Santiago cannot boast the cultural riches of its regional rival Buenos Aires. The city was always an outpost on the fringes of the civilised world and what artistic activity it had was repressed under the military dictatorship. However, in recent years, the city has carved a new identity for itself and is emerging from the cultural wilderness. The consignment of totalitarian government to the history books has paved the way for a cultural renaissance, which originates largely from Santiago’s huge and politically aware student population. There is a growing collection of quality art galleries,
theaters and cultural centers, while a number of annual events have become major attractions in their own right. There are plans to develop Valparaíso, together with neighboring Viña del Mar, as the cultural capital of Chile, but there is always plenty going in Santiago itself.
A good source of information for what’s on in the city are the entertainment listings found in the
Tiempo Libre supplement of the
El Mecurio newspaper (website:
www.emol.com) and the
Cultura section of
La Tercera (website:
www.tercera.cl). Information on shows and performances can be picked up at some of the larger cultural centers, such as the
Centro Cultural Montecarmelo, Avenida Bellavista 0594 (tel: (2) 735 6251; website:
www.proviarte.cl), or the
Centro Cultural Estación Mapocho, Plaza de la Cultura (tel: (2) 787 0000; website:
www.estacionmapocho.cl). There is no central ticket booth as such but most central travel agents can arrange tickets or tickets can be purchased at the individual box offices. Or visitors can use ticket agency
Ticketmaster (tel: 690 2000; website:
www.ticketmaster.cl).
Music and Dance: The 1990s witnessed a popularization of Chile’s indigenous culture, which, since colonial times, was either suppressed or ignored. As a result, traditional music and dance (until recently little more than a homogenized tourist stunt) has begun to draw the crowds. An established venue for such performances is
Los Buenos Muchachos, Avenida Ricardo Cumming 1031 (tel: (2) 698 0112; website:
www.losbuenosmuchachos.cl) in the Barrio Brasil area. The best opera, classical music and ballet is on offer is at the
Teatro Municipal, Calle Agustinas 794 (tel: (2) 463 8888; website:
www.municipal.cl), an ornate 19th-century theater built in the European style by Frenchman Charles Garnier, architect of the casino in Monte Carlo. The
Santiago Ballet and the
Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra both perform here, often together.
Theater: Chile is proud of its theatrical tradition and performances catering to most tastes can be found across Santiago. The city’s artistic life was stifled after the coup and contemporary and experimental works are only just starting to compete for audiences with conservative theatrical and operatic productions. The grandest performances are held at the
Teatro Municipal (see
Music and Dance above), but the
Teatro Nacional, Calle Morande 25 (tel: (2) 696 1200), is also highly reputable and puts on more contemporary productions.
Film: Since the return of democracy, Chilean cinema has undergone a resurgence as exiled film-makers return home. Directors to look out for include Silvio Caiozzi, Miguel Littin, Pablo Perelman, Ficardo Larraín and Gonzalo Justiniano, whose films have achieved success beyond Chile’s frontiers. The most famous films about Chile, dealing with the Pinochet years but (for obvious reasons) not filmed there, include Costa Gavras’ 1982 work
Missing, starring Jack Lemmon. This documents an American’s search for his ’disappeared’ son, against a backdrop of US complicity in the violence. Exiled Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman’s play
Death and the Maiden was adapted for film in 1994 by director Roman Polanski. Starring Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley, it tells the story of a victim of the coup forced to confront her former torturer after a chance meeting.
Chileans do not dub foreign films, so Hollywood blockbusters are shown in English with Spanish subtitles. Santiago’s largest, multiplex-style cinemas are
Cinemark, various venues (tel: 600 600 2463 (in Chile only);
www.cinemark.cl),
Showcase, Avenida Kennedy 5413 (tel: (2) 224 7707),
Cines Hoyts, Paseo Huérfanos 735 (tel: 600 500 0400 (in Chile only); website:
www.cinehoyts.cl), and
Cine San Damián, Avenida Las Condes 11271 (tel: (2) 243 1047). Santiago’s best arthouse cinemas are
Espaciocal, Avenida Candelaria Goyenechea 3820 (tel: (2) 246 1582) and
Cine Arte Tobalaba, Avenida Providencia 2563 (tel: (2) 231 6630).
Literary Notes: What Chile lacks in a current arts scene, it makes up for with a literary heritage that is the envy of the world. Few countries so small can boast two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Poet and diplomat Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American to receive the Nobel Prize in 1945. She was an obsessive loner, heartbroken by the suicide of a lover. Her personal tragedy is reflected in her poetry, which first came to prominence in 1914, when she won a Chilean prize for
Sonetos de la Muerte (Sonnets of Death). Chile’s other Nobel Laureate, the poet Pablo Neruda, was also employed as a diplomat. He was a well-known Communist influenced by the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War, who regarded his work as a message of solidarity directed at ordinary people. He achieved international fame in 1923 with
Crepusculario (a collection of his poems) and died in exile in 1973, soon after the military coup.
Chile’s most internationally renowned contemporary writer is Isabel Allende, niece of former Socialist president Salvador. After the military coup and death of her uncle, she fled to the United States where she worked as a journalist. Much of her work has a Chilean theme, with many references to Santiago. Her most famous books include
The House of the Spirits (1985), also made into a film,
Of Love and Shadows (1987) and
City of the Beasts (2002). Her book
My Invented Country (2003) is a memoir of her upbringing in Chile and her exile after the military coup that claimed her uncle.
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Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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