02:02.360
SPAIN

01:02:05.760,01:02:09.400
TRIBUTE TO POLANCO

01:02:09.600,01:02:14.440
MEETING THE VICTIMS
OF TERRORISM

01:02:23.400,01:02:25.440
What is happening today...

01:02:27.080,01:02:28.920
is in someway...

01:02:34.280,01:02:36.840
The universal truths...

01:02:37.160,01:02:38.400
They could...

01:02:39.560,01:02:40.760
No.

01:02:40.760,01:02:42.480
Not the universal truths, no.

01:02:43.640,01:02:44.800
Plural.

01:02:45.000,01:02:47.240
The plural truths... I'm sorry,

01:02:47.480,01:02:49.440
it's just that I am so tired.
Thank you Pilar.

01:02:55.560,01:02:57.840
I haven't had a holiday
for over 20 years.

01:02:59.640,01:03:02.880
"Ah! And why?
Why do you work so much?"

01:03:03.440,01:03:05.760
Because time presses.

01:03:06.320,01:03:10.520
And when time presses
a feeling of urgency arises.

01:03:10.680,01:03:14.280
Not because one person can save
the world through his writing,

01:03:14.560,01:03:17.480
He doesn't even know
if he can save himself.

01:03:18.360,01:03:22.600
He simply has to do
what he has to do.

01:03:28.280,01:03:33.040
Democracy is there, as if it were
a kind of saint on a pedestal.

01:03:38.280,01:03:42.360
Why would you want God the Universe?

01:03:42.680,01:03:45.280
What is the point of the Universe
in practice?

01:03:46.600,01:03:48.480
a herd of lost sheep

01:03:48.680,01:03:53.400
Removing someone you don't like
and putting someone you'd like.

01:04:00.600,01:04:04.800
The Universe will never know
that Homer wrote the Iliad.

01:04:15.840,01:04:18.000
8, Kyoto

01:04:19.240,01:04:20.720
25, Lisbon

01:04:21.920,01:04:24.680
José Saramago is in our city
of Buenos Aires,

01:04:24.760,01:04:28.320
visibly debilitated
to present the Clarin Award...

01:04:28.640,01:04:31.680
This way of living
begins to seem absurd to me.

01:04:33.480,01:04:35.080
9, return to Madrid.

01:04:35.160,01:04:38.440
We'll be counting on Saramago's
presence here tomorrow.

01:04:38.720,01:04:41.120
It would look very bad if the person
being paid

01:04:43.000,01:04:45.280
It's true, a virus is going around...

01:04:45.360,01:04:50.120
but Saramago is really strong,
and he will show up.

01:04:50.120,01:04:53.880
Even if to do so, he has to come
in a wheelchair like in Argentina.

01:04:56.080,01:04:58.680
But it does start to worry me...

01:04:59.960,01:05:02.880
After 11 hours on a flight
to Buenos Aires,

01:05:04.240,01:05:06.520
José arrived completely dehydrated.

01:05:06.680,01:05:08.360
It is very brutal.

01:05:08.480,01:05:11.280
These trips are very brutal. Non-stop...

01:05:11.680,01:05:16.160
It's just... I don't know how many trips
we've made to America this year.

01:05:16.440,01:05:17.720
It's insane!

01:05:18.400,01:05:19.760
The hospital is here...

01:05:20.120,01:05:21.920
We could go on ahead a bit.

01:05:22.960,01:05:25.680
Afterwards,
we'll come out at the emergency exit.

01:05:26.120,01:05:30.000
JOSÉ'S BIRTHDAY

01:05:30.680,01:05:32.800
My mother and my queen,

01:05:33.080,01:05:35.080
here I am on my way to Spain

01:05:35.760,01:05:37.680
from where I will never return.

01:05:46.280,01:05:48.600
And if you allow me,
I'd like to say that

01:05:48.680,01:05:52.360
at this moment,
José Saramago has lost his voice,

01:05:52.440,01:05:55.040
and finds it difficult to speak,
but, in any case, he will take

01:05:55.120,01:05:56.880
a few seconds just to thank you all.

01:05:56.960,01:06:00.000
Well, let us see if he can
tell you himself, speaking quietly.

01:06:02.080,01:06:03.360
Well,

01:06:05.680,01:06:07.520
if all people of good faith,

01:06:09.880,01:06:14.280
if all lovers of beauty,

01:06:16.960,01:06:18.400
if all those

01:06:20.400,01:06:23.680
lovers of the fair
and the honest

01:06:25.760,01:06:29.640
could unite their forces

01:06:32.400,01:06:35.080
against the barbarism in the world,

01:06:37.240,01:06:38.880
the world would be able

01:06:40.760,01:06:43.240
to dignify man

01:06:43.240,01:06:45.120
as human beings that we are.

01:06:47.120,01:06:48.360
And perhaps

01:06:50.160,01:06:51.480
maybe...

01:06:52.800,01:06:54.400
could have a future.

01:06:56.760,01:06:58.280
Thank you all so much.

01:07:10.160,01:07:11.400
Pilar...

01:07:13.960,01:07:16.200
-Happy birthday to you...
-No, please no, no...

01:07:17.240,01:07:19.920
You can't imagine
how much this bothers him.

01:07:21.680,01:07:23.200
It would be better not to.

01:07:27.480,01:07:28.680
No Lisbon...

01:07:28.680,01:07:30.240
No, no, no.

01:07:32.720,01:07:33.880
We have to get back to our nest.

01:07:41.600,01:07:43.720
17, trip to Lisbon, cancelled.

01:07:44.280,01:07:47.720
18, José's official birthday
in Lisbon, cancelled.

01:07:48.320,01:07:50.480
19, trip to Évora, cancelled.

01:07:50.840,01:07:52.760
20, return to Lanzarote.

01:07:57.480,01:07:59.000
November, 20.

01:07:59.200,01:08:00.800
Return to Lanzarote.

01:08:01.200,01:08:04.360
A very intense feeling
of being back home.

01:08:05.640,01:08:07.480
23, Lanzarote.

01:08:07.760,01:08:10.440
The opening of the exhibition
"The Consistency of Dreams"

01:08:10.520,01:08:12.640
about the life and works of José.

01:08:12.800,01:08:14.520
-And so what do we do now?
-We'll speak tomorrow, OK?

01:08:14.920,01:08:17.560
I guess so, nobody will
be here early tomorrow...

01:08:17.680,01:08:19.840
It'll be very quiet,
and the light is beautiful.

01:08:19.960,01:08:23.120
And so, Violante, we're about
to start a very special week,

01:08:23.200,01:08:26.160
in your father's life and
our Nobel laureate.

01:08:26.680,01:08:29.880
How do you think José
will react to this exhibition?

01:08:32.000,01:08:35.560
I think he will be very, very moved.

01:08:36.800,01:08:38.920
I'm convinced he will be, emotionally.

01:08:39.000,01:08:40.560
I haven't seen the exhibition.

01:08:41.040,01:08:44.080
He saw it being prepared, but with
everything that has been going on,

01:08:44.160,01:08:46.200
I'm sure he hasn't seen anything either.

01:08:46.280,01:08:48.080
From what I can tell,
it seems to be rather remarkable.

01:08:48.160,01:08:49.400
It is shocking...

01:08:49.920,01:08:51.160
Shocking.

01:08:52.120,01:08:55.840
That his own homeland is the country

01:08:57.600,01:09:00.600
would almost be...

01:09:02.480,01:09:03.720
the one that mistreat him.

01:09:05.800,01:09:09.200
It is amazing that this exhibition,
this work,

01:09:09.880,01:09:11.320
about his work...

01:09:11.800,01:09:13.120
was put on in Spain.

01:09:14.560,01:09:16.800
We're on our way
to the exhibition right now.

01:09:16.920,01:09:18.920
Well, tomorrow I'll be
with the Minister of Culture

01:09:19.000,01:09:21.880
and I shall take advantage
of the fact to ask him for the number

01:09:22.040,01:09:24.600
while I'm there... Bye.

01:09:33.400,01:09:34.680
Are we going in?

01:09:34.680,01:09:35.920
We're going in.

01:09:37.560,01:09:38.840
This is it...

01:09:40.840,01:09:42.320
We're here.

01:10:28.000,01:10:29.680
Make sure you keep warm, José.

01:10:30.520,01:10:31.880
These images here, José...

01:10:31.960,01:10:34.320
Could you please move back,
please, so he can see?

01:10:34.480,01:10:36.800
This is a video from the
beginning of the century from Azinhaga.

01:10:36.920,01:10:41.000
Nothing, in the humble origins of José,
would predict Saramago.

01:10:42.160,01:10:44.480
Growing surrounded by poverty

01:10:44.560,01:10:48.760
that would only allow him
to finish elementary school,

01:10:50.000,01:10:52.920
until the moment that,
when he was about 60,

01:10:53.000,01:10:54.800
he takes the most important
decision of his life

01:10:54.920,01:10:57.000
to start working
as a professional writer.

