Original subtitles

This film deals with no nation or regime in particular.

Like cabaret it plays upon contradictory and often irreconcilable aspects

prevailing upon human souls and historical situations any time, anywhere.

You're not ill! Put it out at once!

If the forest starts smelling like kitchen, we're done for.

- Who's that? - Debrieux, specialist in handling crowds.

He worked miracles in Nicaragua. Got the golden prize.

Inauguration of new slaughterhouses. Reinforcements of police measures.

I admit that I cried

when I discovered that Colonel Octavio Prado Roth,

guardian angel of public liberties,

protector of business and benefactor to commerce

deigns us with

a personal visit of encouragement in front of our valiant horned beasts.

Outside of the city and the houses which is the most beautiful house?

It's the large house Houren of Guillermo de Ramonen.

Here green trees traverse from the whole universe.

Stairs wind every which way, A real smuggler cave

Rosewood parquet 'neath your toes

in the house of Anturios

belong to Igno Ramonen, the king of coal and tungsten.

None of your fine points, Mr Morene,

will prevent you from yielding to demographic pressure.

And for that I congratulate myself.

I can hardly put up with the finger you have in every pie.

We all wish, the revolutionary triumph coincide with your downfall.

What you say has no import. Look here.

The mines, tin and coal and some oil here and there.

Majority-owned, all of it.

Fruit. Bananas, foremost. As a banker I loan to farmers.

And as a banker I collect 3 billion without a hitch.

Revolution

is a business like any other.

Sugar, business, millions.

His wife is Marion.

His daughter's heart could charm a king

He's the one who pulls the strings.

Sensational discovery. Professor Palmas. I have succeeded in doubling matter.

Now's the time.

How are they?

You ask me the same thing over and over. How are they supposed to be?

Women.

Women, my dear Gervasio, I just don't understand them.

And yet, if anyone knows everything, understands everything, it is you.

Women.

The last stand of the impenetrable. Extreme triangle of biological mystery.

Mr Palmade, you see no further than your own nose.

The main thing is to give them a little something to chew on.

A kick in the gearbox keeps the pistons pumping.

So, chin up, be brave, They won't eat you.

Mesdemoiselles, I repeat

we are at a simplificatory phase of the nuclear matter,

both fatal and classic,

common to all applications of science.

It remains always the case that planes lose their wings and the telegraph its wires.

The formula presented to you...

Mask up. Bring him to the right.

The side where he has no equilibrium. Idler.

He will be plucked.

He won't make it. Go ahead! Stab him!

The mangy thing'll be eaten.

Bastard bird!

In this space, M. Biron The whistlertrons, the heptatrons

The octotrons, and on and on Science is such jolly fun

My friends and I are dying, dying to discover if the doubling you've told of

is a theoretical construct or spills out into reality.

Into reality, reality.

Due to electromagnetic modulation

I am able to demultiply all cells of any living organism.

In this space, M. Biron The whistlertrons, the heptatrons

The octotrons, and on and on Science is such jolly fun

How? Look, it's only too simple. The coil grinds the current...

Grind? Like the verb?

A pinch of molecules spill onto the edge of the anode.

All that happens as in a usual iconoscope

on condition that my receiver works with radio cobalt.

Iconoscope?

- Radio cobalt? - The pulverizing vibration

reaches the surface of the body of which we desire a copy.

The copy resurges as I wish

at a given point in space,

in accordance with the viewing angle.

Thus at Hiroshima space should have been provided to accommodate the city.

- City? Which city? - Hiroshima.

Hiroshima?

Obviously, in case they decided

not to destroy Hiroshima, the bastards!

but to make another one off it, one just like it.

- Marvellous. - No, not marvellous, infantile.

I have started with radar, which in turn has evolved from a frame

that, in its turn, was created by a mirror. One-two.

I send, I receive, in a word, I rhyme.

We would be thrilled if you showed us that. But what can we duplicate?

This! This!

Doesn't matter. This ball.

Plug it in.

One reservation though: the copy will soon disintegrate.

- How soon? - At most, 56 hours.

And a human body?

Under the same conditions, could your system reproduce it as well?

Nothing prevents it. It will be appropriate in any case

for the experimenter to penetrate the subject of his experiment.

What if it's a woman?

Especially if it is a woman.

How silly they are!

Their questions do correspond however to my own concerns.

You see, Gervasio, what our leftist movements lack,

is the force of breath, is the song of the heart.

Without the breath, without the heat, without that which carries the song,

everything is bound to fall.

But with the breath, everything takes off and rises. To conclude:

The disinherited must find their Jeanne d'Arc.

The short-haired one?

The living banner, I will make it with my own hands.

Tavio? Tavio? Are you there, Tavio?

Of course, I am waiting for you. You know I love, only you.

When?

I'm begging you! Tell me, when? It's too long!

You're tearing it!

- Ouch! You're hurting me! - It's the evil!

It says his name when he leaves.

Tavio? Tavio? He's hung up.

When will Madame cut her folly short?

It's becoming obvious Madame that she would do better being my daughter.

If Madame, she were my daughter

I would put her in a triple tower so she doesn't stomp around.

Leave me alone.

Get away.

They are curling. A sign of rain.

Also, the star Jupiter has foreseen this in the night.

In three days, however much it rains, the knight will knock.

- He will knock. - Go away!

A mare who wants to run always finds a rider.

Vampire! Brute! Aborigine! Bowler hat!

You are making a lot of effort to get rid of the staff.

Your husband knows perfectly well that I am with you.

This kind of guy I call a pimp.

I know pimps very well. But between the two of you, really!

I am Colonel Octavio Prado Roth!

Minister of War,

Director of Military Intelligence

General Administrator of Civil Requests,

responsible for area surveillance

Director of the Police

General Tax Surveyor

and Surveyor

of the Public...

Gardens.

All this I have obtained through merit, by my work.

I am not like you all, son of any father.

I did not need anyone to be born into the world.

