Original subtitles

THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION INSPIRED BY REAL EVENTS.

DECEMBER 4, 1986 THE DAY OF THE MASSACRE

Jeremías!

León,

if you are reading this, it's because I'm dead.

I will have fallen in combat.

True freedom comes when you finally understand your mission.

This silent war is upon us, León.

As someone who has fought on multiple battlefields, I warn you.

The coming war will be the worst this filthy country has ever seen.

Entire families will lie dead, and no one will remember their names.

FUGUE STATE 1986

- Pili! - What?

Can you get the door?

You can't even stand up?

Catalina?

- What's going on? - Marcela!

Someone's trying to kill me!

LOCAL THEATER PRESENTS BLOOD WEDDING

WRITTEN BY FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA

Hi, Jeremías.

Where's Lucía? I need to give her something.

She's not here.

Is she running late?

She's sick. She's not coming in today.

I can take whatever it is you have for her.

My letter of resignation.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

I came to return them all, Ana Luisa.

I don't like owing anything.

All right.

Perfect.

Did you enjoy them?

Sign here, please.

Yes.

Here.

Take good care of your readers.

Take good care of them.

They're our only hope.

Thank you for everything.

Of course.

Welcome, Jeremías.

Your table is ready, as always.

The usual?

No.

Can I see the menu?

Of course.

It's always good to try something new.

I'll have the Neapolitan meatballs

and a vodka with orange juice, please.

Excellent choice.

Excuse me.

Jeremías couldn't have taken the girl.

At the time she went missing, he was killing Nidia and Cristina.

10 DAYS AFTER THE MASSACRE

Think.

Where's the girl?

Coming!

- Where is he? - What are you doing?

Where is she, motherfucker?! Tell me, or I'll kill you!

- Tell me! - Brother, calm down.

Over here.

Polanía, look at me. Calm down, brother.

Calm down.

Calm down.

That's it. Calm down.

Don't forget that León is our only lead.

That bastard won't confess unless someone makes him.

Calm down.

Let's see.

Didn't you and your friend have a so-called Crimes Club?

Okay, now focus.

Look at these. Tell me what you know.

Let's call Ocampo, the girl's father. He can bring his people.

They'll get the truth out of him.

I...

Teresa...

She likes flowers.

She has a notebook that she keeps secret because...

It's a secret herbarium.

And...

And she...

The day I met her...

The day I met her, she was smoking because someone had given her a cigarette.

The person who gave her the cigarette let her out of school, and...

and it was...

the gardener.

The school gardener.

Do we know where he lives?

Let me use your phone.

It's the gardener, Indira.

You're not messing with me?

- Clear. - I'll check the greenhouse.

Okay.

Hello, sweetheart.

It's over.

I won't hurt you.

Where's my daughter?

Where's my daughter?! What the fuck have you done to her?!

Ocampo! Wait.

The girl, Teresa, is alive.

She's alive.

Your dad was a fucking kidnapper.

Fifteen years ago,

your dad aided in the kidnapping of an agent

who was my colleague and friend.

They hid him at your dad's country house.

That's a lie. I remember you.

He was tortured.

And when he was in a bad way,

they didn't even call a doctor.

They let him die.

Your father is as guilty as the murderers.

He just pretended not to see it.

She's only 16 years old.

I was only seven, and you didn't care.

You've been punishing yourself for long enough.

I'm sorry I wasn't there for you.

I'm sorry you had to go through this on your own.

No, I pushed you away.

I isolated myself.

I should've realized, seen the signs.

It's easy to make sense of the past

with the benefit of hindsight.

I won a scholarship.

I'm going to study in France.

Seriously?

You always were the best.

Come with me.

In this city, everything is overwhelming.

My grandmother and I can look after you.

We'd take care of everything. You'd have nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

Except yourself.

Your well-being.

It would make me very happy to have you close by.

Think about it.

There's something else I have to tell you.

Professor.

Good to see you, León.

To see both of you.

Please excuse my appearance.

What happened to you, man?

Nothing. I fell.

"I fell."

Well, I brought him to you, as requested.

It's been an honor, Professor.

I'm so sorry.

Don't be sorry, man.

Death is fair if you've enjoyed life.

Besides, we're all going to die at some point, man.

And, in the midst of it all, I feel lucky, you know?

Look.

DECEMBER 24, 1986

I was able to choose the day I'll be leaving

this crazy, stormy world.

A doctor friend of mine,

whose name we must forget,

is going to help me.

But I asked for some time so I could say goodbye

to my dear friends.

I'm going to ruin everyone's Christmas forever.

Stop that, man.

Don't cry.

I think it's a good plan.

That's enough melodrama.

There's something for you on the desk.

It arrived a week ago,

but I was in the clinic.

UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

CONAN DOYLE AND THE LINK TO JACK THE RIPPER

JEREMÍAS SALGADO BA IN LANGUAGES, 1986

It's an excellent work of fiction

and a great act of revenge.

