Video: The real story behind ‘The 33’: Author Héctor Tobar on Chilean miner rescue, at Morristown book fest

Hector Tobar in Morristown. Photo: Morristown Festival of Books.
Hector Tobar in Morristown. Photo: Morristown Festival of Books.
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Editor’s note: As we take a holiday break, we offer our version of C-Span: Video from some of the best talks at the Second Annual Morristown Festival of Books.  Here is Héctor Tobar, author of ‘Deep Down Dark,’ on the true story behind the movie ‘The 33,’ about the miraculous rescue of trapped Chilean miners.

By Kevin Coughlin

The 33, the recently released movie starring Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche, about men trapped in a Chilean mine in 2010, has gotten mixed reviews.

Hector Tobar in Morristown. Photo: Morristown Festival of Books.
Hector Tobar in Morristown. Photo: Morristown Festival of Books.

But the book upon which it’s based, Héctor Tobar’s Deep Down Dark, has fared much better with critics.

Describing the powerful moment when drillers break through to rescue the miners required tremendous thought, Tobar told listeners at the Morristown Festival of Books in October.

“For me it’s a writing challenge. It’s finding the language that conveys the emotion… I said these men cried the way men cry when their sons are born and when their mothers die…and I cried when I wrote that. That’s it, that’s what they’re feeling.”

Héctor Tobar, author of 'Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free.'
Héctor Tobar, author of ‘Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free.’

Although Tobar knows about tight deadlines from his days as a reporter for the L.A. Times, he also knows better than to rush through a book of this magnitude.

“Mostly, it’s a question of taking time to find the right language, and to feel the full emotional weight of something,” he explained to listeners inside Morristown’s Episcopal Church of the Redeemer.

“A lot of this is about relationships–mothers and sons, husbands and wives, men and their girlfriends and mistresses.

“It’s all about these relationships, and you have to take time to feel them. I tried to give those relationships the weight they deserve…It’s about living fully in the moment of those people.”

 

 

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