Juan Manuel Bernal had to sacrifice time with a loved one to take a firm step in acting. (Photo by Pedro González Castillo/Getty Images) (Pedro Martin Gonzalez Castillo via Getty Images)
Dear reader, if you are someone who loves or loves your father very much, I would like to ask you what you do or would do to spend more time with him, knowing that he is suffering from the consequences of a serious illness Disease will die disease. Certainly the impossible. But sometimes life only gives the opportunity to do what is possible given the circumstances. But every moment, no matter how small, is worth it. We can appreciate this situation with Juan Manuel Bernal.
In 1999, the actor was quartered at the professional level. His work was divided into film, television and theater. His acting talent coupled with his need led him to take on projects that were scheduled to be completed at the same time. He focused on that, not considering that fate would also place him before the final days of his father’s life, which became another primary urgency to attend to.
“My father was a sickly person. He went through a lot of very complicated things. I have pictures of my dad rolling around and screaming in pain because he has a trigeminal nerve injury. Those who suffered from the trigeminal nerve, two to three people, committed suicide. And my father survived. We arrived with a neurologist and thank God he saved my father’s life,” he tells Yordi Rosado in an interview.
Although his father was saved, his quality of life was affected by the operation he had to undergo. Fortunately for the family, however, this procedure was beneficial Prolongation of existence and elimination of severe pain This could lead him to make a desperate decision.
“My father was numb up to half of his body because they had severed the part of the trigeminal nerve that was causing him to roll and scream in pain. The only way to relieve it (the pain) was to put the head in an ice bucket. “This picture of my father shocked me very much,” describes the actor.
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As is usual in such cases, the man got worse. He had to be hospitalized for treatment and care as the situation required medical supervision as his body entered a stage of accelerated deterioration from which there was no rescue. It was about waiting for the inevitable outcome.
“The ending was painful because it was a long, long process in the hospital. In addition, at some point the doctor told us: “He can’t die because they won’t let him, everyone is lying on him” … He lived and slept almost in a forum. I got to shoot two films at the same time, a soap opera and a play. And with a dying father! “It was crazy,” Bernal says of the way things came together to make the impending loss even more painful.
The actor planned his schedule so that he could be with his father for a few minutes a day. By taking part in four projects, time was against him. He was practically saturated with work. With difficulty he managed to make room to live with his old master, but under the pressure of haste.
“The only time I had to visit him was for dinner at the farm. They gave me everything in Tupperware. My assistant picked me up to go to the hospital, see him for 10 minutes, eat with him and come back. During dinner and conversations with him, he gave me strength because I told him that I felt very bad, that I was full of obligations and that I could only see him a few times a day. And as serious as he was, he managed to say to me: “Do you think I don’t know what you do for me?” Work is man’s best friend. “Just because you’re here doesn’t mean you’re not with me. I know you are with me, so go and do your best.” “That was always the most important advice he gave me when I decided to become an actor.”
On a psychological level, Bernal was extremely affected. Memorizing dialogues, immersing himself in character, repeating shots, moving from one place to another and living with the humiliation that his father would die at any moment made him a creature of grief. When he appeared in the theater with a dense work of black humor that addressed audiovisual violence, filmed without leaving a trace and starred in the soap opera “Romántica Obsession”, the actor suffered the news that he did not want to hear.
“I had to put on a show and make people laugh while my father was lying down. (I did it with) popcorn. My father died while I was making popcorn. “I was making a film with María Novaro and at the same time a soap opera with Televisión Azteca, and my father was in the hospital dying.”
Without neglecting his participation and concentrating entirely on work, Juan Manuel Bernal said goodbye to his father, a man who asked him to continue his career instead of torturing by his side in the final stage. His father’s urge to come to terms with his farewell was also a motivation that brought the actor to the place he is today; This advice to do his best bore fruit and he is currently one of the first actors that Mexico has.