NERUDA

With the aim in mind to show 'Neruda and only Neruda' director Ebbo Demant takes a fresh look at the life of Pablo Neruda and his poetry. The film follows the journey and exile of the poet, visiting the major places and cities of his lifespan ranging from Latin America to Europe and the former Eastern Block. Made up of the narration of friends or people who met the poet, letters, recordings and fragments of Neruda’s own poetry and autobiography, Neruda examines the way that people and events shaped the poet and his writing.

Neruda was a friend of Allende and Lorca - to name a few, a freedom fighter and an opponent of fascism in any form. The rise of fascist dictators and suppression of human rights he experienced, and criticised in his work, earned him the accolade: 'poet of wounded human dignity' - it is no wonder then that his funeral became a protest march against fascism. He was as flawed and human as the rest of us yet his poetry, though rooted in the events of his lifetime, has lost nothing of its lyrical beauty and remains relevant to a modern audience. A compelling portrait of a genius and a testament to the loss of a great poetic voice.