01:10:57.720,01:11:02.200
All the great events in my life
occurred in my later years.

01:11:04.200,01:11:07.920
And this is the case of José
who worked his entire life,

01:11:08.120,01:11:11.280
with dedication, with the rigor
of a factory worker and has finally

01:11:11.960,01:11:13.240
has reaped the reward

01:11:13.320,01:11:15.880
of seeing his literature
compared to the words of a prince.

01:11:16.320,01:11:20.840
Saramago told everybody that
he didn't want to talk about literature

01:11:21.160,01:11:22.880
that he would prefer
to talk about the world,

01:11:23.000,01:11:26.000
because someone should
talk about the world.

01:11:27.440,01:11:28.800
José you look great.

01:11:29.520,01:11:32.080
-Relatively...
-Give it a few days, just a few days.

01:11:32.400,01:11:36.800
But I'm getting over it... no strength,
no anything, but I'll pull through.

01:11:37.320,01:11:38.560
But, you're here,

01:11:39.080,01:11:42.760
85 years old, and you're here.

01:11:44.200,01:11:50.680
And in 3 or 4 days I'll get back
to the book I was writing.

01:11:53.360,01:11:54.600
All this...

01:11:57.800,01:12:01.720
which was something
I thought at the beginning,

01:12:01.800,01:12:03.560
could only be done in Lisbon,

01:12:04.480,01:12:06.400
because it is the
“Capital of the Kingdom”...

01:12:08.320,01:12:11.080
Well, it wasn't done,

01:12:14.640,01:12:16.200
and I doubt someone
would do it.

01:12:23.000,01:12:26.000
Nobody from the Portuguese
State or Government

01:12:26.080,01:12:28.480
was to be seen last weekend
in Lanzarote

01:12:28.840,01:12:31.280
where the biggest exhibition

01:12:31.360,01:12:33.880
dedicated to the Portuguese
Nobel of Literature,

01:12:34.080,01:12:36.960
José Saramago was 85 years old.

01:12:37.520,01:12:39.040
Surprise, surprise,

01:12:39.160,01:12:41.880
Saramago looked fragile,
but on his feet, at least.

01:12:42.200,01:12:44.040
The local inhabitants
from the islands

01:12:44.160,01:12:45.680
give it back with words.

01:12:46.400,01:12:48.480
Saramago, look after yourself
because we like you.

01:13:23.240,01:13:24.880
Are you asleep José?

01:13:29.880,01:13:33.440
Here, take off your coat and tie.

01:13:35.600,01:13:39.000
Put on this pajamas top,
you'll feel much more comfortable.

01:13:44.560,01:13:45.840
Are you happy?

01:13:46.760,01:13:48.080
More than happy...

01:13:49.160,01:13:50.840
Give me your hand.

01:13:55.280,01:13:56.520
Here you go.

01:13:57.440,01:13:59.200
The "Consistency of Dreams"...

01:13:59.280,01:14:00.520
is going to kill us.

01:14:10.880,01:14:12.280
Attention everyone!

01:14:13.080,01:14:16.040
The library of the José
Saramago Foundation!

01:14:16.280,01:14:18.400
Enter and have a look,
enter and have a look!

01:14:19.920,01:14:22.840
MINISTER OF CULTURE OF SPAIN

01:14:22.840,01:14:24.160
Is José sleeping?

01:14:24.920,01:14:29.640
Spain's problems will be over the day
we unite the Iberian peninsula...

01:14:30.120,01:14:36.120
We'll put the capital in Lisbon,
the Portuguese will think it an honor,

01:14:36.600,01:14:38.600
they'll be as proud as can be...

01:14:38.600,01:14:40.440
And for God's sake!
Forget about the problem

01:14:40.520,01:14:43.000
with Catalonia and the Basque problem!
Enough!

01:14:43.480,01:14:47.320
And Madrid. Madrid will be
for enjoying life, for art.

01:14:47.640,01:14:49.480
The ministries, to Lisbon.

01:14:50.520,01:14:52.200
Would you mind a small provocation?

01:14:52.360,01:14:56.320
You're not going to unite
Austria and Germany as well, are you?

01:14:56.400,01:14:58.560
-No, no, no!!!
-It's an old dream.

01:14:58.880,01:15:01.720
No, no because Austria and
Germany would all become Nazis.

01:15:02.160,01:15:03.920
How long?

01:15:03.920,01:15:05.760
To know what my answers should be
like... brief?

01:15:06.040,01:15:07.320
Yes, brief.

01:15:07.320,01:15:08.640
Twenty seconds.

01:15:08.920,01:15:12.560
Is José presently writing
“The Elephant's Journey”?

01:15:12.640,01:15:14.960
What does Pilar know about this novel?

01:15:15.200,01:15:17.400
Well, I'm sorry to inform you that,
despite knowing

01:15:17.400,01:15:19.920
everything about it,
I'm not going to say anything.

01:15:20.360,01:15:25.040
-José continues actively...
-Yes. He continues writing,

01:15:25.400,01:15:28.440
but not when he goes on trips.

01:15:28.600,01:15:34.800
He is on page fifty something and soon,
when this whole thing is over,

01:15:35.360,01:15:39.360
he is anxious to sit back down
in front of his computer

01:15:39.800,01:15:45.280
and write his daily program,
which is 2 pages a day.

01:15:46.080,01:15:51.240
So can we hope to see this
new book being released next year?

01:15:52.760,01:15:57.320
Well... I'd probably say more than hope,
you can be pretty sure of it!

01:16:01.440,01:16:04.680
And now for the latest news

01:16:04.800,01:16:08.960
José Saramago has just been
admitted into a clinic in Lanzarote.

01:16:09.440,01:16:12.760
It has not been possible
to enter in contact

01:16:12.760,01:16:16.000
with Saramago's family.

01:16:16.520,01:16:20.600
This is, of course, something we will be
following over the next few hours.

01:16:31.880,01:16:34.880
1ST WEEK IN THE HOSPITAL

01:16:50.560,01:16:53.160
Camões I don't know what you have here.

01:16:54.440,01:16:57.520
I can't tell if this
is a burr or a tick.

01:17:03.040,01:17:08.080
This one showed up after they had just
told José he had won the Camões Award.

01:17:09.000,01:17:11.920
That's why he's called Camões,

01:17:12.000,01:17:14.640
because he came the exact
same moment the news did.

01:17:15.240,01:17:17.120
And Pepe because

01:17:17.360,01:17:21.600
here in Spain everybody has
this habit of calling José, Pepe.

01:17:22.600,01:17:26.480
So we decided
to call the dog Pepe

01:17:26.600,01:17:29.880
so that each time somebody
called José Pepe...

01:17:30.680,01:17:34.800
José would answer: "That sounds good.
But why are you telling the dog that?"

01:17:37.000,01:17:40.440
Pepe and Greta, his friends,
have already died.

01:17:41.360,01:17:43.560
José was very ill,

01:17:44.040,01:17:45.800
but please, he isn't about to die.

01:17:45.880,01:17:48.600
which is something
that all our colleagues seem to want.

01:17:49.560,01:17:50.760
Of course they do.

01:17:50.760,01:17:52.800
All of them are just waiting to publish
their pages...

01:17:53.080,01:17:54.360
It's incredible...

01:17:54.840,01:17:56.600
Incredible, our profession.

01:17:57.840,01:18:00.400
Come here, come here!

01:18:00.880,01:18:03.560
Come on over and cheer us up a bit,
we need it.

01:18:04.920,01:18:07.440
Oh... the hospital is all decorated
with Christmas decorations,

01:18:07.520,01:18:09.080
you wouldn't believe it...

01:18:13.360,01:18:19.000
2ND WEEK IN THE HOSPITAL

01:18:22.720,01:18:26.720
3RD WEEK IN THE HOSPITAL

01:18:28.280,01:18:31.080
Pilar! Pilar!

01:18:34.320,01:18:35.880
Saramago!

01:18:36.320,01:18:39.280
José! Saramago!
Saramago! Saramago!

01:18:39.400,01:18:40.680
The introduction:

01:18:40.680,01:18:44.480
José arrived in Granada
and saw the Del Rio's "Cave".

01:18:44.640,01:18:47.600
And he did his best
to learn “All the Names”,

01:18:48.240,01:18:49.520
Castril...

01:18:52.520,01:18:53.800
The wedding...

01:18:56.960,01:18:58.280
So pretty...

01:19:02.480,01:19:03.800
Let's go?

01:19:03.800,01:19:06.120
I'm going to the hospital.
Bye...

01:19:06.360,01:19:08.000
Goodbye...

01:19:08.320,01:19:09.840
And the countdown now begins,

01:19:09.960,01:19:11.960
and all you gentlemen
have to eat the 12 grapes.

01:19:12.080,01:19:13.360
Let's go then:

01:19:13.360,01:19:15.560
Now: One!

01:19:16.400,01:19:17.640
Two!

01:19:18.480,01:19:19.760
Eleven!