At 20 years of age...

a bell-hop for a restaurant,

I educated myself at nights in my loft,

by the glow of my bugle.

You must have polished it quite often!

In a corner I placed a candle.

And it is a man of this mold that you treat like a pimp.

Octavio, listen to me! It's all very beautiful, the loft, the bugle.

Very beautiful, cold wars,

hot wars and warmed up wars. Even civil wars!

How? What?

Sure, it's clear. If the republic were covered in canons, no one would mock us.

We'd shake the whole world with canon balls.

America would buy from us instead of selling us.

What?

We can multiply objects ad infinitum!

It's in all the journals.

You must take sides. You must see Palmas.

Come on! Read!

An ideologist! A dialectic snake slithering on my way.

A brain acrobat!

A sack of lab bugs!

You are about to let go the chance of a lifetime.

I'm sick and tired of your train of thought!

What I need is a lady.

A real lady.

There it is, a word of truth.

Not a train.

I need to relax, to distract myself.

Where is your daughter-in-law?

Mire, Morene's daughter?

There's nothing better than a girl to make a statesmen's moustaches curl.

When you come and visit me...

They are always at the ministry.

Go directly to my room,

last left at the end of the corridor on the first floor.

Watch yourself, you bastard.

The crooks are coming.

Your last twilight

is descending fast.

Professor!

Dear professor! I'm at a loss for words to say how happy I am, I'm delighted.

There are moments I'd not give away for mountains of gold.

You must hate me for keeping you away from your work.

The need to see you has been such a torment

that a day of delay counts for a century. How could I resist?

Palmas, graduate. The greatest of our men of science.

The greatest and the smallest.

I mean, the most modest. The most reserved, like me.

Like me in my tastes. Modest, you see.

Gold and marble, no fake nor stucco.

Wherever you publish, I buy all those journals in bulk.

When I lie down, I lay them on my bed.

But, I'll forget my head next? What can I offer you?

- Whisky? - I am a liberal, Madame.

- Then vodka? - I repeat, I am a liberal.

Please take off your coat at least. Make yourself comfortable.

I swept everything clean.

You are terribly uncomfortable. Let me help you. Come, come, come, come!

My instructor!

My great man! My professor of everything. Here, that's it.

And take this cushion. No, not there, here, here!

As for me, I'll be happy in a tiny little corner.

Is that OK? Are you comfortable? Please look at me, Professor.

I am quite alright, Madame, please.

Ouch! My leg! It hurts again.

- What do you think? - I'm not a doctor!

How can I use a doctor? I need a sorcerer.

But, Madame.

It surprises me, that others may suffer.

And women are others par excellence.

And I am no less surprised that they may, and it's a fine point, experience.

- The opposite of suffering. - The opposite of suffering?

But Professor... This sort of problem...

Really! You are fourteen.

I find women exasperating in that I am unable to penetrate them.

- Are you unmarried? - Oh, unmarried...

Women are as closed to me as mice, or stones, if that shocks you any less.

What a sorcerer brings about

or believes to bring about...

The possession of a conscience which is not his.

Such is, I confess, a little mania of your devoted servant.

I'm coming to the point.

But in waiting you're rotting! You're rotting whilst teaching!

What the government is waiting for, damn it all,

to be able to give you laboratories, megatons, psychotrons,

stenographers, helicopters, millions, all that is needed.

I have two feet on the ground, and two hands.

I'd like to pose a question. What do you make of the Colonel?

The Colonel, I'd stuff him! Yes, Madame!

- That's what I'd do with the Colonel. - The Colonel is not that evil.

And the constitution? Do you know what he plans to do with the Constitution?

No, I won't tell you. You are a woman.

The Constitution? Octavio has only the best plans for it.

And what distinguishes him from all other politicians,

is that he isn't a man of words. Blah-blah-blah-blah....

He is a butterfly with a cavalry saber!

But people only need a mouthful. It's a sure thing, simple math.

You have healed me. I told you you were something of a sorcerer.

I read lots of stories. A sorcerer, as you say,

is able to transfer into a piece of stone

or even a corpse, the energy he is charged with.

Magic is an ancient science. Science is young magic.

Exactly.

We have been present, me and my husband, at scenes of sorcery.

Notice that it's always the same.

One experiences doubts as to whether it is staged or real.

Explorers change into tourists and savages become actors.

Now, I must say,

two years in a forest, and no jostling.

Men follow on their heels,

a bird's feather, a fish bone

charge with the force to be false,

life enters death,

Spirit returns to stone,

the diver touches the shore.

Scientists are all little boys, you know.

Guess what it cost us. Guess.

Some cigarette packs, I suppose.

What a prophet!

Four feathers of Wira-kuru

on Mukara's skin. The four flashes of lightning.

- The four lengths of return. - Wonderful! Is it yours?

It's pre-Cortezian mythology.

- Gripping! - Through my mother,

I have had a share of Wutoto's blood.

Wutoto! Now I understand!

I understand the power you exercise over objects.

- I would like to show you so much! - You'd like it that much!

It seems miraculous.

What do you mean, miraculous? You will see by yourself.

- But it's a common... - What - No, no...

The energy is not in the reels, darling. It's there.

Tell me. Can your contraption replicate a canon?

- Why a canon? - A canon that would be able to shoot like one. Bang!

Nothing to prevent that. But my consent will be necessary.

And so, reduplications will follow

and the republic, in the end, will be covered with canons.

In theory, yes, but...

What are all the canons for?

I said canon as I would say bombers.

The U.S.A. would give their eye teeth for your bombers That's what they're for.

You wouldn't have an amplifier?

No, not really.

A fork will do.

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. That's it, very good.

There we are. Where's the socket?

- There, in the corner. - Thrilling.

- Can you sing? - Why?

When a sorcerer gets to work, it's necessary a woman sings.

Sing? There is nothing easier.

Do you have a beauty spot?

Can't you see?

I have one here.

Well, the beauty spot will be on the hip, no doubt.

The hip?

On the hip of the woman that I will build in your image.

