Original subtitles

My name is Thomas Vail, or at least it was.

I'm a photographer.

I had it all. A wife, Allison, friends, a career.

And in one moment, it was all taken away.

All because of a single photograph.

I have it.

They want it.

And they will do anything to get the negative.

I'm keeping this diary as proof that these events are real.

I know they are.

They have to be.

It's been over nine months since this twisted odyssey began.

With every day that passes, I get farther away from my old life.

Lately, I'm starting to doubt my ability to recall events accurately.

Whatever hidden agenda is or was is becoming less clear every day.

Did I experience what I thought I did?

And if so, were the events themselves real?

Or could they have been staged?

Maybe these doubts are a side effect of my current condition.

I haven't slept in the last nine days. Not an hour. Not a minute.

Am I doing this to myself?

Or is it what happens to a person who's been cut off for too long?

Can I get you anything else? Come on, honey, I

don't have all night. Well, what's it gonna be?

What's the matter with you?

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I didn't like the idea of submitting to another institution,

but I didn't know where else to turn. I had to find out what was wrong with me.

Why couldn't I sleep?

Can you tell what it is?

JAMA, New England Journal of Neurology.

What are you looking for?

Look, you want to stop acting like I'm not here?

What are you doing? Found it.

There was a controlled experiment done about two years ago at a private clinic.

I don't know what they were looking for,

but what they ended up with was an induced condition identical to yours.

What do you mean, insomnia?

More.

In the worst cases of sleep disorders, the patient manages a few minutes a day.

The side effects of this experiment were uninterrupted insomnia.

The indications are identical, same signatures on the lab work.

What do I do to fix it?

Unfortunately, there was nothing more published after the initial results.

I guess the people at Callaway decide to scrap it.

It's funny because... Callaway?

You mean the hospital in Illinois?

You've heard of it?

I'm not deluded. I have no paranoid obsessions. I have no paranoid obsessions.

Obsessions.

Calloway was the psychiatric hospital where I'd been taken

nine months ago when this bizarre journey started.

It's where I met Dr. Bellamy, my first interrogator,

the man responsible for my initial debriefing and evaluation,

the man who tried to convince me from the beginning

that I was having some kind of breakdown.

The man who was machine-gunned right before my eyes when

he failed to retrieve my negative for Hidden Agenda.

These are dangerous times.

Someone, please, listen. Just listen. My name is Michael Kramer, and I'm not crazy.

It's a practical joke that's gone too far.

Someone put my family up to this.

Listen, we've got a limit.

Why is everyone acting like I don't exist?

You okay?

Get back to your room.

Get back to your rooms. Kind of help.

Somebody's not where he belongs.

What do you got?

I don't know.

Keep track of him.

I'll get an ID.

Get me Gilmore.

All right, move away from the door.

What did you bastards do to me? Can I sleep?

All right, take him to 3A. Tell Dr. Novick I want to see him right away.

Is this really necessary?

Orders from Dr. Novick.

It's me, Tom.

Yes, I know.

So you do remember me?

No.

We've never met.

What are you saying?

My name is Dr. Novick, and I'm here to help you.

No.

Your name is Joe Carter.

Everybody called you JC.

We were both in this place nine months ago.

Why are you pretending to be somebody else?

Sit down.

There's been a policy change.

Game over.

Give up the negatives or die.

You mind if I smoke?

Is that a yes or a no?

Why are you doing this, JC?

What's happening?

You haven't slept in two weeks.

It's beginning to take its toll.

You're doing this to yourself, Tom. I just want to go back to a normal life.

And you will, Tom. Yeah.

Where are they?

One of the great ironies of sleep deprivation is that it doesn't

shut down that part of the brain that produces nightmares.

You're not getting the 10 negatives.

But you know we will.

Eventually, we will.

Why can't you understand what we do here is for your own good?

It benefits everyone.

I've seen your better world. It's full of zombies.

You've seen it too, JC.

Oh, here we go again, huh?

Back to JC. OK.

Maybe you're right.

Maybe JC doesn't exist.

Just humor me here for a second, Doc.

What were you doing a year ago?

I was right here at Callaway.

Where'd you go to medical school?

Or college?

What was your childhood like?

Who are your parents, Doc?

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Give me that.

Oh, I was just shaking.

You're off limits.

Alan, remove this gentleman to a secure area.

Come on, buddy. Let's go play some ping pong.

Hey, buddy, you got a cigarette?

A cigarette?

You know, little white tubes with tobacco in them?

Cigarette.

Great.

Let me guess, your ATM card doesn't work?

Your key doesn't fit in your front door,

and everyone you've ever known treats you like a stranger.

How do you know that?

Don't give them anyone's name.

Not your family, not your friends, no one. What are you talking about?

The people you care about are in danger.

Novick is not here to help you.

What are you saying? Novick is part of this?

I'm just saying from here on in, trust nobody.

The people here will stop at nothing to get what they want from you.

How do you know that?

I don't know anything. What do you people want from me?

You know what we want, JC.

Please, make it stop.

You still think I'm delusional?

I know it sounds impossible, but that's you.

That's who you really are.

Joe Carter.

No.

Please, you shouldn't be here.

Neither should you. I didn't make this up.

Why is it such a leap to think that you were once on the other side?

I'm your only chance, JC.

I'm your memory.

So let me help you.

I don't need your help.

Now, please.

I have work to do.

Just check out the file.

Who is this?

I'm a friend of your daddy's, Emily.

My daddy's in heaven with my grandma and grandpa.

Do you remember your daddy?

