I saw in the short comments that many people thought that the end of the film left many unresolved doubts. I ran the raw meat for the first time in mid-January, and then I found the English external subtitles and watched it again. I think the director did not leave it behind. An open ending, all the clues are very clear, let me talk about my understanding, welcome friends with different opinions to discuss ~
(the following content is spoiler, if you have not watched the movie, please be cautious (Consider whether you want to continue reading) The
story began on September 20, 1980. During this period, Spain was still in a democratic transition period. Franco died in 1975 and the 36-year dictatorship ended. A majority victory signifies the smooth completion of Spain's democratic transition. It was during this period that two police officers, Juan and Pedro, came to a remote town to investigate the disappearance of two girls.
Two local police officers came to report the situation that night. The missing sisters were 17-year-old Estrella and 16-year-old Carmen. They never returned after leaving the town in a car that night.
The next morning, Juan and Pedro went to the girls' homes to investigate and saw the slogan Por un jornal justo (for fair and reasonable wages) posted by the workers on the road. As the town is not rich and the working environment is very bad, there are rumors in the town that the girls have long wanted to leave.
In the girls' bedroom, Juan found a brochure about employment. The parents said that the children took away the passbook and some clothing, and then the mother privately gave a piece of film negative to the police officer.
Juan and Pedro came to the school to question their classmates. At this moment, someone knocked on the window outside. The classmate said it was Quini, the boyfriend of Marina, one of the girls in the class.
The villagers then took the two police officers to Angelita, a woman with psychic ability. Angelita said that during the communication with her dead mother, she learned that the two missing girls had appeared in an abandoned farmhouse. Angelita looked up and saw police officer Juan with a look of surprise, and she wanted to stop talking. This plot also paved the way for the future development of the story.
The subsequent plot is logical: the stockings in the well around the abandoned farmhouse → meet the villager Jesús in the process of looking for the girl → find the body in the ditch, Juan drives away the newspaper reporter who came to take pictures → inform the parents → the film negatives are processed, and the photo captures the woman The man on the child’s arm has a triangle tattoo on his right hand, and there are four specimens of reindeer horns on the wall of the room → Another villager visited in the middle of the night and said that his girlfriend Beatriz and another girl Adela were also killed by the same murderer in the same way → found There is also a brochure promoting employment in Beatriz's relics→Find a photo of Beatriz, Estrella, Carmen and Quini and a small plastic box similar to a mini slide show in Beatriz's home→Learn that Quini and Adela have been together in Adela's home. Adela also wanted to go out to find a job. In addition, he found Adela's folder → tracked Quini and Marina. Quini found out. Quini said that he had been with Marina the night the two girls disappeared. Quini also said that he did not know Beatriz and Adela. Pedro found Quini had a triangle tattoo on his hand → Pedro took the film negatives to the reporter who was driven away that day. The reporter mentioned that he had seen Juan before → Estrella and Carmen's funeral, the mother told the police officer that she found it in her husband's car The daughters’ bankbooks→found that the husband was involved in the drug trade and owed a large debt→Pedro again followed Quini and Marina to a house. There was a house rental phone number 905433 on the side of the road. A man in a hat then arrived and entered the house. , Pedro was knocked unconscious → Quini denied the existence of the man wearing the hat at the police station, Quini's blood type did not match the suspect's → The police officer found Marina and asked but found nothing, Pedro installed a phone recording device at Marina's house → Two police officers came to Quini and In the house where Marina was previously, there are four specimens of reindeer antlers on the wall. The landlord said that renters usually only rent for one day at a time and leave no more information. Before leaving, the two police officers saw a guard carrying a shotgun outside the room. The villager Jesús who accompanied him said that he had never seen this person before, and everyone didn't care.