01:19:20.520,01:19:21.800
Twelve!

01:19:24.960,01:19:26.480
Everyone with their glass...

01:19:26.720,01:19:27.880
To José!

01:19:28.080,01:19:29.360
To José!

01:19:31.760,01:19:33.080
Hold on... hold on...

01:19:33.280,01:19:34.560
A toast to Pilar.

01:19:35.280,01:19:36.520
To Pilar!

01:19:44.200,01:19:45.520
You say “ano feliz”?

01:19:45.800,01:19:47.560
Is that how you say it in Portuguese?

01:19:47.680,01:19:49.160
“Ano” is a bit strange, isn't it?

01:19:49.440,01:19:52.560
-Pilar said that they're waiting...
-Let's go...

01:19:52.560,01:19:54.840
Have you never been
to a demonstration before?

01:20:00.000,01:20:03.520
HAPPY 2008

01:20:03.520,01:20:04.800
1...2...3!

01:20:16.120,01:20:17.840
They're doing the wave thing...

01:20:25.200,01:20:26.840
Say hello to them, José...

01:20:26.960,01:20:28.240
wave your hand...

01:20:33.480,01:20:39.840
Life: effective existence, the movement
of matter in an organized manner,

01:20:40.800,01:20:43.080
agitation, activity, movement.

01:20:44.360,01:20:46.560
Die,
live no more.

01:20:47.760,01:20:49.640
Like,
desire greatly,

01:20:49.960,01:20:51.480
never to be concluded.

01:20:52.040,01:20:54.360
To be extinguished, weakened.

01:20:56.640,01:20:57.920
Death:

01:20:58.120,01:21:00.600
Cessation of vital functions.

01:21:01.720,01:21:05.920
The end of life, to have been
and no longer be.

01:21:07.280,01:21:10.160
It was a river,
with clear water.

01:21:11.360,01:21:13.120
It was a field, all green,

01:21:13.720,01:21:18.320
and in the background,
a line of trees way in the distance.

01:21:18.440,01:21:21.440
And me,
walking in the water,

01:21:23.280,01:21:27.080
completely naked,
heading I don't know where.

01:21:28.240,01:21:30.960
I've been thinking:
should I go and see Solomon!

01:21:31.880,01:21:33.480
Why is this animal so filthy?!

01:21:33.560,01:21:34.840
Where is its keeper?

01:21:34.840,01:21:36.400
I would imagine it has a keeper.

01:21:36.520,01:21:38.840
Manchester, Edinburgh,

01:21:39.160,01:21:41.480
Liverpool and London.

01:21:41.880,01:21:45.640
Is Lanzarote, at this moment of my life,
a recovered Azinhaga?

01:21:46.440,01:21:47.680
Love:

01:21:48.000,01:21:51.760
To have love, affection, devotion,
esteem...

01:21:52.960,01:21:54.720
Pilar, Pilar,

01:21:54.800,01:21:56.160
Pilar, Pilar...

01:21:56.320,01:21:58.200
Pilar, Pilar, Pilar...

01:22:00.480,01:22:02.480
José... José...

01:22:03.640,01:22:04.880
José.

01:22:06.160,01:22:07.400
José.

01:22:09.680,01:22:10.880
It's 12:00.

01:22:11.000,01:22:12.720
The book, Pilar.

01:22:13.880,01:22:16.080
I'm afraid of not being
able to finish it.

01:22:17.080,01:22:18.360
The dreams...

01:22:19.400,01:22:21.200
I have very strange dreams.

01:22:21.920,01:22:26.040
And all of this is also to do with
the place I'm in.

01:22:29.720,01:22:31.440
A constantly lit light.

01:22:33.160,01:22:36.560
O close my eyes in order to sleep,
but the light is still there.

01:22:37.400,01:22:38.720
And the dreams...

01:22:39.080,01:22:40.680
I've never had dreams like this.

01:22:43.040,01:22:44.280
Terrible.

01:22:45.800,01:22:47.440
And it is nothing to do with...

01:22:47.800,01:22:50.040
with death or the fear of death.

01:22:50.840,01:22:52.720
It's to do with situations.

01:22:53.720,01:22:55.920
There's this one dream
in which I scream.

01:22:56.880,01:22:58.240
I think I scream.

01:22:59.560,01:23:00.840
For Pilar...

01:23:02.680,01:23:05.360
And they're desperate screams.

01:23:07.320,01:23:08.640
And she doesn't come.

01:23:30.640,01:23:36.120
5TH WEEK IN THE HOSPITAL

01:23:36.680,01:23:39.560
Oh, the elephant...
the elephant's journey.

01:23:40.680,01:23:42.760
This is the elephant's journey.

01:23:49.280,01:23:50.680
You light these...

01:23:52.560,01:23:53.800
Shit!

01:23:54.360,01:23:55.640
And the heat...

01:24:02.880,01:24:05.520
You see, isn't that nice?

01:24:07.800,01:24:09.040
I want to sit down.

01:24:09.840,01:24:13.400
I can see José is getting better
and if José gets better I'm fine.

01:24:15.240,01:24:17.560
But I couldn't care less
about anything else.

01:24:17.640,01:24:20.000
They can say what they like,
each and every one of them.

01:24:20.080,01:24:23.880
You know what the problem is?
Saramago never hid his age.

01:24:24.720,01:24:27.840
And I was told by the doctors that
this would be a long process.

01:24:28.080,01:24:31.240
At least three months, and
that there would be ups and downs,

01:24:31.320,01:24:35.520
And unhappily
there was a down period.

01:24:35.800,01:24:39.560
Because what Saramago
didn't do was to rest at home.

01:24:40.880,01:24:42.840
He went to the opening
of the exhibition...

01:24:42.920,01:24:44.720
Travelled from Madrid to Lanzarote...

01:24:44.720,01:24:46.240
A press conference...

01:24:46.320,01:24:48.480
Received I don't know
how many people at home...

01:24:48.760,01:24:50.800
Over a few days, of course...

01:24:52.480,01:24:55.000
And he paid the price,
he's paying the price.

01:24:56.960,01:24:59.520
I can tell you,
this will not happen again.

01:25:01.080,01:25:03.560
From now on
no more paying...

01:25:03.800,01:25:06.680
We're not going to do anything...

01:25:08.560,01:25:15.280
But look after his health,
with lots of love and care.

01:25:15.360,01:25:19.480
Because...
if they want to break this rule,

01:25:19.480,01:25:21.200
it'll be over my dead body.

01:25:23.480,01:25:25.400
For the time being, I'm still alive,

01:25:25.520,01:25:28.520
and as long as it lasts, it lasts.
One day it'll be over.

01:25:28.600,01:25:31.160
We already know that.
Now...

01:25:31.160,01:25:32.800
I wouldn't want to be in Pilar's shoes

01:25:32.920,01:25:34.160
after I'm gone.

01:25:35.720,01:25:37.000
But, anyway,

01:25:37.000,01:25:38.680
we'll be close to one other,

01:25:38.760,01:25:43.160
because my ashes are going
to be placed under a stone in the garden

01:25:43.800,01:25:47.480
so, you might say,
we'll still be together in a way...

01:25:51.720,01:25:53.880
I climbed Blanca Mountain yesterday.

01:25:54.840,01:25:58.800
I remember thinking while I was going up
that if I fell and died,

01:26:00.000,01:26:01.600
I wouldn't write anymore books.

01:26:01.880,01:26:03.560
I didn't pay much heed to the warning.

01:26:03.640,01:26:05.280
The only really important thing

01:26:05.400,01:26:08.440
I had to do at the moment
was get to the top.

01:26:13.080,01:26:14.560
Pilar.

01:26:16.040,01:26:17.360
Pilar!

01:26:18.840,01:26:25.400
It's the voice of someone who feels
like they're losing their grip on life.

01:26:26.080,01:26:27.360
And who makes

01:26:27.440,01:26:29.000
one last attempt

01:26:30.000,01:26:34.280
to be heard and remain on this side,
this side.

01:26:36.120,01:26:40.280
Where we, the living, still are.

01:26:49.600,01:26:54.480
3RD ACT
THE COME BACK

01:27:04.280,01:27:08.240
DAY OF THE RETURN TO HOME

01:27:10.080,01:27:12.240
The man walks through the mist.

01:27:12.600,01:27:13.840
Once more Solomon!

01:27:13.840,01:27:15.640
Please, just one more time.

01:27:15.720,01:27:17.680
And Solomon answered his plea.

01:27:17.840,01:27:20.320
It was as if the elephant had thought

01:27:20.640,01:27:23.720
“that poor devil is going to
die, I'll resuscitate him.”

01:27:24.200,01:27:27.320
And now the poor devil
is fading away in gratitude

01:27:27.440,01:27:29.960
and pledges of thanks,
for the rest of his life.

01:27:30.440,01:27:34.240
I was lost in the fog
and it was his voice that saved me.

01:27:36.040,01:27:40.000
And then the sun, like an
immense broom of light,

01:27:40.200,01:27:43.640
pushed through the fog
and swept it all away.

