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 I'm keeping

this diary as proof that these events are real.

I know they are.

They have to be.

Until recently, I've been alone in my fight to recover my life.

Then, from some dark corner, an ally appeared.

He claimed that he was working for the people that I'd been looking for.

Telling me that he wished to destroy the very organization that employs him,

he opened a doorway for me.

That doorway was in the form of a small, palm-top computer.

The files in that computer have taken me into

situations that I never dreamed existed,

but it still hasn't answered my most pressing questions.

Why was my life erased? By whom?

And what can I do to get it back?

And the battles I've fought with my enemy have not

compared to the ones that I've fought with myself.

It's been a constant struggle to maintain the hope

and faith that I will one day get my life back.

As I arrived in Washington, I expected to feel elated and full of anticipation.

Instead, I was overcome with fatigue and the belief that at the end of every tunnel,

all I would find would be another tunnel.

Would Mr. Thomas Vail please pick up the nearest white courtesy telephone?

Mr. Thomas Vail, please pick up the nearest white courtesy telephone.

Bus 24 from Baltimore arriving at Platform 6 in five minutes. Tom Vail?

One moment, Mr. Vail. I'll connect you.

Good morning, Tom.

I see you've been putting my little plaything to good use.

The question is, who's getting more out of it, you or me?

That depends on how you look at it, Tom. You've done considerable damage.

I haven't gotten any closer to the answers.

Not knowing what the answers are, how would you know that?

Don't suppose you brought me here just to chat?

Careful, Tom.

It won't serve you well to lose your sense of humor.

I'm waiting for you to say something funny.

Try this.

It's time you and I met face to face.

Why?

You keep treating me like the enemy, Tom.

I'm your friend. I don't have any friends.

Then let's say I'd like to be your friend.

It's time you had your questions answered, Tom.

I'm listening.

Meet me at the tavern.

It's on Fifth.

One o'clock.

How will I know you?

I'll know you, Tom.

You'll be there.

You do understand, Mr. Hale. Stick to the list of approved questions.

Yes, you made that quite clear.

What might not have been made clear is that in addition

to the optical modifications we've made to you,

we've added some security measures.

My, how you people hate to lose control.

That's just a click on the dial.

We can turn it up.

Why don't you just kill me now?

You are a traitor, sir, but killing you now

would be a disservice to the organization,

at least while you have Mr. Vale's confidence.

We expect you'll use it effectively.

I don't appear to have much choice.

Lie back, please.

It's a pleasure to meet you, Tom.

I'm sure I made your day.

Well, in that case, perhaps I can make yours.

Would you care for a drink? Oh, is there something to toast?

I guess that depends on you, Tom.

I don't have the answers. You do.

You have more answers than you might think.

Oh?

Tell me something.

Why is this photograph so important?

Why don't you tell me? I intend to, but if

I can't prod your memory, I can't help you.

I need to know exactly what you recall.

About the events surrounding this photograph. Come on, this is old news.

We all know what happened there.

Amuse me.

I have a... a penchant for rehashing.

Why don't you go over it for me?

From the beginning.

Gentlemen, we're about to find out just what we've been waiting for.

All right.

I'd been on assignment in Nicaragua.

I was counting the days until I could go home.

There was a clean bed and a warm woman waiting for me back home.

I was 20 minutes away from being picked up and

taken to the airport when I got a phone call.

The call was from Harrison Barton.

Barton was the local expatriate stringer for one of the national wire services.

For the last two years, he'd been holed up in the mountains somewhere in Chile.

You know, you and me, mano a mano. No, man, no.

No, I haven't got time for a little you and me, mano a mano. I'm going home, man.

Haven't had time for a national cover photo either, have you, Tom?

You called to cheer me up?

I called to give you the cover that you've been wanking over, you jerk-off.

Why do you always want to leave the dance before the girls get there?

We through.

Pally, oh, mine, look. What I've got's gonna blow the lid

off every major newspaper in Glossier in the States.

Look what you got, Harry. It can probably be cured with antibiotics.

You're gonna make the same mistake you made in Iraq,

and you sure left there a day early and a million dollars short.

What can I tell you? The president forgot to fax me his plans ahead of time.

Yeah, well, I'm here at the starting line, pal, and this is your fax.

All the fax that's fit to print. Yeah, you go get on that plane now.

I'm telling you, this is going to make Iran-Contra look like a bake-off.

Adios.

It was the lady or the tiger. I thought about home and what was waiting for me.

I needed a national cover.

I chose door number two.

Winter's freeze still had a grip up in the Andes, but Harrison lived on low ground.

At his place, it was perpetual summer.

Still working too hard, Harry?

Damn!

You've been here eight months, you're still a handsome bastard.

Never looked that good even before I started drinking.

