The Shadow of What We Were

Four old friends and comrades in arms, called out of agree to riunite in a warehouse in Santiago, been called together at the behest of the anarchist, Pedro Nolasco, a.k.a. The Shadow, to carry out one last revolutionary gesture before time and age get the better of them. It will be their first meeting since going underground or into exile after Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 coup. The men share a past as members of Chile’s Socialist Liberation Army and as militant supporters of President Salvador Allende. Scarred by an era of oppression and paranoia, when your beliefs an association could get you killed, they cautiously reconnect. They settle on a date, a location, a secret password. But the night of the meeting only three arrive, and wait in vain. Fate has other plans, more unsettling plans, for their comrad Coco Aravena. heart troubles, thinning hair, a few pounds too many around the waist; there is little left to connect them with their glorious pasts. Now, however, before the sands of time bury them altogether, they have been called together at the behest of the anarchist, Pedro Nolasco, a.k.a. The Shadow, to carry out one last revolutionary gesture before time and age get the better of them. But Lucho, Lolo and Cacho await their illustrious leader in vain, for fate has decided that The Shadow’s role in La Revolución is at an end. Who, now, can take his place, if not the most reckless of their old comrades, Coco Aravena? After years of playing second fiddle this is Coco’s chance to prove his mettle. By one of Chile’s most famous and beloved authors, The Shadow of What We Were is a humorous and moving examination of what becomes of our glorious pasts in the inglorious present.