Easy Rider
By Taran Khan

Few sessions of this year's Berlinale Talent Campus had been as eagerly anticipated as Gael Garcia Bernal's discussion on Crossing Borders. The rows filled up with impressive speed, the most nonchalant of Talents could be seen rummaging for autographs and the cameras couldn't stop showering affectionate flashes on his impish grin. And the consummate performer did not disappoint, keeping the audience involved with stories, wisecracks and punchy asides about working with some of the finest filmmakers of our times. So much so that at the end of the high-energy session, one overwhelmed Talent was heard telling her friend: "Now I can go home in peace."

In a career that is just six years old, Bernal has made something of an art of crossing artistic and territorial borders. The twenty-something actor has worked with directors from South America, Spain and France, playing a drag queen, the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and a perpetually horny teenager. Interestingly, Bernal's artistic journey really began in Europe, in London where he traveled on a whim and stayed behind as a drama student. During his stint here he got a call from Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu, whom he had briefly worked with in the past for a radio spot where he was required to cry in a corner, "which is harder than it sounds." Bernal was cast in the director's debut feature Amores Perros (Mexico). The shoestring budget of the film meant that often "the dogs were better paid than us (the actors)". From the "two takes only" rule of that first film to the big studio experience of Babel, "where I remember doing Take 46 of (an) insert of door opening," makes it a pretty incredible journey for the actor. Along the way, he notched up success with Alfonso Cuarón's Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexico) and Salles's Motorcycle Diaries. "The character of Ernesto is one that has affected me deeply, but I feel closest to Julio from Y Tu Mama... I always wanted to do that kind of a trip, and I did do it in a different way, but this is not the place to talk about it..."  he broke off with his trademark laugh.

Having crossed the world for shooting in France ("good food") and Spain with Almodovar ("you start late and finish early"), where does Bernal fit in his native Mexico? "I have strong roots but no barriers. I see myself as human being first given a passport later," he said. His affection for his "crazy country" carries a responsibility to criticize its dysfunctional systems, although he is unabashedly proud of its technicians. "But I hate showing off in this way, so this is the only good thing I will say about Mexico," he adds.

Underneath the constant laughter and relaxed good humour that characterizes Bernal's banter is a strong undercurrent of real passion for cinema. He recounts an anecdote about a young girl from the favelas of Rio describing "seeing and making films as a way to understand the other's reality." As prejudices and border walls become stronger, these are difficult but interesting times for filmmakers. Perhaps that is why Bernal has made the leap across another border into the domain of direction, with his debut feature Deficit, currently in post-production. He also runs a production house, Canana, (from the bullet belt worn by revolutionaries) and is involved with a traveling documentary festival in Mexico, which attempts to screen films that would otherwise never be seen.

So is there a place that this accomplished border-crosser calls home? The question from an audience member draws a full-wattage Bernal smile. "There is somewhere that I feel at home, but it's not a place but a person."

To set the seal on his popularity on the Campus, Bernal exhorted the Talents to keep going. "I hate to sound cheesy but six years ago I used to be sitting at the back like you. Just keep at it and it will happen," he said. While his incredible journey may be difficult to replicate, his gesture won the hearts of the young filmmakers, creating the feeling that perhaps Bernal is one of us after all. Just a bit more famous.

Taran Khan

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