01:27:43.800,01:27:45.840
It went "pop" and vanished.

01:27:47.200,01:27:49.640
Some onomatopoeic words are very handy.

01:27:49.720,01:27:52.360
Imagine if I had to describe
the entire process

01:27:52.480,01:27:54.440
leading to the guy's disappearance

01:27:54.560,01:27:57.280
I'd need at least ten pages.

01:27:58.000,01:27:59.240
Pop!

01:28:00.360,01:28:03.280
The life and work of José Saramago
has arrived in Lisbon.

01:28:03.360,01:28:05.920
At the opening for the press
the Nobel laureate promised

01:28:06.000,01:28:08.120
a new book by the end of the year.

01:28:08.600,01:28:12.120
I am in Portugal, and Pilar
and I are very happy to be here.

01:28:12.400,01:28:15.080
That this may be only the beginning,
of common work,

01:28:15.680,01:28:20.160
and besides that, I recently
made a very important discovery,

01:28:20.520,01:28:23.520
I came to the conclusion
that the most beautiful

01:28:23.640,01:28:25.280
language in the world
is portuguese.

01:28:26.120,01:28:28.200
I am home once again.

01:28:29.240,01:28:33.040
The first step in a reconciliation
with Portugal has been taken.

01:28:33.160,01:28:36.520
The exhibition can be seen
until July 27th.

01:28:40.080,01:28:42.920
PRIME MINISTER OF PORTUGAL

01:28:42.920,01:28:44.640
I am the one that is honored.

01:28:44.880,01:28:47.680
I would like José Saramago to know
what the Portuguese State thinks.

01:28:47.760,01:28:51.520
I want him to know that we like him,
and that we are very proud

01:28:51.600,01:28:54.520
of everything he has done
for the Portuguese language and say,

01:28:54.680,01:28:57.160
that in the name of the Portuguese
government,

01:28:57.160,01:28:58.960
with men like these

01:28:58.960,01:29:02.320
that you make the history of a
country and it is with men like these,

01:29:02.400,01:29:06.120
men of noble spirit supplanting
and surpassing themselves,

01:29:06.400,01:29:09.440
that it is possible to build a better
country. Thank you very much.

01:29:17.280,01:29:18.520
Recovered...

01:29:21.520,01:29:23.320
The whole Saramago clan united!

01:29:24.560,01:29:26.680
The presentation
was at five in the afternoon?

01:29:26.680,01:29:27.880
The presentation of what?

01:29:28.040,01:29:29.800
The opening ceremony
of the Cannes Festival.

01:29:29.880,01:29:32.680
And then everyone took a break,
and all those people walking by,

01:29:32.800,01:29:34.280
looking marvelous,
beautiful and glamorous...

01:29:34.360,01:29:36.960
But they don't say anything about that
because what's important

01:29:37.040,01:29:39.800
is a guy reading something
about some stadium.

01:29:39.920,01:29:42.000
Please, somebody tell me
what's going on for this to be

01:29:42.080,01:29:46.920
going out live on every channel
on Portuguese television, 1, 3...

01:29:47.160,01:29:49.160
All the channels are showing this guy,
but, who is this guy?!

01:29:51.360,01:29:53.440
Henrique Cymerman in Israel.

01:29:56.240,01:29:58.240
Blindness by Fernando Meirelles

01:29:58.320,01:29:59.800
has been adapted for the cinema from

01:29:59.880,01:30:02.000
“Essay on Blindness"
by José Saramago.

01:30:02.120,01:30:04.920
The film opens the
Cannes Film Festival today.

01:30:05.600,01:30:07.880
Blindness, a movie based
on a Portuguese book,

01:30:07.960,01:30:09.360
filmed by a Brazilian

01:30:09.440,01:30:11.320
and spoken in English.

01:30:11.320,01:30:13.920
This will be Cannes's 61st edition.

01:30:15.480,01:30:17.240
There are ideas
for just about anything,

01:30:17.320,01:30:19.480
and the first solar bra
has just been invented.

01:30:19.720,01:30:23.880
"BLINDNESS"
PRIVATE SCREENING

01:30:45.880,01:30:47.160
Fernando...

01:30:48.040,01:30:49.280
No need...

01:30:49.560,01:30:52.640
I am so happy
for having seen this film...

01:30:59.600,01:31:02.080
as the same as I've written.

01:31:02.640,01:31:03.880
Really?

01:31:04.120,01:31:06.400
You don't know how happy
that makes me too.

01:31:19.520,01:31:24.760
-It's made our day.
-Thank you, thank you so much.

01:31:25.760,01:31:29.080
Imagine when I was so ill,
so ill, that I could have...

01:31:30.680,01:31:34.800
that I wouldn't have been here today,

01:31:36.640,01:31:41.080
imagine what I would have missed
without ever knowing!

01:31:42.520,01:31:43.840
Just imagine.

01:31:43.840,01:31:47.720
-We'll take the A1 North, right?
-Not now. We're going to Azinhaga.

01:31:48.000,01:31:50.200
-Azinhaga?
-But do you know where?

01:31:50.200,01:31:53.000
-More or less.
-Did anyone explain to you?

01:31:53.000,01:31:56.040
-No, nobody told me anything.
-I don't believe it, I don't believe it.

01:31:56.040,01:31:57.240
Where's José?

01:31:57.240,01:31:59.840
I'm here honey, right here,
waiting for you.

01:32:00.760,01:32:02.840
Ah... At your party you are alone...

01:32:03.000,01:32:04.520
It's too hot.

01:32:06.440,01:32:08.560
Fucking menopause...
I can't breathe.

01:32:11.480,01:32:15.160
It did not take us long
to perceive the love and affection

01:32:15.280,01:32:17.880
he felt for Azinhaga,

01:32:17.880,01:32:21.440
always in support of strengthening
José Saramago's bonds with his roots.

01:32:21.920,01:32:26.720
I would like to thank you all from
the bottom of my heart for this honor.

01:32:27.760,01:32:30.960
It is the first, and probably, the last.

01:32:31.760,01:32:32.920
And OK, fine.

01:32:34.360,01:32:36.200
José Saramago Street,
which already existed...

01:32:36.280,01:32:38.880
I'm not sure if the street sign is still
the same,

01:32:38.880,01:32:41.760
because the last time we saw it was
20 years ago, and on it is written:

01:32:41.840,01:32:43.560
José Saramago, writer.

01:32:43.840,01:32:47.520
Now, at a certain point it
intersects Pilar del Rio Street...

01:32:48.400,01:32:50.240
And I hope they haven't put “wife”.

01:32:57.800,01:32:59.560
TO PILAR,
WHO WASN'T BORN

01:32:59.760,01:33:01.080
AND TOOK IT
SO LONG TO ARRIVE

01:33:07.520,01:33:10.200
And we will all soon be able

01:33:10.200,01:33:13.240
to visit the José Saramago
Foundation in Azinhaga.

01:33:13.640,01:33:14.880
Thank you.

01:33:15.600,01:33:17.040
It is all just great...

01:33:17.240,01:33:18.520
very nice.

01:33:19.160,01:33:22.360
-Could I ask you for an autograph?
-It embarrasses me, I get embarrassed.

01:33:22.560,01:33:23.840
Have a kiss instead.

01:33:24.960,01:33:26.240
Fantastic, thank you.

01:33:26.360,01:33:28.000
A kiss, kiss, kiss...

01:33:30.160,01:33:31.440
A kiss.

01:33:31.440,01:33:34.200
-Congratulations.
-No. Congratulations for you today.

01:33:34.440,01:33:37.800
-Yes, yes. Today is...
-Today is your day.

01:33:38.040,01:33:39.760
You stole the writer's day today...

01:33:40.080,01:33:41.920
When I was researching for the book...

01:33:42.000,01:33:43.440
I saw that the Brazilians...

01:33:43.520,01:33:46.760
There were a lot of
researchers interested in his work.

01:33:47.040,01:33:50.440
Portuguese people think
that Brazilian universities are shit.

01:33:51.760,01:33:52.960
You can write that down, say it.

01:33:52.960,01:33:54.880
And they don't want to sign
the Orthographic Agreement.

01:33:54.880,01:33:57.640
Well, we can begin,
as far as I'm concerned...

01:33:57.800,01:33:59.800
-So, let's start with the Foundation.
-OK.

01:34:01.120,01:34:04.040
Pilar as ”presidente”
of a foundation...

01:34:05.360,01:34:06.600
“Presidenta”.

01:34:09.240,01:34:12.720
“Only the ignorant call me “presidente”.

01:34:14.240,01:34:17.800
The word didn't exist because
the position didn't exist.

01:34:17.880,01:34:19.760
-Yes.
-Once the position exists,

01:34:19.840,01:34:22.640
the word that denominates
the position comes into existence.

01:34:22.720,01:34:24.760
I am the “presidenta”.

01:34:25.200,01:34:27.560
And whoever calls me “president”
(in the masculine), is stupid.

