Maite Alberdi’s documentary, “La Memoria Infinita,” or “The Eternal Memory,” highlights how the fight against forgetting is both an act of intimate love and a historical necessity for an entire country. After nearly three years, the film continues to move viewers. Southern Utah University will screen the film as part of its annual International Film Festival at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Sharwan Smith Theater.
Alberdi’s documentary transcends its genre by exploring how identity depends entirely on memory. While Augusto Góngora forgets his own life due to Alzheimer’s disease, his wife, Paulina Urrutia, reminds him of who he is daily. She preserves not only his role as a husband and father, but also his legacy as a journalist who risked his life in the 1980s to record the reality of the Chilean dictatorship.
“It’s very shocking and sad to see how someone who was always concerned about his country’s memory ends up forgetting everything himself,” said viewer Camille Martínez.
The film reveals a painful irony: The man who protected a nation’s history eventually lost his own. Throughout the entire film, there is a heartbreaking balance between loss and love. The struggle against time and illness continues to impact audiences.
“La Memoria Infinita” proves that love is the only archive that forgetting cannot erase; a reminder that our history will always find a way to remain alive.
