No, they’re not Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau this time around, but if you ask, they may have acted in an unusual movie directed by Billy Willder. But it is not. They are Juan José Millás and Juan Luis Arsuaga, the odd couple of informative anthropology, co-authors of Life Narrated to a Neanderthal by a sapiens and Death Narrated to a Neanderthal by a sapiens (Alphaguara). Two works gracefully written in accordance with Horace’s principle of teaching pleasure.
The writer Juan José Millás, known to all readers of this newspaper for his magnificent columns, has developed an ingenious narrative tool to bring both works together. A natural flow of “lessons” from Juan Luis Arsuaga, professor of paleontology and co-director of archaeological excavations in the Sierra de Atapuerca. Acting as the narrator, Millás puts together an entire film in which both share two very defined roles. On the one hand, Arsuaga is the sapiens of the 21st century, the wise, the professor, the skeptic and the strict scientist, Epicurus. On the other hand, Millás is represented as a Neanderthal, an ignorant, a naive person still marked by magical thinking; A Kropotkin, as Arsuaga mockingly called him.
Arsuaga says he learned it everywhere. Thus, the anthropologist takes the journalist on an enjoyable and surprising journey through different places: from a pet fair to the Chamartín market, from archaeological excavations to a toy store, from a junkyard to a natural sciences museum, from a Japanese restaurant. From the Fuente del Berro park, from the yew forest to the gym, from the sex shop to the hospital… According to what they see, Arsuaga is displaying his knowledge in front of the mute Millás, who takes note of what he has said. But Millás, who is not stupid at all, accidentally teaches a great journalism lesson, shows his curiosity, knows how to ask the most interesting questions. In addition, he plays theatrically as a neurotic and elegantly handles self-irony to stay in the background required by the marked script.
“Second episodes are never good” isn’t always true. The Death Told by a Sapiens to a Neanderthal is also an excellent book. At the end of the story, Millás blames Arsuaga for not talking enough about altruism. The paleontologist tells him that “the greatest problem of science is consciousness and consciousness, the existence of you and me,” adding that “the emergence of consciousness has to do with cooperation.” If they continue to put up with each other, Arsuaga suggests, they could write a new book on consciousness, intelligence and cooperation. They’re already late.