Uh-huh.

Emily, who is that?

Hello, I'm so sorry. Who is this?

What happened here? What happened here?

What's happening to me?

You got something you want.

But I don't have anything.

Yeah, you do, you do. You just don't know it yet. What do you do, Michael?

I sell real estate.

But no one in my office recognizes me.

None of my friends recognize me. Hey, listen to me.

Listen to me, man. Listen to me.

The people here are gonna try and make you doubt yourself. Your sanity.

It's time, Doctor.

Time?

The treatment room's been prepared.

It's time to move things along.

Right, right. The treatment room, yes.

Is there a problem?

No, no, I was just thinking about the case.

It is your opinion that he's ready?

Oh, yes.

Absolutely.

Um... After you.

Okay.

No, no, no.

You wanted to sleep, Tom?

Sweet dream.

Felt good for a moment, didn't it, Tom? Take him back to his room?

You know the rules. We get the negatives.

This will all be over when you want it to be done.

Let's go, Bale. You know beauty sleep is enough. Come on. What's going on?

They don't pay me to answer questions. Come on. Get his shoes.

How do you know what you know?

I was here, JC.

Were we friends?

But I think you were trying to tell me something.

I just couldn't figure out what it was.

Whatever it is, we'll never know.

I think I have a daughter.

I don't know her.

I don't remember.

It's what they took from you, man.

It's your soul, JC.

How do I know that?

Because of a videotape?

A voice on the telephone?

It just doesn't make any sense. I'm real.

I mean, I know it's hard.

J.C., you got to open your mind, man, and look at the facts,

because that's what's going to get you through this.

Yesterday, I was a happy man.

A successful doctor.

My life was in place.

Today, nothing fits.

Everything's turned around. I know.

But it's the truth.

That's what you gotta face, man.

Why?

So I can end up like you.

On the run.

Without a life.

Unable to trust anyone. There's one person I can trust.

Myself. Maybe.

But so what?

Let's get out of here, J.C.

You don't seem to understand it, so let me make it as simple as I possibly can.

Joe Carter's dead.

So is Thomas Vail.

Taking some extra interest in the Vale case, I see.

What do you mean?

I see you've accessed the main computer to pull down some extra files.

Oh, those.

Well, I felt I could do a better job if I had a little more background on it.

I don't want to have to micromanage you, Neil.

We give you everything you need.

Yes.

You're right.

I'm sorry.

All set for tomorrow's procedure?

Where you been? I've been waiting half the night. Gotta wait till we're safe.

The guards are running late.

Are you sure it's clear?

Well, we're gonna find out.

Get your other side. Come on, let's go.

What's the matter?

What are they going to do to us if we get caught?

Look, we are caught. If you're not up for it, you can stay. I'm out of here.

Let's go.

Close the door.

Get the straps! Get the straps!

Hold it!

All right, turn around. Put your hands behind your head.

Do it!

Bad move, Tom.

Why did I listen to you?

They're gonna let me go, now they're never gonna believe me.

JC, please.

Sorry, Tom.

Where do you want them?

Central.

I want them reclassified.

You wanna go there now?

Now!

I'm not taking any chances.

OK.

Get moving.

Come on, get in.

What are you doing?

Probably making a big mistake.

Come on, let's go.

How you doing, Bill? It's okay. They're with me.

Yeah, they just left the premises.

Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?

This has definitely been the weirdest 48 hours of my life.

Well, I wish I could tell you it was over.

Damn.

What?

I think we're being followed.

We're almost out of gas.

All right, we'll put in 10 bucks, huh?

I gotta go take a leak.

Be right back.

What do you know about this guy Novick? I don't trust anybody.

Get in the car.

What's wrong?

Now. Just get in the car.

Wait a minute, wait for me. What the hell is going on? You tell me.

I'll have to get on to it, Snowman.

Why you asking me?

Michael! Ben, let's go!

You son of a bitch!

You gave us up! I'm sorry. They told me I'd end up like you.

I just want this to be over.

It's over!

Let's go. Let's get out of here!

I'm going home.

It's not a good idea, JC.

That's the first place they're gonna look for you.

You gotta see Emily, man.

JC, you can't. I know. I know what's ahead of me.

Go on.

I'll be all right.

You haven't told me everything, have you?

What is Callaway? What do they do there?

Callaway is a place where certain members of the

scientific community perform certain experiments.

So I was an experiment.

What'd they do to me, JC?

They rewired you, man.

What are you saying?

Just that.

They reworked your entire neural architecture.

How? No, hey, how?

I escaped.

Did you?

Or is that just what you remember?

I did.

I know I did. I'll be right there.

Hey, look, I don't have all the answers.

Maybe you did escape.

But that's not even important now.

These people, they have a plan.

The agenda, that's what they call it.

Hidden agenda.

Their work in mind control is being applied to a small sample. The success rate,

unfortunately, is staggeringly high.

They're almost ready to apply it to... To whom?

To whom?

To whomever they choose.

I gotta rethink everything.

There's no time.

What does that mean?

Tell me.

If I knew...

I would.

Come on, buddy, I don't got all night.

Good luck, Tom.

What they did to me was different than what they did to JC.

His procedure was surgical.

They took his memory all at once.

What they did to me nine months ago was electrochemical.

I'm on a clock.

All the things that have been happening to me, The sleep deprivation,

the delusions, mean the clock is about to strike 12.

The pills JC gave me were just a reprieve from the inevitable. Soon,

all my memories will be gone.

Without ceasing to breathe, I will cease to exist.