01:34:28.880,01:34:31.240
Do you think that,
women are just like men in politics,

01:34:31.320,01:34:33.600
are they better or worse than them?

01:34:33.760,01:34:36.320
Women can never be like men, never.

01:34:36.320,01:34:37.560
Because we're not men!

01:34:38.040,01:34:40.440
But don't you think
women work better than men...?

01:34:40.520,01:34:44.480
Not better, but we work more,
work better and we are multitask.

01:34:44.680,01:34:49.240
Zapatero has legalized gay marriages...

01:34:49.560,01:34:52.040
He fights for all the gay causes.

01:34:52.120,01:34:56.080
Why is that? To get some more votes
or because he really believes in it?

01:34:57.720,01:35:04.680
Let's see, all the gay causes
and all that concerns human rights.

01:35:05.040,01:35:09.240
So Zapatero has come to correct
a democratic deficit.

01:35:10.640,01:35:14.960
And the legalization of gay marriage
was a democratic deficit.

01:35:15.120,01:35:17.920
Nowadays, concerning the huge number
of gay people in Spain,

01:35:18.000,01:35:22.200
It must be complicated
for matrimonial life...

01:35:22.640,01:35:23.880
for marriages...

01:35:23.880,01:35:30.280
Much more complicated for matrimonial
life is men with big bellies,

01:35:31.800,01:35:33.040
more than gays.

01:35:33.120,01:35:34.440
Than to be alone without a man?

01:35:34.520,01:35:35.920
What do you mean?

01:35:36.160,01:35:39.240
There are a lot of gay men in Spain.

01:35:39.360,01:35:45.440
No, there are a lot of men and women
with a different sexual option,

01:35:45.720,01:35:51.280
but that will not affect us men or women
who have a different sexual option...

01:35:51.480,01:35:53.720
There isn't any problem, I insist!

01:35:54.040,01:35:59.360
To be stupid, to be rude or mean,
is a handicap for human relationship...

01:35:59.640,01:36:01.360
To be gay?
For God's Sake!

01:36:01.680,01:36:04.080
Pilar is a very controversial name in
Portugal!

01:36:04.160,01:36:08.040
No, the name Pilar does not exist in
Portugal.

01:36:08.320,01:36:10.960
But, please, for God's sake,
flatter me some more,

01:36:11.080,01:36:13.760
tell me it is, lie to me,
tell me I'm controversial.

01:36:13.840,01:36:15.760
No, it does not exist,
I am not controversial

01:36:15.840,01:36:20.280
because I don't have any public
repercussion.

01:36:20.440,01:36:21.800
And why am I controversial?

01:36:22.080,01:36:29.040
Because, it' like this, today,
most Portuguese see Pilar as

01:36:29.160,01:36:32.600
the woman who was responsible
for taking José Saramago to Spain.

01:36:32.680,01:36:35.480
No, that was done by the
government of Cavaco Silva. Next.

01:36:36.280,01:36:40.480
Pilar changed Saramago's life,
you control his agenda...

01:36:40.800,01:36:42.080
organizes his life.

01:36:42.320,01:36:47.720
If it weren't for Pilar, it would be
somebody else he'd have to hire.

01:36:47.880,01:36:49.760
The idea I have of Pilar,

01:36:49.760,01:36:52.200
is that in large crowds
she doesn't like to talk...

01:36:52.320,01:36:55.200
No, no, not at all.

01:36:55.480,01:36:58.360
I love to talk in front of large crowds,
for God's sake, of course.

01:36:58.560,01:36:59.920
I just don't have the opportunity.

01:37:00.480,01:37:02.440
You don't have the opportunity? Why?

01:37:03.360,01:37:09.680
I am a journalist who has been
pulling out of public life for some time.

01:37:11.520,01:37:15.880
And, because I am not a politician
nor a leader of the masses,

01:37:15.880,01:37:17.680
that is, because I don't have...

01:37:17.760,01:37:19.880
But I like it. Of course I like it!

01:37:20.000,01:37:21.320
No problem with that.

01:37:21.640,01:37:22.880
One last question:

01:37:22.880,01:37:25.440
Is it hard being the “presidenta”
of a foundation like this?

01:37:28.040,01:37:29.600
Hard is being a miner.

01:37:31.160,01:37:36.160
Pilar is not complacent,
and she can't stand unscrupulousness,

01:37:36.240,01:37:38.600
hypocrisy, they drive her mad.

01:37:38.920,01:37:41.520
There's a connection there
with Saint Therese,

01:37:41.920,01:37:44.200
she was a devout Theresian.

01:37:44.400,01:37:45.680
You've got to have certain postures.

01:37:45.960,01:37:47.600
And there's a phrase that can be
translated as

01:38:07.120,01:38:12.320
PRESIDENTA,
BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN.

01:38:12.320,01:38:16.320
Tonight don't miss our special
report on José Saramago...

01:38:16.480,01:38:18.560
Saramago has the world in his hands.

01:38:19.440,01:38:21.200
I've been recuperating and...

01:38:21.320,01:38:24.560
My God, José, just look at you...

01:38:24.560,01:38:25.800
My God!

01:38:27.520,01:38:29.880
I can't believe it!

01:38:31.120,01:38:32.400
Horrible!

01:38:33.880,01:38:36.200
And that wasn't
the worst part, Pilar.

01:38:36.320,01:38:38.080
Horrible, look at me!

01:38:40.200,01:38:42.920
But, why do I look so ugly!
Good grief!

01:38:42.920,01:38:45.760
Between you sick and me
looking so ugly, horrible!!

01:38:46.080,01:38:47.840
Inseparable now for over 20 years

01:38:48.040,01:38:50.600
now rest forever
at toponymic of Azinhaga...

01:38:50.840,01:38:54.400
For all the lovers in the world
to come and meet

01:38:54.400,01:38:58.480
and kiss on the intersection of
Pilar del Rio and José Saramago Street.

01:38:58.960,01:39:00.280
June 14th.

01:39:00.640,01:39:02.760
Today is the anniversary
of the day I met Pilar,

01:39:02.960,01:39:05.080
and I go home with great happiness.

01:39:06.400,01:39:09.760
No episode to put down,
no story for posterity...

01:39:09.840,01:39:11.680
That's how things are, I mean...

01:39:11.760,01:39:13.080
“Happy” is the last word I wrote.

01:39:13.360,01:39:15.960
As the journey's end is uneventful,

01:39:16.120,01:39:19.160
I don't feel it is necessary,
plus it's something I would never do,

01:39:19.160,01:39:20.760
making up silly stories

01:39:20.760,01:39:22.760
just to give more content.

01:39:23.960,01:39:25.960
The great journey, deep down,

01:39:26.080,01:39:28.240
was that which began in Lisbon

01:39:28.560,01:39:31.440
and ended on the border
of Italy with Austria.

01:39:32.360,01:39:33.680
No, there's not that much, I mean,

01:39:33.680,01:39:36.440
the fact is that we have this
habit of romanticizing everything,

01:39:37.000,01:39:40.800
and we immediately start...
dreaming up philosophical theories...

01:39:41.880,01:39:43.440
The elephant shits, obviously.

01:39:45.400,01:39:47.640
The elephant pisses, pisses, eats...

01:39:48.320,01:39:52.920
doesn't speak, doesn't think
and I'm not about to make him

01:39:53.000,01:39:54.880
think like humans, obviously.

01:39:55.680,01:39:58.800
The king observed the spectacle
irritated and revolted,

01:39:59.120,01:40:02.280
having regretted giving in
to his early-morning impulse

01:40:02.440,01:40:06.080
to make a sentimental visit
to a brutish pachyderm,

01:40:06.240,01:40:08.200
measuring almost,4 rods high...

01:40:08.320,01:40:10.840
More than 4...no, not rods.

01:40:11.000,01:40:12.240
I don't think it's rods.

01:40:12.320,01:40:15.080
A first translation is just that.

01:40:15.680,01:40:20.080
There'll be a first, then a second,
a third, a fourth and, a fifth.

01:40:21.040,01:40:23.320
I'll change the dedication in this book.

01:40:25.040,01:40:28.280
"To Pilar, who wouldn't let me die!"

01:40:30.600,01:40:32.040
And it's true, it's true...

01:40:34.040,01:40:36.400
For Pilar until the very last moment.

01:40:38.760,01:40:40.200
"Death With Interruptions"

01:40:41.120,01:40:43.160
For Pilar, my home;

01:40:45.480,01:40:47.400
"Essay on Lucidity"

01:40:48.520,01:40:50.440
For Pilar, all days;

01:40:51.760,01:40:53.120
"Notes from Lanzarote"

01:40:54.040,01:40:55.280
For Pilar;

01:40:56.640,01:40:57.840
"Don Giovanni"

01:40:57.920,01:40:59.840
For Pilar, my pillar;

01:41:01.520,01:41:03.000
"Blindness"

01:41:03.480,01:41:04.760
For Pilar;

01:41:05.600,01:41:07.920
"The Gospel According to Jesus Christ"

01:41:08.160,01:41:09.440
For Pilar;

01:41:10.520,01:41:11.840
"Short Memoirs"

01:41:12.360,01:41:17.120
Pilar hadn't been born yet,
and it took her so long to come.

