Invisibles and a free book

One day a week or two ago, my friendly neighborhood kiosk man handed me a DVD with my daily El País. Free gifts are common with newspapers in Spain, usually to promote the sale of some product to be offered the following week for purchase with the paper.

This freebie truly was a gift, so I want to share it.

If you have a chance to watch "Invisibles", a documentary film produced by Spanish actor Javier Bardem and presented by the Spanish Doctors without Borders organization, don't miss it. It's just been nominated for the Goya (Spain's film awards) for best documentary, if you need more than my opinion to recommend it.

"Invisibles" is not an easy to film to watch. That's exactly what makes it worth watching.

Watch this film, and then ask yourself why doing so was hard. I quickly realized some things are simply far more comfortable left invisible for me. Yet this film, a collection of five mini-films directed by Isabel Coixet (La vida secreta de las palabras, Mi vida sin mí), Mariano Barroso, Javier Corcuera, Fernando León de Aranoa (Los lunes al sol) and Wim Wenders, brings 5 humanitarian crises you never hear about to life, up close and personal. It's worth watching not only to inform yourself about them, but to watch the dignity and humanity of the people living them. Dignity, I kid you not. In the face of indescribable horror. The dignity stunned me.

The stories cover 5 of the 10 crises Doctors without Borders identified as the year's most underreported.

If you live in Europe and want my copy, holler. I'll even cover the postage.

And the free book:

While I'm at it, I have a copy of Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" I read last year while visiting the States. If you're American and abroad, and you want to read it as part of your long distance voting prep, send me an e-mail and I'll send you the book, postage paid. If you're not American but would like to read it, let me know. If none of my paisanos take me up on the offer, it's yours.

Yes, yes, Di, La Alberca is coming, as is a lot more about the Camino.