#favlsdln

Again, they spent 72 days in the mountains. As soon as they got back to civilization, as they got into the hospital, they were separated. So imagine the big shock of being greeted as a hero when they felt miserable and then separated after creating such a strong group. They found themselves alone in different rooms with big beds. What they did is they gathered together again. They came together again at night. This tells you that they’re going to be always there, in the mountain. [...]

They needed to come together, to look at each other. The movie ends up saying, “Please keep telling this tale.” It’s important. Stories are important. They set up something that becomes important in the minds of the people. This is what we do as storytellers. It’s not only about the fact, it’s about the narrative. We told the tale again. [x]

Roberto sat me down on the floor, very close to the spot where the plane had been ripped apart, and ordered me not to watch his hands. But it was much worse to look out over our surroundings, so I focused on his eyes, which were deep in concentration, and to this day I still remember that expression on his face.

He rolled up my trouser leg to the knee and felt the bone. He found the exact spot of the fracture with his fingers, lowered his head a little to listen, and with one swift motion he set my leg back in place. I let out a shriek and he told me, ‘All right, man, that’s done it, we’ll leave it at that.’ My leg was straight, and to this day I walk normally, thanks to him.

[...] After our return to civilisation I consulted several orthopaedic surgeons who worked in trauma to see if there was anything I could do about it. ‘Anything better than what has already been done is impossible,’ they told me. That was done by Roberto, using his bare hands, sitting in that grim fuselage, lowering his head to hear the crack of the bones as they set.