Clara Lago: "We have lost the privilege and pleasure of being able to change our minds."

It's a comedy, but as it progresses, it hurts. It's a parody, and if one isn't focused, it becomes a mirror. Santiago Requejo's Let's Vote lives happily in the paradox of not being what it seems, despite the obvious clarity of what it is: a moral fable as entertaining as it is disturbing; exaggerated and precise in equal measure. And at its center is Clara Lago ( Madrid, 1990), an actress as close to drama as she is fond of farce ; an actress convinced that there are two things that move us and limit us at the same time: "Love and fear," she says. She declares this in the vegan restaurant she owns in Madrid, where she meets us not so much to promote anything (or a little), but perhaps to exemplify and expand the catalog of prejudices that, once again, move and limit us. The film, in substance and form, is about that, about what we mistakenly take for granted. The film recreates a neighborhood meeting where they discuss whether or not to accept a mentally ill person as a new tenant. What emerges is so funny it hurts; so cruel it's laugh-out-loud funny.

As I was coming, the bars were offering entrecote, tail of everything, calamari... Don't you feel a little out of place?

Totally against the grain. But I will say that 70% of our clientele isn't vegan. In fact, we don't even mention that we're a vegan restaurant anywhere. They come in and are amazed. In their minds, they don't miss anything. They see that what they're eating is delicious, and that's enough. And that, although it may not seem like it, has to do with Votemos, because it's about prejudices. You talk to people about veganism, and in their minds, they see something very boring, like lettuce and tomatoes. And that's not the case.

Let's go back to the beginning. When and why did you become vegan?

No one is born vegan. You don't stop eating meat or fish because you don't like it. There may be some, but generally it's an ethical-moral issue. I miss eating a lot of things, but, in the end, it's not worth it. My head clicked while watching a documentary, Cowspiracy [by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn]. It clearly shows the environmental impact of the meat, dairy, and fishing industries. Suddenly, it was like a blow to the head. I felt like the planet was a living entity, the mother of all living beings that inhabit it. I realized that it doesn't make sense to beat up your mother every day. Yes, it's a renunciation, a sacrifice, but I don't feel it's hard.

And now you feel, I understand, that your message must be spread...

Yes, but carefully. I'm not an all-or-nothing advocate. Although I believe we would be much better off without eating meat and that it's necessary for the well-being of the planet and everyone, and I firmly believe this, I also think that absolute positions are not the way to convince anyone. In fact, I feel we live in an increasingly polarized society, and therefore, it's not about forcing anyone, but rather trying to convince. In fact, it would help much more if everyone, absolutely everyone, reduced their meat consumption by half than if four of us went vegan. In other words, the impact would be much greater. So, that's why I say: "Hey, if you don't feel ready or don't want to make such a sacrifice, that's fine. As long as you can."

Votemos also talks about personal sacrifices and shared benefits. It's about that, and about prejudices, in this case, toward mental illnesses.

Everything is truly connected. Mentally ill people carry stigmas due to ignorance. And that's the key to everything. Responsibility is shared by everyone. Also shared by the media, which turns very specific, very specific cases into the standard way of presenting a social group. There are more murders of women by men who aren't diagnosed with anything at all, but it only takes one mentally ill person to kill someone for all mentally ill people to be viewed as violent. And that's not the case. What you learn when you educate yourself to play a role like the one I play in Votemos is that the mentally ill are more dangerous to themselves than to others.

I was talking earlier about a polarized society. I can think of few scenarios more polarized than a neighborhood meeting. How many have you had to face?

The truth is, none. But it is true that we are increasingly going to extremes. And that, in my opinion, is the most dangerous aspect of what's happening. The art of debate and of being able to form an opinion based on information is being lost. No one listens to an opinion that isn't their own anymore. As a society, we have lost the privilege and pleasure of being able to change our minds. Now, to move around the world, you have to be able to form an opinion on anything in five minutes. And whether you're left-wing or right-wing, don't even think about deviating even a millimeter from what you're expected to think.

I imagine that everything you say is more pronounced when you are a public figure.

Yes, and even more so since social media has been around. Lately, I've gotten used to saying I don't have a formed opinion on many of the things I'm asked about. I don't mind expressing my opinion on things I do have. Obviously, I think what's happening in Gaza, for example, is outrageous. But as for what this or that politician has said, well, I don't know, nor do I want to know. But they've even asked me about the judiciary! And what do I know?

Is the pressure greater now than when you started, barely 10 years into the profession?

Of course. The difference is that the impact now is global. Everything burns in just five minutes. I recently heard that we're not biologically prepared to hold such a high level of opinion about ourselves. We're programmed to live in society, and the fear of being left out is always there. Before, you ran the risk of being left out of your community, but now the risk is of being expelled from the entire world because of the total exposure.

"No one is born vegan. You become vegan out of ethical conviction."

Do you remember a time in your career when you suffered from social media hate?

Yes, I remember that with the success of Ocho apellidos catalanes, I had the idea to comment on El Hormiguero about how hard it was to be famous because I had gone from the kindness of the affectionate autograph to the constant selfie . I didn't want it to sound like a recrimination. I was and am very grateful, but I mentioned that because they asked me about the repercussions of the mega-success of the two films. I got the biggest one. It took me a year to recover, and every night I went to bed tormented, thinking, "Why did I say that?"

To return to Votemos , another of the issues the film questions is, to put it bluntly, democracy itself, that it doesn't matter who's right, that everything is resolved by voting, that all opinions, from the most informed to the most idiotic, are worth the same...

We agree that democracy is the final destination, but it's not without its problems. It's the best system we've found, but it's not perfect. It's clear that you can vote on anything, but the limit is human rights.

Now there are even those who openly question it, and just when there seemed to be consensus on certain issues, those nostalgic for the dictatorship are emerging.

This is a garden. To get to the root of it all, and although it may sound very snobby, what I believe is that the ultimate drivers of everything we do, think, and say are love and fear. Everything that makes us distrust others and all prejudices are a consequence of fear. And the only way to end it is with curiosity and empathy, the foundation of which is love. The driving force of polarization is fear, and the tool to combat it is love.