Star-director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque) chose a cult novel for his newest film. He based Forgotten We’ll Be on Hector Abad Faciolince’s book of the same title, which tells the true story of Héctor Abad Gómez, a prominent doctor and human rights activist in the polarized, violent Medellin of the 1970s. The novel is considered a masterpiece in South America and is one of the most-read books of contemporary Spanish literature. The author is the son of Gómez, the Colombian human rights activist, who spent his life torn between his family, his wife and their five children, and caring for the underprivileged and disenfranchised of his country.
The Gómez home is one in which creative thinking and the arts are encouraged, the notion of blindly following religious doctrine is questioned, and political discussion dominates the dinner table. When one of Gómez’ four daughters dies of cancer, the sadness over her loss and his rage over an inadequate medical system drive him to devote his life to social and political causes while constantly having his job as a university professor threatened by Medellin’s intolerant society. Trueba shifts between black & white film for the year 1983, in which Gómez was killed, and the orange-hued colors of the seventies for the scenes showcasing family life seen through the eyes of his only son. The warm tones in the loving family life contrast sharply with the later violence shown in the harsh black & white frames when the father is assassinated by the paramilitaries.
Abad dedicated his book to his father: “I, the son, loved the man, my father, more than anything else. I loved him more than God. One day I had to choose between God and my Dad, and I chose my Dad.” The script for El Olvido Que Seremos, the original title, was written by Trueba’s younger brother David, an acclaimed writer and novelist himself. It stars Javier Cámara whom we know from The Young PopeNarcos.