01:41:21.360,01:41:24.720
I'm sorry, I don't want to climb up
a mountain if there are elevators.

01:41:25.200,01:41:26.960
Pilar was desperate.

01:41:27.400,01:41:29.200
I didn't tell her where I was going.

01:41:29.280,01:41:32.720
I wasn't thinking about climbing
Blanca Mountain when I left home.

01:41:34.080,01:41:36.200
I just turned up and said:

01:41:36.280,01:41:39.200
“What if I walked up a bit?”
and that's what I did...

01:41:42.240,01:41:44.440
And then afterwards I thought:
“what if I climbed up a bit more?”,

01:41:45.000,01:41:46.480
I climbed up
a little bit more.

01:41:47.400,01:41:50.440
“And what if I went to the top?”,
and I carried on...

01:41:53.760,01:41:55.480
I was 70 years old!

01:41:56.000,01:41:59.680
-Did I say nothing when you got back?
-No, you did.

01:42:03.280,01:42:05.560
I didn't say anything
for a couple of days.

01:42:09.000,01:42:11.200
I was on the verge of packing
my things and leaving.

01:42:12.600,01:42:13.880
She was angry.

01:42:19.080,01:42:24.560
But, anyway, it's something
I can tell our visitors, isn't it?

01:42:25.000,01:42:28.280
As if I had climbed...

01:42:30.960,01:42:34.680
...Everest. My own Everest...
that's what it is.

01:42:37.040,01:42:38.360
But anyway...

01:42:39.640,01:42:43.080
The next time you feel like
you need an adventure,

01:42:43.600,01:42:47.800
I suggest you take up embroidery,
and embroider a tablecloth.

01:42:48.560,01:42:53.600
It's a lot more productive, meticulous
work and requires a lot of effort,

01:42:53.680,01:42:56.920
a lot of concentration and talent,
and it endures.

01:42:57.800,01:42:59.640
You have up to page 100?

01:43:00.760,01:43:03.760
I can give you today,
or tomorrow, 10 more.

01:43:04.560,01:43:09.640
Because like I told you,
I'll be finishing it this next week.

01:43:09.880,01:43:12.480
MONDAY

01:43:12.480,01:43:13.680
Pilar!

01:43:13.680,01:43:16.040
José, if you want we can go
to the library.

01:43:16.040,01:43:17.520
Give me the paper, darling.

01:43:23.040,01:43:24.760
And then the young girl,

01:43:24.880,01:43:28.680
gets free from her mother
and runs to the elephant.

01:43:29.160,01:43:32.160
And what the elephant does,
and this is historical,

01:43:32.280,01:43:37.960
is grab the girl with its trunk
and returns her to her mother.

01:43:38.280,01:43:45.840
The overseer couldn't do anything
apart from cross himself...

01:43:46.440,01:43:49.520
Hardly able to believe what
he had just seen with his own eyes.

01:43:49.600,01:43:54.560
The next stage begins
when he heads north

01:43:54.720,01:43:55.880
or you could say to hell.

01:43:57.000,01:43:59.040
The guy who organized this trip?

01:43:59.400,01:44:02.440
And now we need
a very strong Spanish swearword.

01:44:02.680,01:44:04.800
Something like: he could eat shit...

01:44:04.960,01:44:06.240
No...

01:44:06.240,01:44:07.800
He could stick it up his ass...

01:44:09.240,01:44:10.760
-Can you put that?
-No?

01:44:11.000,01:44:13.720
So, when he finishes,
for me to finish the same day,

01:44:13.720,01:44:16.760
I throw myself into it, so that,

01:44:17.040,01:44:19.440
if he finishes the book at 4:00
in the afternoon,

01:44:19.720,01:44:23.120
I finish at 8:00,
and they can both have the same date.

01:44:25.480,01:44:30.600
And so the book is reaching the end,
but at least, concerning the narration,

01:44:31.120,01:44:33.320
this is not going to be
sustained until the end.

01:44:33.840,01:44:38.160
José? On the official page
of the Lisbon City Hall...

01:44:38.400,01:44:39.640
They finally put...

01:44:39.720,01:44:42.880
It's the first institution to say:
Pilar Del Río -"Presidenta"

01:44:45.320,01:44:47.720
The war isn't over,

01:44:47.960,01:44:49.720
And that's why we're here.

01:44:49.800,01:44:55.320
To demand that they give life back,
for hundreds and thousands of deaths,

01:44:55.520,01:44:57.440
that Bush, Blair and Aznar,

01:44:57.840,01:45:01.440
at least ask for the victims for
forgiveness, all victims.

01:45:01.880,01:45:04.040
And we won't budge on this!

01:45:04.400,01:45:06.840
They won't change our position,
and we won't move.

01:45:06.920,01:45:08.160
No to war!

01:45:08.320,01:45:09.640
No to war!

01:45:10.200,01:45:14.720
MANIFESTATION AGAINST
THE WAR IN IRAQ

01:45:15.320,01:45:16.520
José?

01:45:16.520,01:45:18.160
José, wake up it's already 10:00!

01:45:18.240,01:45:21.080
-We have to go to Medina's house.
-10:00?

01:45:21.080,01:45:23.120
-Yes.
-Do you think Obama will win?

01:45:23.200,01:45:25.440
-I think so.
-But what's your opinion?

01:45:25.440,01:45:27.600
-That Obama...
-My opinion doesn't count.

01:45:27.680,01:45:30.320
Obama, who I have defended
since the very first day,

01:45:30.400,01:45:34.120
The very first hour
against my wife here who was all for...

01:45:34.200,01:45:38.680
-Hillary Clinton, I was also for Obama.
-Hillary Clinton... a woman...

01:45:40.560,01:45:44.480
-Who I think is fantastic.
-She's not fantastic at all, Pilar.

01:45:44.480,01:45:46.520
Just ambitious, ambitious...

01:45:46.880,01:45:48.160
As you should be.

01:45:48.360,01:45:50.040
As she should be, no, Pilar...

01:45:50.120,01:45:51.600
She doesn't have to be ambitious.

01:45:51.680,01:45:54.800
She's climbing a mountain,
representing us...

01:45:54.960,01:45:57.880
-And demanding a position.
-Who does she represent?

01:45:58.200,01:46:02.920
First of all, she isn't representing you
because she doesn't even know you exist.

01:46:03.080,01:46:07.480
-No. Not her, nor Obama...
-Hang on, Pilar...

01:46:07.640,01:46:10.040
Not even the congressman in my village.

01:46:10.320,01:46:15.120
This type of power in a woman
you don't know anything about...

01:46:15.280,01:46:18.320
-No, I know enough, enough.
-You don't know anything...

01:46:18.560,01:46:21.760
I know enough about this woman,
enough about her life...

01:46:21.840,01:46:23.720
-You don't know anything.
-I know enough about politics...

01:46:23.800,01:46:26.680
You don't know anything.
Pilar, please.

01:46:26.760,01:46:28.040
Let's see:

01:46:28.040,01:46:29.920
a) she is worth much more than her
husband,

01:46:30.000,01:46:32.840
b) at one moment she had to say fuck it

01:46:33.200,01:46:35.320
and step out of the way
for her husband to pass,

01:46:35.400,01:46:39.680
when it was she who had
the political will and ability.

01:46:40.400,01:46:42.840
She was always the one with her hands
on the reins.

01:46:43.000,01:46:45.240
-You're just making things up now...
-No, no way, I know...

01:46:45.320,01:46:47.440
-A sense of responsibility!
-Who?

01:46:47.680,01:46:51.040
Because at that moment she supported...

01:46:51.120,01:46:53.880
Her husband didn't, when he had
the trainee under the desk...

01:46:54.720,01:46:58.560
She was the one who had a sense
of responsibility.

01:46:58.840,01:47:02.640
In the White House, the office,
his work place?

01:47:02.880,01:47:06.400
No, Pilar, the indignity
of that man who did what he did,

01:47:06.480,01:47:07.760
his indignity.

01:47:07.880,01:47:11.280
And that other woman,
the famous Hillary Clinton,

01:47:11.400,01:47:16.800
who represents you! And it seems a shame
that a woman like that represents you...

01:47:17.040,01:47:18.240
I want to be her friend!

01:47:18.240,01:47:20.760
And there's another type of indignity
which is no less than the other,

01:47:21.120,01:47:26.880
which involved sacrificing
everything for the possibility

01:47:26.960,01:47:28.760
of becoming the President
of the United States.

01:47:29.040,01:47:32.040
No, sacrificing everything
for her husband.

01:47:32.040,01:47:33.320
No, no Pilar?