- Will she look like me? - To the point of being mistaken for you.

- I forbid you. - Don't move. I am capturing you.

- It is time to fill the frame. - No, I forbid you to try it on me.

Do not forget that you are a functionary.

Please don't move, I'm aiming.

No. I am not a molecule.

Look out! It's coming.

What sort of woman is this?

In that outfit.

- Who is it? Oh, who is it? - You.

- Me? - Your exact replica.

- My god! I could chop off my hands for having received you.

First, why is she naked?

What if she starts talking and walking around with my tongue and my legs?

Professor, you scare me so. What are you hiding?

I order you! I order you to make that thing disappear.

Or I'll call....

No one will believe you.

We are alone in this, darling. Alone.

And you are exulting just like me. Sulking, but exulting.

And my invention

instead of serving the schemes of your stupid colonel

will bring our unhappy brothers

the light, the warmth, the flame that they lack.

Like a sorcerer penetrating death

I will enter

deep into this simulacrum of you.

Professor?

Professor? Are you there? I can't see you.

What is happening? The horror! What horror!

There we are!

Here I am!

Me, Democrito Palmas,

I am in the woman.

Epidermis and organism.

It sways and it rolls.

The torch has stopped fumbling in the dark.

I am a mammal at last, for good.

Where are you heading?

Some physicians inoculate themselves.

Me,

scuba diver of biology,

I immerse myself in woman.

I adhere to what I explore.

The error succumbs as the distance perishes.

My mother...

appeared to me

to be heavy.

But no. Not at all.

A blimp.

I feel light, so light.

Should I put on a bra?

I will. For the shape.

And this kind of ribbon?

with the hanging buttons. It's for the stockings.

This is amusing, I must admit.

This must go there.

What a funny mechanism.

My dress by Nina de Ricci! Damn it all!

I'm not sure how to put it on so that it sits right.

Ah! The way I speak! All in the masculine.

I have to conform to my new sex.

From the grammatical angle, too.

It's not a question of chronaxie.

Man turns into woman, Flour into wheat.

But hunger is still there, the hole is still as great.

Theodora?

Theodora?

Theodora?

What occupies Madame now?

He has dared! He copied me!

So?

My granny told how, before the Spanish, not that long ago,

the dead, they were made to walk.

For walking, for sitting, how striking it is to be a woman!

Nothing in the way or sticking out.

Below the waist one basks in the void.

What lightness! What happiness! I am free! Freedom, that's me!

Women! What are you waiting for in your fourteen skirts?

Die in squalor?

Rise out of your misery! Walk! Run! Rise!

Be free!

Do not ask for liberty, take it! Free men make free nations!

The experiment is in process. I am a dancer, my friend.

Ah, it's you?

Yes, this is me. I've come. Mr Pascual, is it here?

It is here. I thought you weren't coming.

See, Mr Pascual, I promised I'd come. And I have.

It's cardboard, my friend, your cavern.

Who is on the other side.

I don't know. People. Nobody.

- Daddy's in the mines too. - Daddy, too?

You won't lump your father

in with those poor wretches dying in the mines?

Well, Pascual. Is that all you have to say?

I am a student.

Some students are golden, I am next to nothing.

You, you are the enemy.

Banana, coffee, cod.

- There is no cod production in the republic. - Here's a chance!

You can be the fishwife. You'll pull all the strings you want.

Strings, my friend, are prone to tear.

Let's talk about that.

Your father has the Colonel. He can cough up plenty.

In tennis you are more skilled. The balls follow you.

You seem to call them. You charm them.

I don't know how you manage.

A racket must be balanced.

493g weighted with pharmaceutical accuracy.

Too heavy at the head, and it carries you off.

Too light, and you cramp up.

Your wrist hardens to the point of breaking.

My dear Pascual. Now that we're through with all those follies...

...die and go to hell.

Gentlemen.

This meeting is the last one prior to the execution of the Colonel.

They want to kill the Colonel.

...we will force Greece to produce meat for the nation,

- for humanity! - Who bothers you in the government?

- The one shouting is father's friend. - Quiet.

For pity's sake! For your father's sake.

I cried. I wailed like a banshee

when in our executive chamber

the flower of bulk butchery

sounded the republican hymn The banner of liberty!

...is rising in our hands! - Sit!

Everybody be seated! Sit!

One is drowning in spittle.

In Spain the spittle fucked us up big time.

Spittle needs a lot of time to kill.

As for me, the spittle comes out of my balls.

Thank you, Colonel Cain. You, Ezekiel?

In the Chibcha quarter they live together in families of thirty, dying of humidity.

You know what Chibcha means? It means poor.

People who don't eat, are eaten by lice. Water at will, but no canalisation.

Chibcha like me, we were the first, before the Spaniards came, we were there.

They die waiting. Instead, they make a statue of the Holy Virgin of Chibchas.

Friends!

It is bestial to again have to go through all the reasons

which determine us to fight against tyranny.

I have something more digestible to serve you.

We have informed the police. One of us is a traitor. He must pay.

- Who is he. - Don't move.

He is practically dead already. The Central Bureau condemned him today.

- He'll be executed. - Shout and we'll be heard.

- Name him! Bastard! - He's here among us. He'll show himself.

I authorize him to say a few words, but it won't change a thing.

Coral, you know me. It's not me, It's not possible.

Listen to me, please.

Coral, you can't do this to me.

I met this photographer by chance outside the district.

It's chance that brought us together.

Password? So what, should I have run away?

All my life I've chewed on Cain's balls.

- Listen, if you move we're both dead... - Now I'm a man, I wash my feet.

- I'm not afraid to die. - Unhappy silence.

You call this a man! You and the Colonel are alike.

It's done, Ezekiel, you are going to die!

Fucking crook! Goddamn roach!

Do you live in this cubbyhole?

Somewhat crammy for two.

Your profession?

- I'm a student. - Imbeciles.

Fun from morning till night.

Clumsy oaf! Get your foot of that.

Senator Turnosch. What are you doing here?

I made that one myself.

