Neruda

A previous winner at Cannes, Chilean director Pablo Larrain has chosen as his subject here another of that country's favourite sons; poet, politician and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Neruda, a gregarious spokesman for the political Left Wing in Chile had the type of personality that made him beloved of almost everyone he met, man or woman. His poems were of love, his smile was enticing, and his views elevated the common individual. His personal charisma allowed him to say almost anything to anyone and get away with it, except perhaps the political opposition. Larrain's film could be considered an ode to the poet's memory. Both fact and fantasy, it gave us a glimpse of the life of a man of letters outside the academic chamber..