Original subtitles

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM

I pity you for not understanding

the mysteries of the jungle.

Learn to listen to what you cannot see

and always keep your feet on the ground.

Don't let its sweet nectar lure you.

For you should know, the jungle can give a lot,

but it can take a lot too.

RÍO HONDO. BORDER BETWEEN MEXICO AND BRITISH HONDURAS

Agnes.

Miss, let's get out of here.

Watch out for the prickle, miss.

Norm, why don't you just use the machete?

We can't leave no trace behind.

The jungle likes to talk.

Come on, miss.

Florence?

The canoe is over there.

Be right back.

You could've married that English guy. You know?

You're kind of white enough for his family, so...

you could've become a rich woman.

If it was me,

I would've let him feel in control a few times,

and then, I would've taken control of him.

That's how men are.

I'm not like you.

Gildon, open it.

Come on. Let's go, boy.

Let's go. Good boy.

Good boy.

She's gone, sir.

Someone must be helping her.

My beautiful boy.

Find her for me.

Take the dog and pick up the trace.

We'll go by boat.

Go and find her for me.

Yeah.

Here, everything has the same color.

Everything seems to be...

the same.

Hiding from our eyes.

The butterflies,

the palm trees,

the vines.

Everything seems to be waiting patiently...

for the enemy to come.

So, Norm, why don't we just go over to the Mexican side?

The Mexican side is more dangerous.

And has nothing to do with nature.

- They found us! - Agnes, wake up!

Jump!

They're running away!

Shoot him!

Leave him!

There she is!

Shoot!

Gildon.

Make sure she's dead.

Florence?

Is it late?

Or is it still early?

I don't know what happened.

There's beautiful flowers around you.

I'm so tired.

Are there any flowers around you too?

Can I ask you something?

How does it feel like...

to be with a man?

No one's ever

touched me before.

You've been with so many men.

I wish I was a beautiful flower like you.

Florence?

When you walk through the jungle,

you must always keep quiet.

Don't stop and observe nature.

If you hear voices behind you, don't turn around to look.

Pray she, who you fear and desire,

doesn't appear before you.

For the Xtabay woman knows which way you're going.

Look, those are doctor's or nurse's clothes.

Only they wear white dresses.

Hmm.

Listen, gentlemen,

stop fooling around.

We must find out where this brown girl came from.

But I warn you,

lay a hand on her and you won't see the light of day.

Am I clear?

Yes, sir.

I couldn't cross through the shallows.

With the rain,

all the logs washed away.

I had to go the long way around

and my animals refused to cross

their legs kept sinking and they kept falling in.

They were being real stubborn.

The rain has been heavy, Mundo.

But the working season was good.

Any news from headquarters?

The road to Payo Obispo is still blocked.

But I have other news.

I stopped to take a leak by the road.

I saw a recently-cut tree with a new bag.

It wasn't one from last year.

My guess is it's not ours.

The boss won't like that at all.

I think it must be the English,

they must have crossed the river to steal the gum.

We can't help the boss.

The gum season is over.

We can't solve a problem that's his.

Don't get involved.

I don't think we should do anything either.

Besides, the English are always well-armed.

Calm down, Caimán.

Faisán.

Tomorrow you come with me, we need to find out what's going on.

No, Yuca.

Yuca, don't.

Hold it, Yuca!

You were right, Faisán.

Goddamn Englishmen.

She's waking up.

Ausencio!

Untie her.

Who are you?

Where are you from?

Can you hear?

Come.

Come on.

Are you English?

Are you with those men?

How many men are there?

Calm down!

She can't understand us, you're scaring her.

Do you speak Spanish?

You English?

She's English, sir.

Are you a doctor?

Come.

Come on.

He's sick.

Ill.

You, medicine?

Cure him.

I reckon she must be from the English camp.

But that's very strange.

As far as I know, they have no women with them.

Go collect your bags now. We're cooking all the gum this afternoon.

But be careful,

the English are sure to be armed.

Let's see if you get better now, brother-in-law.

What's your name?

Hello.

Want some gum?

This is gum.

It comes from a zapotetree.

If you chew it, it cleans your teeth.

This kind of gum is good to chew on.

It's chicle.

Would you like to try...

a little piece?

Yeah? It comes from a zapotetree.

You cook the resin and it makes this kind of gum.

Want a piece?

This is how it's made.

Like this. Look.

You take a piece like this.

This is how you chew it. Look, like this.

You have to do this. Like this, look.

Chew it, like this.

Give it a try, try it.

It tastes good.

Chewing it feels good.

Did you like it?

Hilario!

You're very pretty.

Yes?

Hilario!

Come here!

What do you want?

- What? - Why don't you come and help me?

I just wanted to show the girl how to chew gum.

I told her it comes from a tree.

You fool.

It's stuck.

Wake up!

Do something, look at him.

Come on!

You look worse, in-law.

What's your name?

Can I call you lady?

My lady.

Has anyone seen Lázaro?

He's not back yet.

Press downwards.

There you go. Try it.

Cock it.

It's ready to fire.

Upwards.

Don't shoot.

Open it.

Remove the bullet.

Good.

The bolt sticks when it has no bullets.

Push it hard.

It's ready to fire.

Fire!

How nimble

you who are able to love seven times a day.

