Synopsis
Newspapers and news bulletins announce national mourning. Mario Benedetti has just passed away. 3 years before passed away Luz Lopez Alegre, his companion, with whom he shared 60 years of his life. We listened to Daniel Viglietti's voice during the ceremony in which the remains of both were gathered, according to Mario's mandate in his last will. We see old photographs, we hear Mario's voice that briefly tells passages from a childhood that does not interest him to return, but that leads him inexorably to the encounter with Luz.
The first editorial success followed 8 self-financed publications - Poems from the Office, The Truce, Montevidean Stories, etc. It was essential for Mario that all his manuscripts be read by Luz before sending them to the publishers. Luz backed up his unbreakable will as she built her own life as a customs employee by applying a practical sense that accompanied her at all times, as well as the humor about Mario's absentmindedness.
The exile was a long process of comings and goings for both of them, a hinge moment in their lives. Several of their friends were imprisoned or killed (Zelmar, Gutiérrez Ruiz, and several others), the others were reunited along the way, a road full of solidarity, letters, pamphlets, and anecdotes.
Mario is threatened with death and must escape from Argentina, then with a similar fate from Peru. His friend Julio Cortázar alerts the world and asks for the defense of Mario's life, an author he considers essential for the continent. Finally, he finds shelter in Cuba with Luz, but she must return intermittently to Uruguay to take care of the elderly mothers of both.
We ventured to follow in her footsteps in Havana, which seems to be intact since those years. Silvia Gil, a Cuban and a close friend of the couple, describes and shows us the humble apartment in Alamar, from where they traveled every day on the 125 bus to Central Park; from there they took a taxi to then walk and arrive 8 o'clock at their work in the Casa de las Americas, Mario in the literary research center and Luz in the exchange department, where they still remember her for being just another worker.
The years and the success follow one another, leaving for Spain, Palma de Mallorca, Puerto Pollenza. This time it will be Madrid, a place that would become her second home and where they will have Onetti as a neighbor.
Finally comes the return, their old affections, the Uruguay that is no longer the same, and the reconstruction of a new life with Luz. The exile is bittersweet, his later works seem not to find accommodation in this new reality: in Mexico, he is a rock star and Spain applauds him standing up. However, the passage of time he fears advances and Luz gets sick. Alzheimer's disease deteriorates her for years until she finally dies. Mario hides from the absence of writing, but finally gives himself up and stops writing to leave a world he no longer belongs to.