That'll do. You, student, take him down.

Put him in your sheets. They'll be dirty. Nothing more natural in a hotel.

Don't be afraid. The boss of the barracks is an advocate for liberty.

- Go! - With this guy?

With this guy, you pipsqueak.

Ezekiel, this evening, you'll be tucked up in your coal sack.

And this stool pigeon will be flying up the chimney.

The gasworks night crew are all for justice and liberty too.

Uncle, we don't need you anymore.

With my heart, I'd rather leave.

Mademoiselle, what are you doing alone with this guy?

I wasn't alone, Colonel. I was with him.

Colonel? I don't like this.

Now, you are Morene's daughter.

The sugar factories, the coal mines.

You are well informed.

I will search you.

Search me? You're not serious.

The Revolution does not joke. Undress!

- I'm hiding nothing. - Nothing?

- Nothing. - Show me.

- I want to clean them. - I'll clean you up.

I'll take care of him. Less noise that way.

Haven't you understood anything?

He works for us.

He brought the girl.

Such people we employ nowadays!

The meeting is adjourned.

What you must get into your head, Miss...

is that we are after the Colonel's skin.

In two days, at your place, Anturios you'll give your spring ball.

You will invite me. I'm your friend, and you will invite me.

If you do not move the world, The world's riches you will lack,

but if you go into the world, the world can't hold you back.

It's you? What have you put on?

As you see. I am a sergeant of the police.

So you're in the Colonel's service. I thought you didn't like him?

The Colonel is a scumbag!

- So what's this? - The government hands them out to us.

It will happen at the racecourse. The day after tomorrow, Sunday.

- Are you into racing? - Horses excite me!

On Sunday, don't go.

I'll be on duty in the grandstand.

I'll have my prescription machine gun.

I'll gun down the Colonel at the end of the third race.

When the teletypes publish the results of the third,

our friends around the country will know this scumbag Octavio Prado Roth

has collected his last salvo.

I swear to you, might is right.

And me, I can shoot straight.

When the Colonel is eliminated, we will distribute the arms.

We are expecting a full boat of them, The Leopard.

Where are the arms coming from?

Whether for the government, or its opponents,

weapons will always come from the same supplier.

Augusto, what a philosopher you are!

Weapons have no opinions. Come, you.

This evening the peppers swim in cream.

What does he mean, pepper?

A policeman, and you are the cream.

The Leopard hasn't arrived.

Ask for the "Diario National"!

Old Montene can well be a reactionary, that'll always make him a buck.

Ask for the "Diario National"!

I bet there are miners in here from Cognaka,

who would be hard pressed to name

their trade union initials in the correct order.

So one day they appear at Galitto's

and for them it's like bathing in music, in light!

Don't speak so loudly!

All the free citizens of a free republic

have the right to paint!

Painting, philosophy!

Atlantic, Pacific, I float between the two

If you want to see the Tropics, look into my baby blues.

When I dance with him, I do not dance with Pedro,

When I trot with Pedro, I do not trot with Luis

The Iberian-American sings and dances best

We practice music That gives life to all the rest

When I float with Luis, I do not float with Marco

When I trot with Luis I do not trot with you,

And this mouth on my mouth of a persecuted guy

As soon as my tongue touches you You know liberty

When I dance with Luis, I do not dance with Pedro

When I dance with Pedro, I do not dance with Luis

Brava! Brava!

The whole race, now embrace possess me, my public

Our clamour for love effaces everything that makes us weak

When I dance with Marco I do not dance with Pedro

When I dance with Luis I do not dance with Pablo

What a number!

Madame!

With all my heart, what talent you have!

- Is this your first production here? - First time for anything!

- Really? You've never been in the theatre before? - Never.

It's not usual for such stars to show the clients their birth certificates,

or their passports.

As you see, I'm not secretive.

Madame, may I have the pleasure of seeing you at this address?

There is a ball tomorrow.

Mademoiselle, I am infinitely grateful for your invitation

which I accept without reserve.

If you deem my presence acceptable without inconvenience.

Latin America is one huge termites' nest of dictators.

None of our republics has succeeded in getting rid of their epauletted bogeymen.

The military envoys, I give you my word,

of the Spanish or Portuguese king, invisible, ineradicable, eternal.

Take for instance boxing.

Bantamweight, flyweight,

we have them by the score, but when it comes to putting on a heavyweight

one has to go looking, I assure you.

And science, believe me, we're so small, so small.

- I assure you. - Conclusion?

When your crappy colonel hits the ground, his face crushed underfoot,

and this moment's not far off,

we will give our people the only remedy that can save them.

The only one!

- Which remedy? - A liberal, democratic state.

- We shall see! - I believe the moment has come.

- In any case, I am ready. - What are you waiting for?

What I am waiting for? The big moment in my life.

I am waiting to meet the tyrant, face to face, real close.

My friend, you are priceless.

When liberty triumphs, I will consider paying attention to your good looks.

- Till tomorrow! - Until tomorrow, noble knight!

In the time when time passes, time makes time pass,

The time passes into space, The time passes into time.

What a surprise! I didn't think I'd have the pleasure of seeing you at my place.

Would you have an invisible clasp?

A charming pretext! All the clasps you like.

Have you never seen me? What's bothering you?

Imagine, yesterday I went to a sort of cabaret performance.

And there was this woman, and it was you!

- She looked exactly like you! - You're a pain in the neck!

I have invited 3,000 people tonight, generals, ministers, writers, and the like.

How can one expect there not to be a bunch of bores,

layabouts and nincompoops.

Well. When the Colonel appears,

you storm into the cavalry song.

Of course, you'll never top the voice of the Colonel.

Should we cut the lobsters in two or in four, director?

As usual. Ask the maitre-d. But what about you?

- Do you know your job well? - My job, I'll do it.

Put down your cigarette.

- Learn to do your job! - My job, I'll do it!

I have the honour to inform you the Colonel will arrive at 23:30.

- My house belongs to the Colonel. -The police are all in civil attire.

