Delving into self-discovery beyond the slippery peaks of fame and the whims of life, Spanish actor Pedro Alonso, unforgettable as the psychopathic robber in La Casa de Papel, embarked on a journey through Mexico in search of ancestral wisdom in a documentary.
Mourning his father, enduring a breakup, finding new love, and portraying Berlin, a character that brought him international fame: "It’s true that I’ve experienced everything over the past ten years," the 53-year-old actor shared in an interview with AFP.
"At the same time, I’ve been pursuing an inner journey that’s a key part of my life, through meditation and, more specifically, shamanism," he continued during a visit to Mexico City to present his documentary, En la nave del Encanto (“In the Vessel of Enchantment”), available on Netflix starting January 7.
Surrounded by friends, Alonso filmed himself in a "road movie" that includes the temazcal ritual (a pre-Hispanic medicinal steam bath) and ayahuasca (a hallucinogenic plant used in indigenous rites, mainly in Peru).
"Meditating as a Pure Survival Instinct"
This spiritual journey, which traversed Chiapas and Oaxaca among other places, represents a new stage in a path he began 20 years ago. "My early years as an actor were very fast-paced," he recalls, mentioning his two years with the Fura dels Baus theater troupe and his first roles that caught the attention of Pedro Almodóvar’s production company. Then came ruin: "In my early thirties, I felt like the train had left without me."
"Over time, I realized I had gone through a severe depression. I started meditating as a pure survival instinct and began painting."
At 23, Alonso started his spiritual path with a four-day fast in the mountains of Catalonia. "After that, I became obsessed with reading Carlos Castaneda," he says of the popular author from the 1970s Beat Generation.
The discovery of ancestral wisdom began with his first trips to Mexico. The idea for the documentary arose "during the pandemic": "I found what I had written when I went searching for peyote (another hallucinogenic plant, editor’s note) in the desert."
He anticipates criticism: "Oh, so this actor has some fame and now wants to be the modern guru... That’s not my intention."
"I speak from my doubts, my searches, my attempts, and my shadows, trying to map out a path of self-discovery."
"I don’t think this is a path for everyone," he says about ancestral plants, which are often banned. Peyote, for instance, is classified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as "a drug with no accepted medical use."
"Reconnecting"
"The Americans, under Nixon, decided that all drugs represented the devil," sighs Alonso, advocating for the right to doubt and debate. "I don’t have a clear position on whether everything should be legalized at once."
"I’ve seen how young people in the West engage with drugs. It’s madness. It’s nothing like a shaman blowing on a leaf," he says, paying tribute to traditional healers.
"I wouldn’t recommend ayahuasca to everyone (...) However, I would recommend meditation to everyone to learn how to reconnect with themselves and the cycles of the Earth."
Embracing his paradoxes, Alonso says he loves the chaos of Mexico City and acknowledges the progress of Western medicine while questioning the current trajectory of the West. "We live in a toxic world," he says. "And you can see it in the statistics. There’s never been so much depression."
"In the West, by the age of 45, you’re done," he observes. "When you arrive in an indigenous community, the grandfather is at the center of the village."
"I want to travel to meet fascinating, cultured, sensitive, and loving people who make me feel different wavelengths in human relationships."
In the meantime, Alonso will resume filming a new season of *Berlin*, the spin-off of La Casa de Papel, in January. "Berlin says there are only two things that can turn a bad day into a great one: love and a million dollars," according to the synopsis. The Galician actor has a different definition of wealth: "When a fried egg tastes the same as the ones from my village."
With AFP
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