"I survived the Bataclan: we tried to get under each other like sardines"

The Eagles of Death Metal had started playing.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
21 October 2022 Friday 01:50
7 Reads
"I survived the Bataclan: we tried to get under each other like sardines"

The Eagles of Death Metal had started playing. They were singing the sixth theme, when several armed men burst into the Bataclan room. It was November 13, 2015. Seven years after the jihadist attack that shocked Paris and all of Europe, Isaki Lacuesta premieres One Year, One Night, a film starring Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Noémie Merlant and based on Peace, love and death metal , the book written by Ramón González, one of the survivors of the massacre.

Another of the victims, Quim Sánchez, relives his experience in an interview for La Vanguardia. Sánchez was spending a few days on vacation in Paris at a friend's house. He had bought the ticket for the fateful concert on that Friday the 13th in advance. He forgot it at home and had to return. He almost didn't make it. But unfortunately he arrived. When the shots started he hid behind a curtain. “I was very scared. I thought of my family in my girlfriend. I thought about how she preferred to die,” she recalls. He was unharmed and now, seven years after the tragedy, he speaks about that reality for the first time. A reality that Lacuesta has turned into fiction.

How did you get to the concert?

Late, because I had forgotten the ticket. I went home to pick her up and came back. It was like a sign of destiny. My friend Álex waited for me and we couldn't get into the back, because the Eagles of Death Metal had already started playing. We stay to the left. Near the exit. Kiss the Devil started playing and we heard two or three very loud firecrackers in the back bar area, about five meters from where we were.

What did they do then?

We didn't know what was going on. People fell to the ground and I did the same to get to safety. The shots did not stop. I thought someone had gone crazy. The music stopped and only the shots and the screams of the people could be heard. I lost sight of my colleague. We all tried to get under each other like sardines, but I couldn't get down. I found a curtain and got behind it.

That felt?

I was very scared. I thought of my family, my girlfriend. I thought about how I wanted to die, about being shot in the head so I wouldn't suffer. I parted the curtain a little and saw a man dressed in black with his face, with Arab features, uncovered. He dealt shots like someone doing a job. No worry. I knew it was terrorism. I don't know how long it was, but it seemed like forever. I yelled: "Alex, Alex..."

How did he get out of there?

I waited for the shooting to end or for me to be killed. Suddenly, people ran out and I followed them. I don't know how or why, but I grabbed my bag and jacket that were over there. I reached the street and felt safe. The police had not yet arrived, but soon the sirens sounded. There was a boy who had a gunshot wound to his foot. I picked it up and carried it to a safer corner.

What happened to Alex?

He went to the back, towards the stage where the musicians' material was. She got into the amp box where she spent three hours. When the police arrived, they took him out, forced him to undress and when they verified that he was not dangerous, they let him out. He was the last to leave the premises.

What feelings did you have afterwards?

Each one carries it in their own way. I felt very lucky to be alive and not have injuries. I went back to the town in the Empordà but I was scared. I went to therapy which was helpful and I wrote a song, Devils Come Together. Now I have edited it into video. Music helped me a lot.

How did the idea of ​​adapting Ramón González's book come about?

I read Ramón González's book at the suggestion of Ramón Campos, from the Bambú production company, who was in Paris the night of the attacks. He had sought information on the matter, contacted Ramón and his partner, he introduced them to me and it was a key moment. I understood that I had to make the film. In Peace, love and death metal there are details that no one had published, and that was also important in making the decision.

The experience of the protagonists is very hard, but the film has an optimistic touch...

I thought about making a film that had something positive, that claimed collective spaces, the life that we really want to lead. When the protagonist is in the dressing room of the Bataclan at the expense of the attackers and does not know if he is going to die, he decides to change his life if he survives. Do we need to be shot to decide if we lead the life we ​​want? That feeling that we live as avatars is something that we can all share in many moments.

How did you approach writing the script?

I tried to convey what the real protagonists had experienced with the utmost respect. When things like this happen, everything is numbers, because the media cannot reflect emotions and what they told escaped the news, it went much further and that is what I have tried to reflect.

The reaction Ramón and his girlfriend is very different. He suffers from anxiety attacks. She hides that she has been a victim and, in principle, acts as if nothing happened...

I have been working on a documentary for twelve years about how the end of ETA changed Basque society. Making movies I have learned that there is no homogeneous model of victim. Every person is a world. This couple lives the same situation, but they do not share the memories, their reactions are completely different. And yet, the two experiences are completely compatible.

How is the life of Ramón González and his partner now?

They still live in Paris. Ramón changed his life. He is a writer and teacher, and Céline (who has never wanted to give her real name) continues with her work caring for young immigrants, which fulfills her a lot, and she also makes music. Neither of them has given victory to the terrorists.