He sent it to me as a gift.

And there's something else in the envelope for you.

Five cassettes.

I hope they hold the answers you need.

I now understand that my training wasn't just for Vietnam.

It's time to apply the program here.

First, one should aim to fragment the subject's psyche.

There are four hours of recordings on these cassettes.

Everything about the program.

Jeremías recounts what was done to him to turn him into an elite soldier.

Do you think that program is to blame for Jeremías's psychotic episode?

No.

I wish there was an easy answer,

but evil will never have an explanation that will put our minds at ease.

What will you do with them?

They're yours.

There aren't any more?

Just four?

Everything I have of Jeremías is in my head.

And this information could be useful to you.

How's Teresa?

Fine.

She has a family that loves her. That makes all the difference.

León.

I'm reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

I'm guessing it doesn't have a happy ending.

All stories need an ending.

You know this better than I do.

Of the two of us, you've always been the writer.

As for me,

I've always lacked the right words.

Sometimes, to communicate with the world.

Other times, to understand it.

But you know what?

It's not worth being a writer in a society that despises everything.

It's better to act,

and I've always had more than enough imagination

to come up with my own ending.

A heroic act amid this dirty war.

CHAPTER 1: THE CRIMES CLUB

Take care, León.

Take care, my friend.

The world isn't a story with a happy ending.

Sooner or later, everyone turns their back on us.

Everyone.

In a world like this, where strength means power,

it's best to learn to defend yourself.

CHAPTER 5: DIARY OF A FUTURE KILLER

NEW VICTIMS OF THE SAN MARZINO MASSACRE

I write to try to understand.

Could this story have had a different ending?

It's not the big events that determine a man's destiny.

Jeremías Salgado.

It's the little things.

Don Jeremías, go ahead.

Jeremías!

- Hello. - How are you?

I know we've never talked about what happened with your father.

I think it's about time.

You deserve an explanation.

I imagine conversations that never happened...

Did you do the assignment?

...and friendships strong enough to calm monsters.

Look at this beautiful edition.

In life, as in fiction, nothing is ever completely resolved.

THE WITCH

That's the tragedy.

Are we going to focus on witchcraft now?

Can you think of a better topic?

Would one gesture have been enough?

Lately, I've been having strange dreams.

I've been dreaming about

rivers of blood

and dead people.

A lot of dead people.

Dead people that make the news.

I'm starting to worry about the extent of my imagination.

No. That's a writer's raw material, Jeremías.

No serious artist is afraid of their own fantasies.

Can you imagine Edgar Allan Poe being ashamed of his obsessions?

There's nothing wrong with imagining things.

In fiction, anything is possible. You can do anything.

It would be bad...

It would be bad if you actually did it, Jeremías.

No, you can't do everything, León.

There comes a time when the world needs a soldier more than an artist.

Do you understand?

In any case, we both had our war.

I keep battling on the page.

You chose to be a soldier.

I choose to be a writer.

- Help! - No!

Get out of here! Go!

On the floor! Drop the weapon!

On the floor now! Drop the weapon!

Help! Please!

Four hours of recordings, in which Salgado talks all about the program.

He talks about his experience in the army.

Keep them.

Take them, brother. I have copies.

Don't worry.

No one will believe there's a reason for what he did.

No, man. How could there be, brother?

No one is justifying it. Far from it.

Salgado will always be guilty of what he did.

But we both know you did nothing to stop him.

You knew he was unstable.

- No one cared. - Indira...

What do you want?

I want my job back.

I know you can make that happen.

Listen.

I'll tell you something interesting because I like you.

Did you know that Salgado talks about you on this cassette?

About all the meetings you had,

about the plans to set up that program in this country.

It's entertaining. Have a listen.

I recommend it.

Look.

In half an hour, I'm meeting a journalist to tell him this whole story.

In great detail, at that.

Indira.

Why don't you settle for a quiet life?

Because I like my job.

History will prove me right.

Jeremías Salgado is a new type of killer,

and he won't be the last.

There's a new form of violence on the horizon.

Are you sure you want to spend this money on an empty grave?

Okay. Thank you. See you later.

I wanted to tell you I'm writing again.

It's a dark story.

I don't know if that's what the world needs.

But it's what I need.

On December 4, 1986, Campo Elías Delgado, a Vietnam War veteran studying languages,

killed 29 people, including his mother, in Bogotá, Colombia, within 24 hours.

After Vietnam, veterans and psychiatrists demanded recognition

for the mental disorders suffered by soldiers.

The first treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder

began in the US in the 1980s.

Campo Elías is now considered a "spree killer,"

a term that gained prominence in 1999 after the Columbine massacre in the US.

To this day, the killer's body is still missing,

and key documents relating to the case are either lost or inaccessible.

Subtitle translation by: Rob Bell