Schwartz on Stalin and ‘Il Postino’

Stephen Schwartz’s “ ‘Il Postino,’ an Homage to Stalin” (Column Right, March 10) faults the Clintons and Gores for appreciating Pablo Neruda’s poetry and the movie loosely based on an episode of his life.

I have difficulty faulting Neruda for having an affair with communism. In the world in which he lived, you were either rich or a slave to the rich. If you stood up for what you believed, the right-wing death squads hunted you down like a dog; the death squads that America trained and supported. I’m sure if Neruda had know what Stalin was up to, his enthusiasm would have been tempered. Just as I am sure that had the U.S. known what Hitler was up to, we would not have turned away Jewish refugees that wound up in the death camps and we would have entered the war sooner.

Even though communism is dead, people like Schwartz can’t let it go. It’s a cheap way to demonize those who disagree with you.

ERIC SPENCER LEE

Pasadena

* A film is a piece of art and does not have to be faithful to factual truth: Its aesthetic responsibility creates its own truth. One has to analyze “Il Postino” taking into consideration that Michael Radford’s film version is a free adaptation of Antonio Skarmeta’s 1985 novel “Burning Patience,” which is inspired by a segment of the life of Nobel Prize winner Neruda and his relationship with Mario, the lonely mailman who delivered his mail in Isla Negra, Chile, where the poet spent his final years.

The film version has moved the action two decades earlier (1950s) to Italy (where Neruda had been temporarily exiled) and has elliptically de-emphasized the political element to bring to light a rather sentimental, charming tale, something that combined with the actual death of the Italian comedian Massimo Troisi (who plays the role of the mailman), has made the film remarkably popular. To elaborate on a supposed hidden subtext based on “Neruda’s dark legacy” is simply to create a new film to justify Schwartz’s own political views.

BERTA GRACIANO

Los Angeles

* Schwartz charges that Neruda was involved in selecting only known Stalinists to sail on the refuge ship Winnipeg. On Aug. 4, 1939, the Winnipeg sailed from the French port of Bordeaux on a monthlong journey to Chile.

Our parents, aunt and uncle were among the 2,201 fortunate refugees who traveled on the Winnipeg. Contrary to Schwartz’s claims, most refugees were not Stalinists, but patriots united by a common goal of protecting the duly constituted Spanish Republican government against the onslaught of the Mussolini and Hitler-aided Francoist forces. Decisions on who sailed were made by the Paris-based SERE (Evacuation Service for Spanish Refugees) based on the Chilean government’s preference for professionals and those with trades as well as couples with small children like our parents, aunt and uncle.

This letter is written on behalf of our father, who would have been deeply offended to be labeled Stalinist, our mother, who was most distraught by this article, and the memory of those who sailed on the Winnipeg to escape tyranny and hoping to someday return to a democratic Spain.

FRANK L. RICO

MIGUEL ANGEL RICO

Los Angeles