- And so, invisible. - Mackintosh and black fedora, I know.

Ah! I recognise one who passes through walls!

I couldn't hold back, these two in disguise wanted to dance.

We're in no doubt. How do I introduce you?

Wait... I am engineer... Exquisite!

- Like the cigarette! - You are an engineer?

He's a friend from abroad. He comes from the mountains.

In the mountains we eat outside.

With all the waste from tonight you could feed a child for a month!

There'll be one at least, as you are here.

The right runs the risk of making too many concessions to the left.

So that in the end, no one can recognise themselves.

And that puts the whole country in a fever!

And when fever rises,

shares fall.

Trust me, my friend, sell. Do as I do, sell.

Do you recognise him, Miss?

- Who? - The loofah.

- The waiter. - This one?

He took employment uncorking bottles here.

- At the same time, he's checking me. - I see, trust prevails.

Revolutionaries may sway, revolution is perpendicular.

Viva! Viva!

Rise. Do as everybody else. Come on, Get up. Higher, bigger, make haste.

This guy. Seeing him, I'd fuck it all up.

You hear that! Constitutional securities are suspended,

youth is deprived of ideals.

Small farming enterprises still work as 3,000 years ago.

You know what he gives the owners.

- Think of a number! - I'm not very knowledgable.

More than 7%! And the bastard laughs. That's what it means to him.

Dear Joaquim,

I had no doubt

that Velasquez, the great painter

had painted your portrait.

Look! I am talking about the midget!

Don't be so shocked. This Velasquez is probably fake like all the Velasquez.

- Bastard! - Would you like to describe the political

situation of your beautiful land?

Who could be better qualified to answer than Mr President of the Council?

So I will do my bit.

One more... time.

Joaquim!

What has been exhausting the revolution?

The opportunists.

Apostles of democracy and violence are in dispute over our flesh.

Thanks to Colonel Octavio Prado Roth

we could, until now, eschew the shame of being in the hands of a single person.

- This is rich! - Quite rich!

Let us raise our glasses to the health of one that I'll allow myself

to call a swell guy!

- I'll do him in! - Continue, and I'll kiss you!

Le Colonel Octavio Prado Roth!

I hope he doesn't choke. Watch out, damn it!

He still has the whole day.

- His life is important to you? - Too much.

The worst thing the Colonel could do

the pinnacle of meanness, would be to croak before the set date.

It's no fun here. Come with us!

While you are playing the fool, there are wretches dying!

Not far from here are street puddles where the disinherited come to get water.

They are repugnant!

The poet!

The whole odour is in the tail, like in lobsters.

Under the eyes of the bleached out sun,

Amazon springs from underground

Amazon springs out from the night of the elementary mountain.

Child, little child, who wants to touch the moss

and the flower...

of danger.

Small child who wants to dance and there and there

And suddenly the foam and the... racket...

Of capitals, the problems, the plugged up chambers

You should have stayed in Europe, on Montmartre.

While you guard this crook of a Colonel you'll remain the shame of the Earth.

You haven't read Hugo I suppose. Well I have! And Lamartine who explains all!

Unproductive! Pretentious! Children of the Pope!

And among us

the one who loomed over him

A line of double blood

which is Spanish and Chibcha

that makes our homeland united, one and complete

Ah, Mr Palmas, you have returned?

I have defended him well for you.

- Leave! - It's you, it's more you than I could imagine.

- This is rather amusing. - For me it's a catastrophe.

- They will all be thrilled. - It's a scandal.

This Palmas!

Heavens, what a whale!

I'll harpoon it...

willingly!

One whose mother is misery,

one whose goods are pain and trouble

- This is the one closest to my heart - Back off, you band of brutes!

It's for him that my heart tick... tick... tock

I don't care if you're shocked

I cherish whom I will

Let him be!

I choose without hesitation

Such as loses days inside your hell

Go showy popinjay

Go now where they wait

Step over the assholery

Va-va-ou, Va-Va-ou,

The easy way, if I may say

In the mine

and on the Pampas

When I'm naked with no comb and no bath

It's to the world I give, give, give

The oil from my balls, to everyone even to crooks

because I am good, very good and I say

I am your paradise

Go showy popinjay Go where you are expected

Step over the assholery

Va-va-va-ou, Va-va-va-ou,

All in one,

Let them come together and climb my flanks

they are so nice, for blacks, whites and brown

for the emigrant and the autochtone

That get shoved back, and they wield the baton on

starved to death, lice crawl in view

those whose faces stand out among you

the dogs, the ouroboros

Va-va-là-où, Va-va-là-où,

You'll see the drama if it goes bang.

- Where is he? - In the cellar maybe. I know the place, I'll take you there.

Sometimes they stage spectacles there, the cultural side of my mother-in-law.

Here we are in the dressing rooms.

Look, this is awful!

The bastard! It's all done for! Damn him, he's no longer alive!

How can I kill him tomorrow, now?

- You have no tact. - Well, what about him!

A dirty trick he's played me!

Croaking on the eve of his own death.

He was so alive, alive and well!

Always gallant. One could hear him laugh from ten meters away.

- Have you seen the Colonel. - Here he is.

A doctor! Right away! A doctor!

No doctor can help.

I won't hold back. This premature death is a catastrophe.

No one in our entourage must know of his death.

Don't stir from here. No one should enter this room.

It must be made clear to everyone that the Colonel is slightly unwell.

- La Morene is coming. - She mustn't know.

What's happening? What is it?

We're busy. Leave us.

The rising of price of sugar

is not worrisome if accompanied by a consumers' strike.

But no one considers putting salt in their coffee. Return at once to the guests.

What are all these secrets!

Everyone must dance upstairs. The Colonel is adamant about this.

Do as I say and leave me alone.

Darling, go upstairs and bring me the medicines.

I guarantee you that we're at a turning point.

- You believe so? Anyway, as for me, I've always defended liberty.

Whatever happens, I have no fear. But let others clink their glasses.