I'm a few ahead of you here. Yolanda, cerveza pronto.

Here, take a load off.

Okay.

Here, what's the scoop?

Oh, cut to the chase.

Look, you got me here. I know it wasn't to discuss the wife and family.

It took me five beers to get here. Don't shit me down, bud.

Besides, we don't talk about wife and family here.

Do it out of me! She likes you. Gracias.

Beautiful women down here.

Have you sampled the local menu?

No, thanks. I like to eat at home.

You're a stalwart.

I'll give you that. But boy, you are missing out on something. I'll tell you,

the girls here, they don't know what to do for you next.

And speaking of the local menu, pick me up.

The motor's running, Harry. Say what you gotta say.

Oh, you're a lot less.

Come on, man. What's up?

What if I was to tell you...

That the United States Army is engaging in illegal

warfare against the local guerrillas.

I'd say you've had one pick-me-up too many. Look, if any U.S. troops are down here,

someone would know about it.

Somebody does know about it! One of my contacts!

Who are your contacts?

No, no, no. First rule of journalism is you protect your sources.

It's been real.

Of course, there's a second rule of journalism.

The hell with the first.

Yolanda!

Traiga el carro.

So this is your contact.

Oh, what are you? Princess Daisy now?

So she's not the mayor's wife. She's very reliable. Get what?

No, I sold you no more.

Go away, no more. No, no, you got me all wrong. This time, darling, I have money.

You got a few extra bucks? I'm a little short of money.

Tell my friend here about that tattoo.

You like it? It's just like Harry's. Who's Harry?

Harry is American soldier.

You sure? You mean like a soldier from the United States Army?

You know another kind?

Harry's a GI boy.

What else?

Harry said not to worry.

American Army is here to kill the rebels.

End the war.

He also told her that they had a base camp in

the valley just a little south from here.

He tried to sneak her in for a little on-campus R&R.

She's not making this up, Tom. Why would she? She's very thin, Harrison.

Show him what you got from Harry.

Dog tags.

It's U.S. Army dog tags. There's no U.S. military activity down here.

Maybe next time. Okay. Thanks. Come on.

Harrison, we've been driving around for three hours. There's nothing out here.

According to Angela's map, base camp right beyond this hill.

Oh, boy, somebody's always killing somebody in this country.

They seem to send you home packing.

Death's a small price to pay for life.

I can live here. Hell, back home. You know what 20 bucks buys you down here?

No, no, no, no. I'm not talking about the girls. I'm talking about the home,

the land, everything. Here, help.

I've noticed.

I'm going to cut the fire over here.

Everywhere else. You've got to dig pretty deep to find me.

What are we doing here? What do I get about?

He wants you to get out of the car.

I'm gonna be really annoyed if I go home in a box.

Oye, no tienes una cámara o qué?

What's going on?

Now that's a picture.

One more.

Rock on, dude!

I'm almost afraid to ask you what the hell you thought you were doing.

I told them you were Jim Morrison. They're big rock fans.

Morrison's been dead for 20 years.

What the hell are the things you missed down here, anyway?

They didn't know that. Let's get out of here.

You must have been desperate to continue traveling

with the man. Like I said, I needed cover.

Always the optimist, aren't you, Tom?

Hey, I'm not sure I'm wasting any less time being here with you.

You know what, I gotta ask myself, first of all, why I even took your call.

Then why I actually showed up. And you know what the answer is?

After four hours of sitting in this Jeep? Because I'm an idiot.

All right, genius, see if you can make heads or tails out of that map.

Angela's an artist, but not when it comes to making maps.

This is what you've been going by? That's all we got, pal.

You're not going to find any fast food out there.

I'm going to relieve myself.

I should have done it earlier and taken the plane out of here.

Look, we'll find it.

What, Tom? Right.

Hey, Tom?

How you making out?

Tom?

Hey, Tom?

Hey, Tom, are you back here? Are you trying to end this beautiful life I'm living?

There's something coming down the road over there.

What did I tell you about?

When was the last time you saw a regular army driving a Humvee down here?

If that's not U.S. Army, I'll give up drinking on the spot.

Can I get you anything else? No, thank you.

How about you, sir?

No, I'm fine.

His memory appears to be intact.

Assuming he trusts Hale enough to tell him the truth.

We can only hope that from Mr. Vale's point of view, there is only one truth.

I'm not going to tell you anything you don't know.

So what's the point of all this?

It's not what I know, Tom. It's what you know.

Go on.

You just spotted the American army vehicles.

What the hell are they doing? If I knew the answer to that,

do you think I'd be out here with you alone in the middle of nowhere drinking water?

My best guess is cocaine.

The U.S. Army transporting cocaine.

Oh, you're surprised.