01:47:34.080,01:47:36.600
Women, imagine how they have
been marginalized,

01:47:36.680,01:47:37.960
and that's the last thing I'll say

01:47:38.040,01:47:41.400
because there is something I can never
forgive Hillary Clinton for:

01:47:41.480,01:47:44.120
And I would like to meet her,
and if life is fair,

01:47:44.200,01:47:46.280
we'll meet one day.

01:47:47.160,01:47:48.400
I want to tell her...

01:47:48.600,01:47:50.880
And that is: going on her husband's
campaign trail 8 years ago!

01:47:50.960,01:47:55.200
When she gets to that point,
it's not so easy getting anywhere.

01:47:55.320,01:47:56.760
You're so radically feminist...

01:47:56.840,01:47:59.480
I am so radically feminist
because I have

01:47:59.480,01:48:01.760
to compensate for the lack
of feminism in some of the others...

01:48:04.240,01:48:07.360
It's just that I've been thinking
about this subject now for 58 years.

01:48:07.360,01:48:09.960
Pilar can I say something?

01:48:10.400,01:48:14.880
You two are the only ones today who
could have got me out of the house,

01:48:15.200,01:48:17.000
where I was finishing my book...

01:48:17.000,01:48:19.040
-No José, don't tell them!
-No.

01:48:19.280,01:48:21.400
-Don't tell them, they don't care.
-Oh, please!

01:48:21.640,01:48:24.080
-Don't tell them.
-Where I was finishing my book...

01:48:25.080,01:48:28.520
I was finishing my book
and I'm going back home...

01:48:28.880,01:48:30.120
To finish the book.

01:48:30.120,01:48:31.960
-When are you going to finish it?
-Today.

01:48:32.480,01:48:33.760
Today!

01:48:39.360,01:48:42.000
-Wait, José.
-I'm waiting, dear.

01:48:54.320,01:48:59.880
Dom João III murmured,
Cousin Maximillian says that Salomon...

01:49:01.680,01:49:03.600
The queen didn't let him finish.

01:49:03.720,01:49:08.280
And ran off to shut herself in her room,
where she cried for the rest of the day.

01:49:10.480,01:49:15.280
Dear friends,

01:49:16.200,01:49:18.120
Dear friends,

01:49:19.360,01:49:23.680
José Saramago has finished his new book
“The Elephant's Journey".

01:49:24.160,01:49:27.840
Saramago began this task when
he was incubating a serious illness,

01:49:27.920,01:49:30.480
which later led to those closest
to him to fear for his life.

01:49:30.920,01:49:32.920
He himself, in the hospital,

01:49:33.040,01:49:35.480
was afraid he wouldn't
finish his book.

01:49:36.000,01:49:38.560
However, seven months later,

01:49:38.560,01:49:41.080
he finished it.

01:49:41.760,01:49:45.560
The elephant was not so lucky,
but we can talk about this later.

01:49:45.640,01:49:48.720
A big hug to you all
and may happiness be with you.

01:49:53.120,01:49:54.360
Pilar.

01:50:06.600,01:50:11.000
3 DAYS OFF

01:50:13.920,01:50:16.720
No, don't put it in blue,
Pilar. Don't do that.

01:50:17.680,01:50:20.840
-Don't get mad...
-I'm not mad, dear.

01:50:21.120,01:50:24.720
But you know I don't like this
in color.

01:50:26.120,01:50:28.080
See you later then,
José, at the office.

01:50:28.280,01:50:29.520
See you later, Luís.

01:50:30.680,01:50:32.800
José Saramago,
in your blog you wrote,

01:50:32.880,01:50:36.520
that interviews have become,
a sort of reheated soup.

01:50:37.240,01:50:39.160
So what motivated you
to be here today?

01:50:39.280,01:50:43.560
When I say reheated soup,
it is partly your fault.

01:50:45.320,01:50:47.920
Because as you always
ask the same questions,

01:50:48.920,01:50:51.280
I have to give
the same answers.

01:50:52.480,01:50:53.680
Next question?

01:50:53.680,01:50:55.640
What is a sustainable mode of life?

01:50:57.080,01:51:00.720
Sustainable. That which can be
sustained...

01:51:00.960,01:51:03.240
It sometimes seems that Portugal

01:51:03.320,01:51:05.480
appears to be getting more
and more like your books.

01:51:05.640,01:51:08.920
How do you see Portugal's
present political and social scenario?

01:51:09.000,01:51:11.920
Has the proximity of death
changed anything in you,

01:51:12.040,01:51:14.520
seeing as it has not changed
anything in your story?

01:51:15.640,01:51:16.840
Serenity.

01:51:17.960,01:51:19.880
And without forgetting
the important fact

01:51:19.960,01:51:21.760
that I didn't have to
read Paulo Coelho.

01:51:28.880,01:51:32.960
After suffering from a serious illness,
have you changed your concept of God?

01:51:33.040,01:51:35.800
And why would I have changed
my concept of God?

01:51:35.880,01:51:37.520
Because he supposedly
saved my life?

01:51:38.520,01:51:41.080
An author who is known for not
using punctuation in his sentences

01:51:41.160,01:51:42.600
he is José Saramago

01:51:42.680,01:51:44.320
he is here in São Paulo
to release his new book

01:51:44.400,01:51:46.400
and I am going to try and talk to him
because whatever it takes

01:51:46.480,01:51:48.800
I need to talk to him,
and I need to breath

01:51:48.880,01:51:50.520
and I need to get his autograph.

01:51:51.080,01:51:53.640
Look, Maria Pilar, Saramago's wife.

01:51:53.720,01:51:55.200
You won't get me...

01:51:55.320,01:51:57.920
-C.Q.C. won't get me.
-We won't get you?

01:51:57.920,01:51:59.760
It's just a little battle of wits,
right?

01:51:59.760,01:52:01.880
Are you saying that both of us
are intelligent?

01:52:02.160,01:52:05.200
He writes a lot about women
in his books, doesn't he?

01:52:05.280,01:52:07.000
Women are always strong...

01:52:07.080,01:52:09.440
I want to know if you beat him up...

01:52:10.760,01:52:12.680
Not beating, per se.

01:52:12.680,01:52:15.600
Were you with him after he had seen
Fernando Meirelles' film?

01:52:15.600,01:52:18.080
I heard he cried a lot
on that day, no?

01:52:18.280,01:52:19.800
Was the movie all that bad?

01:52:20.280,01:52:22.720
-Aren't you going to take a photo?
-He's taking it. I just wanted to ask.

01:52:22.800,01:52:24.240
Will you let me ask it?

01:52:24.920,01:52:26.840
If you allow me, Mr. José...

01:52:27.600,01:52:29.040
Hurry up!

01:52:29.840,01:52:31.760
I just wanted you
to write "for Janaína" please,

01:52:31.840,01:52:33.720
because I bought it autographed.
-I can't, I haven't got time!

01:52:34.000,01:52:36.800
I can ask him.
You can only ask.

01:52:38.600,01:52:39.880
Thank you.

01:52:40.840,01:52:42.880
Saramago, my name is Stefano.

01:52:43.120,01:52:44.800
Please, could you draw me a
hippopotamus?

01:52:45.200,01:52:48.080
-Ah, of course.
-On this piece of paper here.

01:52:48.320,01:52:51.040
I don't have time and there are...

01:52:51.840,01:52:53.360
It can be a simple drawing.

01:53:01.000,01:53:02.840
I think I have an idea Pilar...

01:53:03.640,01:53:04.880
About Cain.

01:53:08.400,01:53:09.600
A beer...

01:53:09.600,01:53:10.880
A beer.

01:53:11.520,01:53:12.760
Please, a beer.

01:53:12.760,01:53:14.320
I'm having a panic attack.

01:53:21.320,01:53:24.720
José, repeat what you said as
you were getting off the plane.

01:53:24.880,01:53:27.120
-Say it.
-I think I'm going to?

01:53:28.080,01:53:30.560
To do what...?
Write another book.

01:53:31.280,01:53:33.120
-I believe?
-You've got a story.

01:53:43.600,01:53:45.400
Ángel Campos died!

01:53:46.760,01:53:49.200
-Ángel Campos?
-Yes.

01:53:49.520,01:53:51.560
Oh, poor Ángel Campos!

01:53:51.880,01:53:54.560
I'm beginning to feel
like a survivor already.

01:53:55.720,01:53:57.440
Well, it's time I had a shave.

01:53:58.840,01:54:00.040
it's almost time.

01:54:00.040,01:54:02.000
Have they tidied up the room?

01:54:17.000,01:54:19.000
Say hello to Saro, José.

01:54:19.160,01:54:21.880
-Hi Saro!
-Hi, José, how are you?

01:54:22.000,01:54:24.440
Fine, thank you.
And you, how are you?

01:54:24.880,01:54:29.640
-I'm here, working.
-Very good, that's what we pay you for,

01:54:29.840,01:54:32.680
because if you don't work,
we wouldn't need you.

01:54:32.960,01:54:36.520
-Look, look, look...!
-That's capitalism for you.