- The Colonel is conversing with my husband. - Perfect.

Look at all the funeral faces? Rouse yourselves, my little angels, shake a leg!

I want to see a spring in your step.

Dance, amuse yourselves. You are young, damn it!

- Hey! - Who's looking for me?

- My father! - Her father?

Excuse me, I dozed off. As soon as it strikes ten,

I fly to he regions of the dead, who are the real living beings.

How strange, isn't it?

- What is? - That we are in this square block.

Grace is with you. Spirit, with me.

You have freed us of all logical necessities

by the sole virtue of starry numbers.

You, an old friend of my father!

I take our embrace for granted.

The archangel always knows where to strike.

You'll see here in a moment the leaders of revolutionary movements

to which you belong.

Don't worry. I'm not reproaching you.

Gentlemen, no one will reproach you for your loyalty to the Colonel.

His death sets you free. These gentlemen have, for several months,

constituted the Central Bureau of the Revolution.

Invested with the formidable honor of leading

the Republic after the announced popular uprising.

- Announced? - Ordered.

At any rate, fatal and foreseen.

It's a catastrophe!

Gentlemen,

I give you my word that

the Central Bureau has nothing to do with this regrettable accident

Frankly, I can't imagine that this homicide was plotted by the victim himself.

- If so, by whom? - By a number of isolated fanatics.

A revolution prematurely started cannot but fail.

Look at Europe!

The uprising against the Chancellor Adolf Hitler,

you know what I mean, of July 20th, 1944, fell through!

It was 12:42 exactly.

The causes of this failure?

On the one hand, the lack of any real agreement between the conspirators.

- On the other hand... - The bomb. They chose a bomb.

It's mathematically proven,

that the infallibility of bombs manifests itself in international wars only!

What is to be done?

He's not there. We must move on.

Without weapons we cannot act.

Excuse me! A delayed boat shan't make you miss the meeting of a century!

- More grand expressions! - The material side is what's important.

- We can always postpone. - Await their move.

We must call the Americans.

Conclusion: at a set day and hour a series of events must be set in motion.

The Colonel must be assassinated tomorrow at the racecourse grandstand.

- After the third race. - But dear Guillermo,

how will the Colonel not only let himself be assassinated at the racecourse

- but even get there in the first place? - We will gun down his corpse.

- Who'll take on this dirty task? - You.

Shoot a corpse?

This sort of idea can only grow in capitalist realms.

Young man, you are right.

Somebody, who is alive and well will have to play the Colonel's part.

A volunteer.

This volunteer, this hero, is here with us.

It is you, young man.

No!

Descend, me, to the place of the Colonel?

No. For me the revolution is over.

I've seen enough. Done enough. Farewell, I'm going home.

For example, Pio!

Dear Pio!

Here you are!

A good man, at last. And a true fighter.

The sight of him warms your soul, huh?

Him!

During the civil war he did not content himself to preaching as you did.

He showed himself, risked his life.

Tell them! All you've done.

Tell them. Go ahead!

- Go ahead! - In Spain, we did not wear gloves.

The girls of the Right, when we could lay our hands on one, we let her have it!

With beret on head, without spitting out the cigarette,

the Francoist bitch ended up screaming with pleasure!

And all that time her mother stood behind the door with her rosary.

This one here? I killed him!

What? You did?

I couldn't restrain myself. When the chick started singing...

I ran up behind this scumbag colonel and hammered him from behind,

the best way to finish him off without a gun,

I entered after him and continued on his skull

and throttling. I couldn't resist. It's stronger than me.

You've lost your mind. We'll put you on trial.

We'll condemn you!

Later!

But as you represent revolutionary sincerity... Which is what it is, isn't it?

How do you propose to work around the confusion that you've created?

He is asking you... How do we deal with the shit

that you've dragged us through? Speak. We will do as you say.

There is no second choice. Just one option.

- Out with it! - Someone must sacrifice themself.

- Someone? Who? - A volunteer, of course.

- Who? Say it! - Who?

You know very well. You are like him.

There is only you. Goodness gracious.

But... Pio!

Pio!

You want my pals to

shoot me? Is that what you're saying?

Mr Alvarez...

you are worrying me.

There is one thing that you don't know and I am going to tell you.

You march towards the assassination of a dictator on condition that it's not you.

Well.

This is clear.

I'll go.

- What a relief! - We knew he couldn't act otherwise. - A hero!

- Let us exchange clothes at once. - Please, sit down.

You, Miss, have a way with mirrors. Take care of the face.

Go ahead, don't be afraid! He won't bite!

Raise your head. Like that.

We count on you, Mr Lopez-Villa,

nothing is supposed to change in the Colonel's habits and attitudes.

The Colonel is alive! He is alive and well!

- See you tomorrow! - This time he won't escape!

Don't spoil him for us before the big day comes.

I will restrain myself. He's a friend.

Stupefying resemblance. It seems we only have to accentuate it.

What happened to Colonel Octavio Prado Roth?

I'd like to know. After all I am the President of the Council.

Our beloved Colonel works too hard. You'll be the death of him!

He has fallen like a blob onto a bed of fortune.

Sell, sell.

- It smells worse and worse. - Call the newspaper.

If the rabbit dies before the dog barks, we should take the plunge at once.

There are very alarming rumors. What is true in all this?

- What do you mean? - The Colonel!

These journalists and their imagination!

Colonel Prado Roth!

Dear Colonel, we have all been thrilled, gratified.

Aya! Aya!

I have never doubted the immortality of the noble Colonel. Never.

- I am the first one to proclaim! Aya Aya.

The molecules arrange themselves in angles elastic.

The result, however, is of an order politic

What is the relation between the death of the colonel

and the luminous rays?

- None. - None, he says.

You are mistaken.

We touch the outer edge.

Come with me. You'll see the sun rise.

Come! There will be no road,

only the great way.

The way that we follow

to flee error, and any doubt.

We all will leave at home

our festive attire.

Careful not to lose our minds

we're on our way to kill the beast.