My innocent little cherub, and for me to have corrupted that eyes.

If the U.S. Army's down here conducting illegal operations,

how the hell do you think they're funding them?

They don't take MasterCard.

In the bush.

Give me a couple of those.

What? Give me.

What the?

You don't like prescription drugs either, huh?

What you do on your own time is your deal. You're out here with me,

I want your head on straight.

I might actually need your help.

Wow, that makes one of us.

What the hell could even be out here?

This is nowhere near what Angela drew or meant.

Oh, man.

What the hell are they doing down there? It's a dead end.

Not anymore.

Is that a road to a secret army base? Yeah, maybe.

We're going to have to go the rest of the way on foot.

Oh, a walk to the woods without chemical stimulation.

I should have brought my mother along. She'd have been more understanding.

I'm going to get out of here.

You're a guy who didn't even want to come on this Easter egg hunt.

You sure are in a hurry to get there.

I may need a cover, Harry. You need a story.

Something with teeth. At least I've been working. The last anybody heard of you,

you were throwing up in a barroom toilet in the noggin. Oh, yeah,

but what a night that was.

Yeah, let's go right over.

Scrap idea one.

This is no army base. Well, they should write

about the drugs. It could be a factory.

Let's go, Conrad.

If the U.S. Army has gotten itself into the drug business,

this is going to be one hell of a story.

Harry.

Harry?

What? I don't understand.

I just love hearing you speak in foreign tongues. Now, help me with this.

This way.

They're making uniforms. U.S. Army uniforms.

Whatever you're thinking has got to make more sense than what I'm thinking.

That'll be the first time.

All right, everybody out!

Let's go!

Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go!

Yes, sir.

Thank you. Let's go. Let's move it!

These are your uniforms!

You will put them on, and you will wear them proudly.

Listen up!

I know you men have been kept in the dark since you left the States.

I also know that you came here expecting some action. Well,

you're gonna get that action.

Gentlemen!

Welcome to the U.S. Army.

You're not one for turning back, are you, Tom?

Someone was working hard to create the impression that the U.S.

military was operating in Chile.

We didn't know why yet, but we knew it was big.

This is gonna be like wrestling an alligator. Either you win or you die.

I always thought that you'd look good in a uniform.

Etra! Yes, sir! Passford! No!

Cole! Yes, sir!

Johnson! Yes, sir! Allen! Who's that?

Hastings! Yep!

Holcomb! Holcomb!

Present, Sergeant. Next time we leave you behind, Holcomb.

Yes, Sergeant.

Trainer. Sir.

D'Angelo.

Here.

Morgan. Here, sir.

All right, let's move out!

Where you from, Holcomb?

Buckeye, Sergeant. Ohio, huh? No, Arizona.

You look a little old for this work.

Yes, Sergeant, I was a lot younger.

Before I got here.

Man, were we on.

Yeah, you got that right.

You waited, you've been here a few months.

OK, let's go. Everybody up.

This is Sergeant Dirkston. He has your bunk assignments.

You will prepare your bunks and be ready for inspection in one hour.

They're all yours. All right, let's move out.

I guess the next time you see Angela, You owe her an apology.

The next time I see Angela, you'll still owe me 50 bucks.

So you got any thoughts as to who the hell these people are? Only who they aren't.

Whoever the hell they are, they aren't U.S. military. Well,

somebody's going to an awful lot of trouble to make it look like they are.

Check it out.

They're not likely to try to pick up Oprah with those puppies.

That looks like long-range communications equipment.

I sure would like to know where they're getting their waters from.

Looks like one of us is going to have to get their sad butt in there.

Hey, I'm just a photographer, okay, Scoop?

Keep it quiet back here.

You want to chat, you chat with me or Sergeant Rock? Yes, Sergeant. Sorry,

Sergeant. We're all chatted out, Sergeant.

So you keep it that way.

Walk with me.

I'll talk to you later.

Lieutenant's bars?

Where'd you get those?

I was finishing a box of Wheaties and there they were.

What the hell difference does it make? Who's gonna know?

Maybe the guy you took them from.

I doubt that. Look.

You gotta go in there, pal. I'll decoy the Nancys out front, but you gotta go in.

What, did I miss the vote? There's no vote.

It's just that whatever we find in there is gonna

be something we're gonna need pictures of.

You do your job. Let me do mine.

But just what is your job?

Looking good there, soldier.

Very good.

Thank you, sir.

You look like you put on a little weight there, son.

Yes, sir.

I guess so. Food's pretty good here, sir.

Private, you like seeing your friend here going to hell like this?

Hadn't really noticed, sir.

It is your job to notice, Private. We are a team here, are we not? Yes, sir. Well,

I'm sure now that you have noticed that you'd

like to do something to help your friend here, wouldn't you, son?

