Criticism of ‘The oblivion that we will be’

Also built more from nostalgia than memory, although sometimes they are fed back and confused, and with an allegorical use (partial: the present, always grey, not like memories) of black and white, The oblivion that we will be it’s like the Rome by Alfonso Cuarón a family portrait. Idealized families, whether from that other mother in the Mexican film or from the admiring look of a son towards his father in the adaptation (a small prodigy in David Trueba’s script) that Fernando Trueba has made based on Héctor’s book Abad Faciolince dedicated to the memory of his father, Héctor Abad Gómez. Small pictures of a day to day in which they happen, as in life itself (as in the cinema itself) conversations, smiles, tears, movies, readings, songs, meetings, games and finally death. The oblivion that we will bes is profoundly Rossellinian in how he approaches this humanist, philanthropist and uncomfortable character for Colombia in the 1980s, almost a saint, minstrel of a nearby god, flesh and blood; finally martyr.

A good man

Fernando (and David) Trueba They have known how to look at this good man as the children of Atticus Finch looked at their father on a porch at sunset in Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962), aware from the unconscious innocence of childhood of the humble greatness of a father. Maybe The oblivion that we will be be incapable of judging, even from the part of the plot with the young college boy, that good man. He surely he doesn’t need it, as we didn’t need to know that the master of this land is mine (Jean Renoir, 1943) was not a coward, but a good person, a hero.

a fordian film

The film deals with that other class of heroes, an exercise in sensitivity, tenderness and praise of the family as something unique, the true Ithaca to which we try to return throughout our lives. An exercise also in cinephile classicism, something that Fernando Trueba presupposes, but here it reaches kneeler heights. John Ford’s imprint is absolutely present in The oblivion that we will be. From the echo of the Roddy McDowall and Donald Crisp family (tragic, loving, beautiful) How green was my valley! (1941) to that modest and devastating moment in Javier Cámara’s room crying with his back to the camera, an example of the character’s dignity and powerful humility.

For children and activists of the most familiar and classically humanist cinema.

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DATA SHEET

Address: Fernando Trueba Distribution: Javier Cámara, Juan Pablo Urrego, Nicolás Reyes Cano and Patricia Tamayo Original title: The oblivion that we will be Country: Colombia Year: 2020 Release date: 7-5-2021 Gender: Drama Script: David Trueba Duration: 132min

Synopsis: Héctor Abad Gómez is a prominent doctor and human rights activist in the polarized and violent Medellin of the 1970s. The story recounts the life of the doctor, a family man concerned both for his children and for the children of less favored classes. The Abad family exudes the vitality and creativity that are characteristic of an education based on tolerance and love.