You are somewhat off-color.

And if you are half-dead, it's of no importance for us.

In fact, you'll be dead anyway in two hours.

I'm talking to you, Coral, do you hear me?

Wake up, for goodness sake! Your part's not done yet.

Olé!

What are the colonel's engagements for today?

General Gonziano, Chief of Security is summoned for twelve thirty.

The minister will receive the general in bed.

I mean without getting out of bed. You will play the go-between.

Deal with this Gonziano quickly and don't show yourself to anyone.

But... at the racecourse?

The affair will be carried out when you arrive at the grandstand.

Here is something to reassure you as to the risks you are running

of being revealed.

May I ask whether the committee plans a new general election?

New general election? What for?

Under pretext of emerging from a political crisis

we shan't fiddle with the constitutional organization of the republic.

What is imperative, is that the people's interests are entrusted to men

who represent veritable values.

Which are?

Which are? What a singular question.

Authentic values, obviously.

Also...

Superior values. I almost forgot those.

Coral, get up!

Get up!

As you are imminently to be killed...

as minister, colonel and dictator.

Pieces of you, massacred and dragged about by the people

will be buried under the name of Prado Roth, that goes without saying.

Do you have family?

- An old aunt. - Perfect.

I have the honor to inform you, that for them you are already dead.

You're being mourned as we speak.

Wherever you turn, the horizon is blocked.

You are dead. Decidedly, the only thing left for you is to die.

By the way, who's to kill you at the racecourse?

Me.

No jokes, please.

In my absence, if for some reason I weren't there

I mean in the uniform of a sergeant of security, it should be Sgt. Sornossa.

Is he a good shoot?

Quite.

Quite.

You, no cold feet now! Or I'll croak you.

That'll do.

I am an old utopian.

What you demand of this person is superhuman.

You require that he, with a happy heart, meet not only death but torture.

You cover him with the insignia of power to lead him to slaughter.

This is what the Aztecs did. Bookworm! You should know better!

But look at him!

What? You are afraid! You don't want to die!

Nobody wants to die. Therefore...

I will phone security.

Liberty screwed by this chickenshit.

I'll give you a beard like Ezekiel's.

All the left is condemned. Repression will be terrible.

I recognize my mistakes.

I apologise to you all.

I will do whatever you wish.

I will go!

I will be having breakfast just opposite. There is a teahouse.

- The Parisian? - Sure.

They even serve these langoustines.

Viva la liberté! It is only liberty that counts! We'll live to see her coming!

All the city on their feet. 400,000 citizens. I can hear them.

Behind, farther away, everywhere.

Let us return to the wood.

Let us return to the roads.

What a herd!

Sweet flour of Guadalupe! And the cows!

A walking anthill.

Even the bulls are coming

The bulls, too! The courdigou, too!

Everyone on the streets of Balthazar.

Viva la liberté!

You kill yourselves in the mines. You never rest.

Why? Because you are not supposed to reflect.

Who will protect you? Who will defend you? Liberty!

I will put you to bed.

Look at this rag doll! He can't stay up straight!

Secret files have to be obtained.

And in the barracks

- there are golden ashtrays. - Gold?

Solid gold. Are we going?

This once, you've piqued my interest. Hit the road, noxious toad.

Mademoiselle.

Mademoiselle Nierth.

This is the end. The net's tightening. They are going to kill me.

You will definitely fall in my esteem if you let them kill you.

- But Sayas and your father... - Don't involve them.

- What am I supposed to do? - Revolt.

- Against whom or what? - Against the revolution!

They want you to act the Colonel. Well, act the part.

Act like him as long as you can.

Look at him. He's not afraid of anyone.

He laughs at them.

Do you hear, Coral?

I am talking about you. Proof? Please.

General Gonziano, Chief of Security of the territory will be here shortly.

Holy Virgin! The graduate Sayas

said that I should have stayed in bed.

You fool! Receive the general standing and remember that you are in charge.

Of course you will receive the general here.

One can see almost as much.

General Gonziano is no fool. He'll understand...

The Colonel is so fearsome, the General will be delighted to see him changed.

So, what should I do?

Do as you please!

Do as you please!

Do what amuses you.

Act as if you were at home. You are in charge. Everything here is yours.

The more brutality and injustice the less his surprise.

General Gonziano!

I'll be here. Watching you.

Show him in.

Minister, not the least doubt remains.

Silent!

- A menace of extreme gravity is upon us. - Silence!!

And public order. The menace concerns...

- your person. - I order you to sit!

No, no, no. Sit.

What is it?

- I order you to sit. - But! - No buts!

I refuse to give you a lead.

As Chief of Security of this country it is in my power...

Nothing is in your power.

- It is in my power... - Everything is in my power and mine alone!

I hate pessimists.

Yes, my information points to...

I will hang you by the middle finger!

But, Minister!

You! All I am asking! All!

Is to stop pestering my ears!

Security to General Prado Roth!

Security to General Prado Roth!

- There is a suspicious assembly in Redemption Park. - Stop that!

in the vicinity of the forest.

Dear Joachim, where were we before they came bothering me!

We were on the highway.

You had the grace to ask me about this machine.

As I told you, the excavator permits the advancement of 10m a day.

Let them make haste a little! 10m a day!

In our day and age!

The highways are somewhat slower than the cars.

In this case the excavator replaces a working day of 50 lumberjacks.

I see, it uproots trees and lumberjacks at the same time.

But tell me, dear Joachim, may I call you by your Christian name?

This is a favor to which the Colonel had the grace to accustom me.

We are soon arriving at the edge of the Valarte massif. - The Valarte massif?

- A piece! - The ground profile makes a tunnel a necessity.

This tunnel will cost us a lot of time.

- We will use the Jumbo, of course. - The Jumbo?

It's not about our old dance rhythms that were so lively.

But an electric pick on wheels.

An American system... I suppose.

No, it is the idea of one of our compatriots, engineer Tomas Ortiz Garel.

What?

At last, good news!

We must reward this engineer.

