Isabel Banished in Isabel

Juan Radrigán (Chile, 1981)
Translated by Ana Elena Puga

An impoverished woman recalls scenes from her past and longs for her missing partner, who was dragged away by the cops for the crime of killing birds. Isabel’s sense of isolation, though partly existential in nature, also reflects the economic polarization and decimation of the public sphere under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. She directs her lonely monologue toward an empty oil drum, but her words are also meant for the audience: “Please, talk to me, talk to me, talk to me…”