01:54:36.920,01:54:39.480
Are you going to dress José up
all handsome and smart?

01:54:39.760,01:54:43.280
We slept with President Putin...
both Putin and Lula

01:54:43.360,01:54:45.120
in the same hotel,
just so you know.

01:54:45.200,01:54:48.000
And now we're going to have lunch
with Chico Buarque. Are you jealous?

01:54:49.280,01:54:54.000
Really? Listen, bring me something
autographed by Chico Buarque...

01:54:54.240,01:54:55.480
Great!

01:54:55.480,01:54:59.720
Look, I'm checking José...

01:55:00.400,01:55:01.720
He's handsome, Pilar.

01:55:02.000,01:55:06.560
...and his pressure is 12.7 maximum!
Son of a bitch!

01:55:06.560,01:55:10.040
-I can't believe it!
-and 7 minimum...

01:55:10.280,01:55:12.360
and a pulse of 85.

01:55:12.800,01:55:15.160
Tell José that
I'll never forgive him?

01:55:15.480,01:55:19.160
Wait, I'm going to measure it again,
just to make sure.

01:55:23.840,01:55:25.120
José Saramago,

01:55:25.120,01:55:29.360
who gives us the honor of his visit
to the Brazilian Academy of Literature.

01:55:29.480,01:55:31.600
We will now have
a signing session

01:55:31.960,01:55:35.400
but he won't be writing dedications.

01:55:35.760,01:55:37.240
We don't want to tire him out.

01:55:37.840,01:55:39.120
Thank you very much.

01:55:40.560,01:55:41.880
Can I kiss you on the cheek?

01:55:41.960,01:55:43.280
Go ahead.

01:55:43.280,01:55:44.800
But you're not going
to take a picture, are you?

01:55:45.560,01:55:47.400
-I admire you so much.
-Thank you.

01:55:47.480,01:55:48.760
I was even in Lisbon but
I couldn't find you.

01:55:51.000,01:55:52.240
Saramago...?

01:55:53.000,01:55:54.320
I love you, you hear?

01:55:56.560,01:55:57.800
Hum?

01:55:57.800,01:55:59.320
I love you, OK?

01:56:00.920,01:56:03.080
This one is from one of our
academy members.

01:56:03.200,01:56:04.480
And the last one.

01:56:05.120,01:56:06.360
Wow...

01:56:07.160,01:56:09.480
-Hard work!
-But it's over.

01:56:09.480,01:56:11.280
-A lot of work! Very good.
-Thank you so much.

01:56:11.600,01:56:14.800
Thank you for your visit,
and please accept a...

01:56:14.960,01:56:16.360
well, the water is there?

01:56:16.440,01:56:19.760
Now, nothing more. Just get
back to the hotel quickly and rest.

01:56:19.840,01:56:21.080
Very well!

01:56:39.640,01:56:42.040
-You guys are going to kill me!
-I'll leave this here!

01:56:43.080,01:56:44.360
You'll kill me!

01:56:45.280,01:56:48.040
In my next life, I want to be a tree.

01:56:48.320,01:56:53.280
With my roots sunk into the earth, and
nobody will get me to move from there.

01:57:02.680,01:57:08.040
-And now José should be on this side.
-Well that's true? but no big deal.

01:57:08.560,01:57:11.200
-But we can swap.
-No Pilar.

01:57:11.320,01:57:14.440
He can just turn
the camera and it's fine,

01:57:14.840,01:57:16.440
he's had enough of my face.

01:57:16.560,01:57:19.200
But, it's your face with
Copacabana in the background.

01:57:19.760,01:57:21.080
Just look at the beautiful
background now?

01:57:22.640,01:57:25.800
Could you pull over to the side for a
moment please so we can record better?

01:57:25.880,01:57:28.560
We're going to change places.

01:57:30.040,01:57:33.680
Now that wasn't so hard
and it'll last a whole life,

01:57:33.760,01:57:36.480
we'll be able to see these
images for years and years.

01:57:37.120,01:57:39.840
You have amazing faith
in the future, Pilar.

01:57:45.320,01:57:49.000
To president Lula da Silva.

01:57:59.680,01:58:00.960
No.

01:58:00.960,01:58:02.480
You all exaggerate.

01:58:03.000,01:58:04.280
It's very simple.

01:58:14.720,01:58:17.520
I think I can say that
I have no regrets whatsoever.

01:58:18.000,01:58:22.720
To be honest,
I can't imagine a better life than mine.

01:58:23.760,01:58:27.160
With everything that has happened,
the ups and downs, to the point where,

01:58:27.240,01:58:30.360
if somebody asked me
if I'd live it all over again,

01:58:31.520,01:58:32.840
I would have to say yes.

01:58:33.200,01:58:34.520
All of it.

01:58:37.400,01:58:38.960
There's something you have to
understand...

01:58:39.040,01:58:40.760
I shouldn't have been a writer...

01:58:41.160,01:58:43.160
I was not born to be a writer.

01:58:43.920,01:58:49.440
So I only fulfill my destiny as a writer
in the last phase of my life.

01:58:50.360,01:58:52.360
Which means that I've been very lucky...

01:58:52.440,01:58:54.240
Because if I had just died earlier,
well...

01:58:54.360,01:58:56.200
nothing... It would have been a shame!

01:58:59.160,01:59:04.640
"THE ELEPHANT'S JOURNEY"
INTERNATIONAL RELEASE

01:59:04.640,01:59:08.720
The book was written
in a state of

01:59:08.880,01:59:11.880
pure joy.

01:59:13.120,01:59:14.400
And perhaps this happiness

01:59:14.400,01:59:17.080
actually resulted from me
having escaped.

01:59:18.720,01:59:22.400
Actually, I am here today
as something of a survivor.

01:59:24.360,01:59:25.880
For how much longer...

01:59:25.960,01:59:27.800
we don't know... we never know.

01:59:29.240,01:59:30.480
In any case,

01:59:31.880,01:59:34.440
the other day during
an interview in Lisbon,

01:59:34.600,01:59:36.040
I think it was in Lisbon,

01:59:36.960,01:59:39.560
they asked me:
"And now that you have everything...

01:59:39.640,01:59:43.360
the Nobel prize, glory, fame,
this, and that, and whatever,

01:59:43.920,01:59:46.360
what more would you like?

01:59:47.920,01:59:49.760
and I answered: "Time".

01:59:52.120,01:59:53.360
Life.

01:59:55.480,01:59:57.680
Time... and life to...

02:00:00.200,02:00:03.200
Carry on with my work,

02:00:05.760,02:00:07.000
with my wife,

02:00:11.320,02:00:12.640
and to live...

02:00:14.320,02:00:16.120
as I have lived up until now.

02:00:16.720,02:00:18.280
And this is all part...

02:00:19.560,02:00:21.360
of the way I see myself.

02:00:22.880,02:00:24.320
And to continue...

02:00:26.760,02:00:30.360
nourishing myself and live
and bring to fruition

02:00:32.240,02:00:36.040
the happiness which is mine
and the happiness which is ours.

02:00:38.120,02:00:40.640
There is something I can repeat here...

02:00:40.880,02:00:42.920
Now that I'm 86...

02:00:43.760,02:00:48.280
If I had died before meeting Pilar

02:00:49.520,02:00:52.720
I'd have died much older
than I was.

02:01:01.440,02:01:03.360
But, before I start crying,

02:01:04.800,02:01:08.040
let's get back quickly,
to the elephant's journey.

02:01:09.560,02:01:13.040
The elephant died
a year after arriving in Vienna.

02:01:13.880,02:01:18.240
They skinned him and cut
his front feet to use as

02:01:18.320,02:01:23.240
an umbrella stand,

02:01:24.280,02:01:27.160
walking sticks, canes,
the umbrellas...

02:01:29.440,02:01:31.280
If this had not happened,

02:01:33.040,02:01:34.320
something historical,

02:01:36.400,02:01:40.360
I wouldn't say I wouldn't have written
the book but I just might not have,

02:01:41.560,02:01:44.240
I might not have
because when they cut off his feet,

02:01:44.320,02:01:48.760
the feet that had walked thousands
of kilometers to get to Vienna,

02:01:50.080,02:01:53.240
deep down was a metaphor...

02:01:56.440,02:01:59.200
I mean... of the futility of life.

02:02:00.120,02:02:04.400
We are unable to make it into anything
more than the little it is,

02:02:06.400,02:02:07.720
so, what a sad ending...

02:02:07.800,02:02:09.120
what a sad ending...

02:02:10.520,02:02:14.600
And that is why this elephant
owes its literary existence

02:02:17.040,02:02:18.800
to this particular circumstance.

02:02:55.720,02:02:57.520
The invitation is still standing,

02:02:58.360,02:03:01.920
to go to Kyoto,
I'd like to go there.

02:03:04.960,02:03:08.760
I'd like to go to India,
like to go to India...

02:04:28.120,02:04:29.400
Pilar...

02:04:34.360,02:04:35.960
We'll meet elsewhere.