Yes, sir.

I mean, I'm not quite sure what you mean, sir. Well,

maybe you could take him for a few laps around the camp.

Help him burn off that spare tire he's carrying there.

Yes, sir. But we've been ordered to guard the

building, sir. Who gave you that order?

Sergeant Rock, sir.

Do you see these bars, son?

Yes, sir.

Do you understand that Sergeant Rock can see these bars, too?

I am sure he will understand when I tell him that I gave you an order to move out!

Yes, sir!

For your sake, I hope that's slow.

Where's your camera?

In my pants. Oh, good luck, Natalie.

And you had no idea what you were walking into?

Yeah, I had to trust Harrison was watching my flank, but no,

I had no idea what I expected to find in there.

And even if I did, it wouldn't have been what I found.

What did you find?

Maps.

So whoever these people were,

it appeared they had a very tight communications network in place.

But you still didn't know who they were?

No.

Who was a question that still needed to be answered.

What I was beginning to find out was where.

I'm telling you, you watch those two. We got two guys in this company. What is this?

Tom, I need you.

Did you get it? Yeah, I got it. You're not

going to believe it. Let's get out of here.

Oh, this is a good plan.

Hey, you.

Are you going to tell me what you found back there,

or have you turned into my personal aerobics instructor? What do you know about St.

Kitts?

St. Kitts? I mean, it's some island in the Caribbean. Why?

Well, because from everything I could see back there, St.

Kitts is the brain center of this operation.

How the hell are we gonna make any sense out of that?

I don't know. Think about it.

It's close to the U.S. mainland.

It's pretty easy in and out from either side of the Atlantic.

I mean, if you were gonna run some sort of clandestine operation,

where would you run it from? Well, I'd run it out of Quincy's Tavern, but...

This is a story, Pally. I mean, wherever the hell it ends up taking us, I mean,

this is one hell of a story, right? Unfortunately,

I don't think it's going to take you very much further.

Who the hell are you?

Funny, that was the next question I was going to ask you.

Can I quote you?

No. You want to take a crack at the same question?

You sure how many guesses do I get?

Look, man, I'm telling you the truth.

I'm an American journalist. I'm a photographer.

Look, check my credentials. Look at my bag.

Thomas J. Ville.

Which paper do you work for, Mr. Ville?

I'm a freelance.

I was down here working.

With a friend. It would seem you have many American friends down here, huh?

And your friends are killing our friends.

Those men are not from the U.S. Army.

Is that so?

Well, they look, walk, and talk like American soldiers, but they are not, huh?

Do you think that we are stupid?

No, I don't think you're stupid.

Man, I think whoever those people are,

they're doing a good job of making it look like they are U.S. Army.

Many of us have lost our families to these people.

Even if what you say is true, they are still Americans.

That seems... And you!

You are an American! Why should I believe you? Look, man,

they just executed a friend of mine.

They were about to kill me. You think those people are my friends?

And you have photographs of these men?

Yeah.

And what will you do with these photographs?

Look, you let me out of here, man, I'll publish them.

I'll get the story to every paper in the States.

Go get her a soda.

But, Captain... Go get her a soda!

I have a cigarette.

So what are these people doing down here?

You mean besides killing our families?

They have bought off our government, taken over Father Guentha people.

Yeah, but what do they want?

What does anybody want? Huh?

Power.

Control.

We've been stealing our land, taking over our farms.

There's much coca down here.

It's coquette.

Yes.

Something that we are happy to finally rid ourselves of.

But not this way.

If what you've told us here is true, this will be proof.

Yes, Captain.

They will take you into town. From there,

you can find transportation to where you need to go, huh?

If you publish your pictures, you would have done us all a great justice.

Go.

Thank you.

I killed some soldiers in the process I saved your life.

I was only trying to kill the soldiers.

I didn't know whether to just get out of the country or follow them.

Seems I know you better than you know yourself.

You followed them, of course.

Let's go, let's go, let's go! Let's go, let's go! Let's go, let's go!

Don't wake up! Señores! ¿Qué están haciendo? ¡No nos jueguen!

And that's everything, as you remember it? That's everything that happened.

And after you took the photograph?

Well, from there, I got back to town, and I made my way out of the country.

That's what I know.

I'm sure it holds no surprises for you.

No.

And you really believe everything you just told me?

What the hell is he doing?

What do you mean, do I believe it?

It's the truth. That's what happened. Are you gonna tell me what this is all about?

They caught me, Tom.

They're gonna kill me.

Stop him!

Everything you remember, Tom, it isn't real.

It never happened.

Exit 28 of Insta-state 8.

The gun. None of it's true, Tom.

It never happened.

Oh, the hell with all of you.