- Tomas Ortiz Garel is imprisoned. - Reward him

in prison. - I will make a note.

What pleases me,

what amuses me,

is the highway. I've decided. The beginning the highway

will carry some students to the virgin parts of public gardens. Adorable!

Dare to say that the area is not all a public garden.

For the love of our America

I adore progress.

I want that the workers benefit

from formal guaranties or the promise of such, no less formal.

Unfortunately

we still have tribes who live in wretchedness

and the rest with those flags on our heads and black between our toes, what are we?

Nonetheless some sort of tribe. Which explains that we need

to be taught

by people who are stronger than us and buy the fucked up junk.

Even if we have to feign sleeping with that tiresome Marion Morene

so that the machines and the strings

can be exchanged

under the table.

But these humiliating sacrifices

that I am offering

are for the Homeland, for Justice and for Liberty.

What? You're still here sonovabitch!

Not at the racecourse getting killed?

What is happening? Who is this man?

This animal was sticking all he could lay his hands on into his pockets.

He slaughtered the jam jars with pistol, while using the gun butt.

Such characters

in my office! Sir!

What are your policemen doing?

Me, a fanatic? What about you?

He said he was for the Revolution, that he would topple the Colonel.

When I killed the Colonel, it worried me so much

the central committee decided he would pass himself as the Colonel.

And it was agreed, that he would let himself be killed at the races.

At three, because that is the hour that the dance must commence.

And now he really takes himself for the Colonel!

He knows the plan! He knows where the weapons are stored!

The Revolution is fucked because of him!

Rid me of this man!

The generals, the cops,

the officers, screw them all!

His aunt is a laundress. I killed your crook of a Colonel.

He is a traitor to all sides. Stop him, for Christ's sake!

Stop him! Stop him!

- General Gonziano! - At your orders!

You, Battista, take notice!

The armored cars will stay put until new orders.

Also the third regiment of line infantry. Put the batteries in place.

The squadron

with their light vehicles

will surround the port.

Say, Pascual...

You will meet Morelli, Alvrieux, all the bunch...

You know the password?

Justice and liberty.

They're only boys!

- Tell them there's a light twist to the programme

with a demonstration in front of the ministry.

They'll be suspicious.

Please understand!

I want to bring them all together

in a single heap,

to collect them all up...

to...

crush them!

If I must!

Who will protect you? Who will defend you? Liberty!

With your teeth, with your eyes, be the wolves!

Who will protect you?

Who will defend you? Liberty!

Don't get under my feet.

Darling, I'll act the Colonel until the very end.

The end is nigh.

Kill him!

Kill him! The bastard!

Liberty!

They are strong. I know them.

When this kind of march is under way, how would you stop it?

It's the ocean, it's nature.

We risk all falling in.

And now, the fat lady sings.

We will have the tyrant's skin.

We need nothing but our hearts, and our hands.

Everybody to the ministry!

- Liberty! Liberty! - Stop! Stop!

The moment has not yet come. You are compromising our cause.

Stop!

My love! My friend! Thank you!

Thank you for me, for them,

for us. Thank you for everyone.

There is no example of anyone who has gone so far in their sacrifice.

My friend, my love, how great you are!

Miss...

don't take it wrong, what can I say, I burst with heat, I explode with intensity!

Women sleep with men. A filthy oddity.

The nurseries are proof. I voluntarily admit that men sleep with women.

Well, it doesn't sting. Which do you find of use?

- The blue ones. - Me too.

- You too? - For the armpits of course.

Breathe on me.

Coffee, cigarettes, maybe a suspicious molar.

Am I disgusted? Wait a second. I'm asking myself...

No, I'm not disgusted.

Something comes from here and from there...

an extasis, an apotheosis...

I am fulfilled...

At last, I decline myself in the feminine.

Ah, Coral, knight of heart and coral,

why didn't we meet earlier?

Our companions will make fire.

We will sleep under rough covers.

Horse butchers

guard herds of bulls and cows.

They come to the plateaus on horseback. The plateaus of just balance:

The soil of the homeland, the sky of humanity.

The past we never had.

Let me describe it in the future.

As if it were to be a day for us.

But it's in our reach. The future is here.

What do we want? We want to be just with justice.

We want to be free with freedom.

Freedom!

Whatever the color of his skin,

black or white,

a man is a man when he is free.

Who will defend you? Who will protect you?

Freedom!

Your little ones are starving. Why?

Because from the hunger of your children the employers make their dollars.

They are here.

I planted myself in such shit.

Don't ask for freedom! Take it!

She is like your children, she is hungry!

Security to General Prado Roth.

We have information that groups of rebels have entered the city.

When they are here, shoot into the crowd, shoot into the crowd!

There it is. We are opening our heart wide for them.

- Squash them all! - Rather open the doors for them.

So that they cut my throat?

Don't argue. Do as I tell you.

No shooting!

You will not slave away anymore for the well-being of others!

What do you want? What do you demand?

Freedom!

You will not slave away anymore for the well-being of others!

What do you want? What do you demand? Liberty!

What do you want? What do you demand? Liberty!

Freedom!

What will you do with all these people?

The Colonel will decide.

Freedom!

He is the only representative of the will of the people.

Freedom!

The assault units are immediately to gather Sgt. Sornosa and all the platoon

dispatched to the racecourse.

Is the Minister set on going to the races?

Freedom!

I want to see Carlan win.

I was beastly unlucky.

There are so many people outside. Worse than at mine when I throw a party.

"Freedom!"

I thought I'd never get here.

"Freedom!"...

Mr Palmas! You at the Colonel's?

I didn't think you liked him.

My personal feelings are of no import.

I am in good rapport with my country.

Legitimate aspirations of the people

and financial stability find in Colonel Prado Roth

their common denominator.

This is how in our country... When a house takes quite ill,

the wife of the patron... turns into a demon.

And when dangers all flee, in her husband's arms she'll be.

This is how it goes... in our country.

subtitles: rebane & meatisgood corvusalbus edit