Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved is a psychological drama about an Oscar-winning director named Esteban Martinez, who’s trying to reconnect with his actress daughter whom he hasn’t seen in 13 years; it doesn’t help that he’s a recovering alcoholic with fits of rage.
Asked about the theme in this year’s festival of absent fathers and the wreckage they create, Bardem, who plays Martinez, cited the impacts of toxic masculinity and cultural miseducation.
Monopoly in World of Information
“I believe that there is an increasing monopoly in the world of information, that’s one of the problems. Given Paramount and Warner in their merger, for example, in terms of information, who’s actually going to control all this? What we’re listening to, what we’re seeing.
Genocide
“Genocide is a fact. You can fight against it, you can try to justify it, explain it. That is a fact,” he said. “If you can be against it, or you can justify it. If you justify it with your silence, or with your support, you are brought genocide. Those are facts for me. Now you can face that in different terms of statements. My statement is this one is the power that you all gave me. I don’t have any other power or more power than you guys, but this, and I use it in the best way I know.”
The Media
“At present, there is no democracy in the media. I think this is a very dangerous situation. So, basically, what solution can there be? I don’t know personally. That’s just my viewpoint. I think we need to denounce this situation, talk about it and I certainly don’t support the movement underway. That’s about all I can say at this juncture.”
