The cardiologist Roberto Canessa (Montevideo, 1953) is one of the 16 survivors of the accident in the Andes in 1972 that gave rise to The Snow Society. In the film, that young medical student is played by the Argentine Matías Recalt, Goya as the revelation actor. Visiting Madrid, he says that if Bayona “does not win the Oscar it must be because of spurious interests.”
Are you surprised by the success of the film?
Watching Bayona's film The Impossible, which precisely takes its name from our history, it seemed to me that he could reach people. And with A Monster Comes to See Me I saw how he handled people's pain and that he could channel what we had experienced. He was the right person to tell the story, knowing that it is a movie. People ask me: Was it as hard as it was or is Bayona exaggerating? And I tell them: if we really show you how bad we had it, you'll get up and leave the theater. The film is a bridge between what happened to us and the eyes of the world.
When you talk about how bad it was, what do you think about?
That we were living in a cemetery where bodies could not be buried. A very gloomy place, very sad and depressing. He wanted to walk out, it was one of the reasons, to die in the white snow, not in that place.
But did you think it would come?
I thought I was going to give it my all. I learned in life not to bet on success. Because sometimes success is postponed. And then you're frustrated and you think you're not going to make it. The important thing is the commitment to go where you want to go in life. And maintain it. Know that success and failure are random.
What were the keys to the society that was formed up there?
God's help, giving for others, understanding that there is much beyond just not being able to do it anymore. When you say you can't take it anymore it's a lie, there is much more, only the one who is dying gave everything. The limit of man is far beyond what you think. And then, how ambitions are lowered. Our motto was 'as long as there is life there is hope and maybe tomorrow'. We had a metamorphosis in reverse. Instead of a worm that turns into a butterfly, we were a butterfly that turned into snow worms.
That different society with feelings incomprehensible to the civilized world. When you saw someone die, you didn't feel sorry for them, you felt sorry for yourself, because you were next on the list. When we were in the avalanche I looked at the dead and I was envious of them. It is very rare to be envious of a dead person. There is a different society, which was transformed, and the sooner you transformed into that snow society, the more chances you had of saving yourself.
Why didn't that become a pack?
Because there is one more step after dying. I felt like my next boss was going to be God. And what was I going to say to him, well, I'm not that good, I'm not that bad either, put me out there a little. And it was heard on the mountain: if we fight among ourselves, God is going to get us out of here. There was a bit of this idea of being good people, of dying in peace. And the pleasure of giving, of helping. To feel better than the other because you can help them. Rich is he who can give and poor is he who needs help.
Did they never get into a fight?
Yes of course. A couple of pine cones and a couple of things flew and then we hugged each other crying and apologized saying: 'We're not going to get out of here this way, this is not the way.' We all lived together, suffering in silence and trying to overcome it with joy. We laughed at our misfortune, we looked at how skinny we were and we had the hope of returning.
He was one of the first to make the decision to feed with his companions. How did he experience it?
I saw that the belt was getting smaller and smaller, that I was going to die and that the only possibility was that. And of course, as I always do, I agree with others what they think, to see if they can give me something that I am not seeing and I make the decision. And I go, I do it, and well, whoever wants to follow me, follow me. I respect everyone's opinions and if I die, I will gladly go to dinner to help my friends' dream of living come true. After death we are no longer what we were. You're not there anymore. What I have is gratitude that with their bodies we were able to survive.
Did your medical studies help you in all those decisions, did they give you a different perspective?
I think that what they did to us was a cursed hand that made an experiment in human behavior. And he said, well, instead of guinea pigs we are going to put young people. This way they last longer. Rugby players who say they are so macho, university students, let's see if knowledge helps, and well, if they believe in God, may God have mercy on their soul. It is a behavioral experiment, that is why it catches people, because each one can identify with very diverse characters, there is not one formula to survive, but many.
What was yours?
Say: 'Mom, don't cry anymore because I'm alive.' I wanted to see her and tell her: 'Don't cry, stop crying', because one day I had gone to a friend's funeral and I had seen her mother devastated and my mother said: 'If my son dies, I will die of sadness.' 'I can't go on living'. So I learned that the why in life is more important than how I am going to survive. I knew why I wanted to survive.
How was the return to the plain? Some press attacked them.
I was proud to have gone out on our own, walking. I cared nothing about the society that had abandoned us. The only thing they had to do was apologize to us, not judge us. They welcomed us with enormous affection, but in the silence a shouting voice makes a lot of noise. Everyone has their opinion. Some have told me: 'I wouldn't have eaten the dead and died.' Well I do not.
Do you treat children with heart problems because of that experience?
They are children that we stole from death, that if you left them they would die. We escape death too. Helping those children escape death is a revenge that life gave me.