The two police officers were stopped by a car on the road, and later learned that the drugs mentioned by the girls’ father were stolen, and Angelita was not a psychic person. Her husband Fermín was killed in the two girls. I saw them in the farmhouse that night, and saw a white car with a sticker on the back of the car that was exactly the same as the pattern on the Adela folder. Before leaving, Angelita stopped Pedro and said to him: Los muertos le están esperando, ya queda poco. (The dead are waiting for you, the time left is running out.) (In addition, you can see from the various details in the film. Juan’s health is not optimistic) The
police officer returned to Adela’s house again and learned that Adela had a friend named Sebastián who worked in a hotel in Málaga and gave her some hotel towels.
Pedro went back to the reporter to ask about the film. In addition to the girl and Quini, there was another person who took the picture reflected in the mirror, but he couldn't see his face because of the reflector. The reporter mentioned Juan, saying that Juan was a member of the State Secret Police during Franco's rule and that he shot and killed a girl during demonstrations in 1971.
Juan met with the girls’ mothers again at 7:30 in the morning. His mother told him that there was indeed another man when Marina and Quini were together. Marina was tied to the bed, so she didn’t see that person’s face clearly, she just knew His hands have delicate skin and are sprayed with expensive perfume. Quini was indeed with Marina the night Estrella and Carmen were killed, but it was not all night.
Pedro came to the hotel where Sebastián worked. Sebastián had already been fired, but he left a box without taking it away. The box was full of employment brochures. Sebastián has been wanted by the police for two years and is still missing. Pedro also saw the small plastic box in Beatriz's house in the hotel display cabinet.
Juan saw Quini during the strike and at the same time saw Alfonso, the site manager, Juan hurriedly caught up with him and shook hands. Pedro ran into a white Dyane 6 model car with stickers at night. There was a girl in the back seat, but he did not catch up. The police officer said that Alfonso does not own any Dyane 6 vehicles, and Marina was watching movies in the cinema, and at the same time refused Pedro's request for a blood type test on Alfonso on the spot. Juan did not interrupt or help when the police chief was tough and even threatened Pedro. When Pedro went out and asked why, Juan suddenly became emotional. Juan also denied that anyone had been shot and killed in people's demonstrations.
The audio intercepted by the telephone recording device showed that Marina had just dialed 905433, the number of the rental room. The two police officers felt the house and finally asked the real name of the person living in the house from the landlord, that is, the one who was carrying the shotgun before. Guardian Sebastián. Sebastián's mother is a friend of the landlord, so she has always let Sebastián live there. The landlord confessed that Sebastián went to the abandoned farmhouse, but the farmhouse was already empty when Juan and Pedro arrived there, and they found Adela's pendant in the house. At this time, Jesús, who was traveling with him, saw the white Dyane 6 passing by the road in the distance in front of the house.
In the end after a wonderful rain hunt, Sebastián was killed by Juan, Marina was rescued, Quini was arrested, but the seemingly complete plot did not end here.
Pedro's glorious deeds were published in the newspapers, and he was transferred to Madrid to work as he wished. At the celebration banquet in the bar, Pedro met the reporter again. The reporter said that the other person in the photo was just a stain on the photo. (From the photo, you can clearly see that the watch worn by the person's right hand is exactly the same as the watch worn by Alfonso's right hand when Juan shook hands with Alfonso at the time). Pedro told the reporter that Juan had never killed anyone. The reporter took out the photo of Juan shooting at the crowd with a pistol. Juan was called El cuervo at the time. He tortured and tortured hundreds of people alone.
At the end of the film, Juan asked Pedro back before getting into the car: ¿ Todo a orden, no? The so-called everything has returned to the original order. Alfonso has money and rights, and finally escaped legal sanctions. This is a true portrayal of Spanish society in the 1980s.
I think the message conveyed by the film is that whether it is in the dictatorship or in the democratic period, there will always be distortions, untouchable interests and unchangeable rules in society. Sebastián was the one who stunned Juan with a gun at the time. The police officer did not authorize the blood type check because he was afraid of touching higher interests and causing him more trouble. The film did not leave any doubts, and the ending was clean, but it could make The audience is endless aftertaste.
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