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The greatest danger, for me, is not to film situations where there is oppression.

Photo: S. Mahinsha

Human rights activist: Miguel Littin.

He has no reason to be clandestine in Chile. Not anymore. But the fire that motivated Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littin undertake the risky assignment to document violation of human rights in Pinochet’s Chile still burns strong. Evocatively captured by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in his ‘Clandestine in Chile, The Adventures of Miguel Littin,’ the bestseller book narrated Littin’s adventures during the making of the documentary, ’General Statement on Chile,’ and made the author and Littin household names all over the world.

“Wherever freedom is in peril and the rights of the citizen are trampled upon, I will serve them and help them in their fight for liberation. For me the way to fight is with a camera,” says Littin, choosing each word carefully and listening to the interpreter translating his replies.

His latest film ‘The Last Moon,’ which was screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala that concluded recently, is proof of that commitment to human dignity and rights. A searing account of the plight of Palestinians who are forced to live under the shadow of the Israeli gun, ‘The Last Moon’ is Littin’s way of drawing the world’s attention to Palestine.

“And it is not only because my father is Palestinian,” he says. “That is one of the reasons but not the only one. Palestianians are subjugated and there seems to be a genocide. No drinking water, sewage systems, hospitals or schools. Children are dying and the world seems to be turning a blind eye. My camera seeks the truth and reflects it,” says Littin.

With a smile he adds that during the shoot of “The Last Moon,’ he was more busy directing the cinematographer to dodge bullets raining around them in addition to directing the film.

Not an unfamiliar scenario for the swashbuckler filmmaker who managed to thumb his nose at the Pinochet regime that exiled him. In 1985, when he found his name was not included in the list of people who had been permitted to return to Chile, Littin entered Chile as a Uruguayan businessman.

“The experience was very intense. Each day was like a lifetime. I had to coordinate all the teams that were working in the country and capture the true situation of the oppressed people in Chile. I was anxious to do it because I felt that was how I could help my country gain freedom. As minutes ticked by, I felt that time was slipping out of my hands and I might be stopped by the police.

The shadows on his face, half-hidden under a navy blue cap, seem to lengthen as he softly adds, “Imagine, my mother did not recognize me. I could not speak to her either. I saw my old friends across the street but could not say hello to them. I had changed my physical appearance; the way I talked, looked, ate and dressed. It was not Miguel. It was someone else.”

Snapping out of the mood he continues with a hint of a smile in his voice: “We were shooting under the nose of the police. I would go close, focus the camera on them and start talking to them. Once, we got lost on the way to the airport. I approached the police and asked them the way to the airport. Finally, they ended up escorting us to the airport. I lived through many emotions then but fear was never one of them. I had no time to be afraid,” he says.

He points out he has worked in the killing fields of Nicaragua too. “I have made films in difficult and dangerous situations. The greatest danger, for me, is not to film situations where there is oppression. To capture those images and tell the world is my way of fighting for liberation. I want to transmit the message of humanism and liberation. I am only a medium, an instrument, a bridge to transmit the emotion of liberation,” says Littin.

He points out that liberation is an emotion, a state of being that cuts across all barriers, man-made or natural. “But I feel men and women of the world should come together and fight against the homogenisation of cultures that is happening now thanks to the overbearing influence of television and Hollywood. The real problem is not the dominating force but who allows this domination to take place invidiously?” he asks passionately.

According to him the solution lies in governments working for free movement of cinema and culture too. “Those countries pressing for larger markets must allow cinema and culture also to move unfettered. Cinema and television are now prisoners of Hollywood and we must free both. Censorship must be done away with. Instead, governments must support artistes, financially and materially, to document their culture and make cinema too,” he explains.

Exhorting the artist and author to work together, he says that the Latin counties all over the world, Asia and Africa must work together to resist the Hollywood domination of cultural spaces. “I say this in all my seminars, speeches and meetings. We are the seeds. I sow them and I am sure they shall blossom and bear fruit, if not now, then tomorrow.”

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