And yet you cannot resist her love, not even once.

Once you see the Xtabay,

you'll feel like life has revealed itself for the first time.

She'll make you feel like a tree that is blooming in the rain.

You'll feel her eyes piercing you

like two arrows you cannot pull out.

But you won't feel pain nor fear,

only a crazy kind of joy.

You've not heard from Lazaro?

No.

I'm getting worried.

Maybe the English caught him?

I think they did.

And he's just a kid...

so they would've got the whole story out of him.

He's a kid...

so he'll talk, straight away.

So now they know where we are...

and that we have gum. Plenty of it.

Haunted?

Yeah. Haunted by goblins.

They won't hurt you.

- You sure about the goblins? - Yeah. Same goblins.

The only way to avoid them is by hiding your thumb.

With their feet backwards?

Yes, once they see you have no thumb, they'll think you're one of them.

So, Rahim, are you afraid?

You got first watch tonight.

You know I don't want to talk about it.

- Dangerous. - Let's change the subject.

Is that a real girl?

It couldn't be her.

Get her!

Behind a tree.

There.

There.

Leave him there.

There's about 100 kilos.

Here, there's another one.

What happened, Jacinto?

The one-eyed Black guy shot him and got away.

Look, Mundo.

This is for you.

We took it from the Englishmen.

Don't be upset.

The boss will make it up to us.

Those who didn't make it,

they are gone.

That was their sacrifice.

Yeah, right, the boss throws us the crumbs.

He can't bring my brother back.

I agree with Jacinto.

What's he gonna give us?

A few coins, some liquor...

That's all.

Don Onésimo will understand.

And he'll reward us.

Right, Ausencio?

To hell with Don Onésimo.

Tomorrow...

we'll head for the Río Hondo

and get over the border.

We're gonna sell the gum to the smugglers.

They'll pay us a thousand times what the boss will ever pay us.

I know this Mennonite who would buy the whole load.

We shouldn't do that, Don Onésimo will send his people after us.

And if they find us,

they'll kill us.

I don't know about you,

but I'm not going back to Payo Obispo.

No one is gonna order me around anymore.

I think this is our chance.

With the English load,

we have about half a ton.

What do you say, Mundo?

If that's how things are...

I say, let's head to the other side.

- I have nothing to lose. - I agree with Don Mundo.

We're in agreement then.

Cheers.

- Enough. - Down.

Enough.

Down, Yuca!

Steady.

Steady!

I pity you, so innocent and arrogant.

If you had to give your life just to touch her,

you'd give it 70 times over.

Because you've found the Xtabay woman.

But she vanishes like smoke,

and you follow her, like the wind.

Where is she taking you? Where are you going?

The boss found us!

He's going to kill us, like he did with the Tuxpeños that ran off to Guatemala.

He made them suffer.

Shh!

Easy, Campechano! They've passed us now.

He tied them up to a guarumbo tree so they'd get eaten by the ants.

All that was left of them were the bones.

They told him where they stashed the gum, but he showed no mercy.

He made them suffer

and killed them.

Shut up, he can't be looking for us already.

Damn you, Campechano.

Again with that ant story.

One, two,

let's go.

Roll him over.

Push, push!

More.

There.

He's not sinking.

All right now.

Ausencio.

I want to cross the river first.

No, you go last, look after the girl.

In-law.

Go look for someone to help you carry me. I can't stand up anymore.

We can't drag you along anymore, Rubén.

Ausencio,

at least kill me.

Ausencio!

We haven't gotten very far. We're still near the river.

It's the boss's motorboat.

Don't get scared, one-eye.

We're a mile away.

Come on!

Campechano!

Ausencio is getting us lost.

We're just going round in circles.

But we have to keep going.

Now there's fewer of us,

we're going to get more gum.

None who followed the Xtabay ever returned.

Where are they, those that don't come back?

But she won't call those who won't follow her.

Those who wear armor made of hard leather.

There's something there! Turn around.

Campechano lost his nerve.

That's what happens to men when they lose their senses.

It's a panic that spreads through the body.

And makes them run

until they can't run anymore.

So, they trip over

a stick...

or a rock...

and they just lay there.

The boss found us.

Campechano was right.

They aren't the boss's men!

It's the Englishmen!

Jacinto!

Any trace of the girl?

No, sir.

I did search around, but no trace.

Don't touch anything here.

We'll send some men for the chicle.

May you be free of the Xtabay's curse,

you who could not resist her.

If I could give you a talisman, I would,

but there isn't one to give.

I pity you who have been lured by her.

The Xtabay is the woman you desire in all women...

and the one you have not yet found, in any of them.

When you become her captive,

you'll think that she emerges from the trunk of a ceiba tree,

but in truth, she comes from the depths of your own heart.

Inspired by the poems about the Xtabay by Antonio Mediz Bolio

"The Land of the Pheasant and the Deer"

Filmed in Quintana Roo, Mexico. No animals were harmed.

The chicle in this film is organic and biodegradable,

100% sustainably harvested from zapote trees in the Maya jungle,

produced by a co-op under a fair trade scheme.

This film contains poems by Antonio Mediz Bolio,

under copyright protection and based on poems in the public domain

published in the book "The Land of the Pheasant and the Deer".