Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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1.
A junkyard.
Hitman: You know what the boss said? Strip him away.
Nice term, ain't it? Strip away.
Sounds like stripping off your flesh down to your bones.
Why would you challenge our boss?
What did you do to piss her off this much?
He rapes Carlos.
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He zips his pants.
Carlos cries. The Hitman shoots him in the head.
He sits over Carlos' corpse and smokes.
Takes out his cell phone, makes a call.
2.
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looking for one little flaw to destroy our whole department, and you can't
keep your dick in your goddamn pants.
Detective: Now move your ass, tell me how many girls we've saved.
Detective: Yes, chief. Fuck off! And if I find out y any of you, sick
fuckers touch a single hair out of those girls
Cop leaves.
After a while, Lucja walks casually towards the exit.
Lucja: What protocol? We talked. We told you what they did to us.
4
Detective: Yes, you did. But we still have to make sure
Lucja: Sure about what? That place was filled with cameras. You
have hours and hours of footage about us and what happened here.
Detective: Easy, girl. We've just set you free. You should be a little
more grateful.
Detective: You're going home. But first, you have an interview with
the press. And then you have to testify.
Lucja: What for? You saw what happened here. You saw our
rooms, you saw how we lived. Some of us were little girls when they got
here. In my country not even the pigs live like this, and you still want more
from us.
Detective: If you loved your country so much, you should have stayed
there. Don't worry. After the protocol we can deport you.
Detective: It's not on me. Girls like you are usually illegal.
Lucja: Please.
5
Detective: Not so fast, girl. If you wanna make an official declaration,
you have to wait for the detective.
Detective: Me.
Detective: That's what I'm here for. But not so fast. There are other
20 or 30 girls who
Detective: Thirty four other girls who are victims just like you. Some
of them are Mexican citizens.
Detective: And that's what I'm here for, and that's why you have to
follow the protocol.
Lucja: Don't send me back, please. You don't know what I'm
capable of.
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Detective: You're not showing me nothing until you follow the damn
protocol!
Detective: Shut the fuck up, or I'll send you swimming back to that
shit hole where you were born.
(Pause.) Or you can be nice to me and I'll be nice to you.
And the only thing I want right now is to get this job done once
and for all.
Will you cooperate?
Silence.
Lucja: Lucja.
Lucja: Rydsewski.
Lucja: R Y D Z
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Detective: Fair enough. Job?
Detective: I still don't get how this can help with our case.
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purple brand of violent hands bruised around her neck, her raccoon eyes,
and the sunglasses she wore every time we went out.
Mama: Hurry up, Lucja. I don't want to miss the Communion again.
Mama: Don't you ever talk about your father like that.
Mama: It's better to be with a strong man that can look out for us than
going on dreaming of a dead man.
Lucja: He doesn't love you, mom. You're a fool for not leaving
him.
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Mama hits Lucja.
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Mama: Shut up, Lucja, I just (Silence.)
Mama: You're fourteen now. You're strong. You will survive outside. This
is no place for you anymore.
Lucja: You'd rather be with Lukcs? Look what he's done to you!
He took my whole life in one night and you don't care?
Mama: I'm done. When I look at you, I only see how much I've lost since
you were born. Go away. Suck the life out of someone else. Leave us alone.
Lucja: Please.
3.
A hospital.
Doctor: Sorry for making you wait, Mr Mariano. Here are your test
results. (Pause.)
You don't wanna know?
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He gives Mariano a closed envelope. Mariano does not open it.
Mariano: I don't.
Mariano: Stick your metocarcinoma up your ass. I just wanna know if I'm
screwed or not.
Doctor: In your case, stage four means the cancer's already spread
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thorough your digestive system, your lungs and your brain.
Doctor: No.
Mariano: There's a big difference between two weeks and two months.
Mariano leaves
Ramn: Oh. It's you. What do you want? Crying again? You may fool
mom, but you can't fool me. I won't forgive you just because you come
crying like a little bitch.
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Ramn: Then what the hell do you want?
Ramn: Dad gave you everything he had, and the poor old bastard died
thinking you would go and visit him someday.
Mariano: I know.
Ramn: And you're still winning about some shit he told you years ago,
so you can't even go and visit.
Ramn: So what were you doing? Another pathetic call for attention? Or
you just didn't give a fuck.
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Ramn: You're not lying. (Pause.) How much time you
He leaves.
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there?
I could tie those cables around my neck and asphyxiate under a
shining night sky.
I'm climbing up there when
Estrella: I can smell you from down here. If you climb any higher you'r
gonna fall down.
Mariano: She holds my hand and takes me to an old bench, where we sit,
and she talks, and I think:
What the Hell? I could do it anywhere.
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It feels nice.
Then I sink inside her puddle eyes, then my legs, my old and flat
ass,
my cancer festered organs and my rhythmless heart,
my neck so sad after it missed the gallows, my whole body sinks
inside her eyes.
When I wake up I'm home. I'm alone. I don't know how.
Girl: I'm twelve, darling. But I can bring Rosita if you like younger.
Girl: Sure you don't wanna come? I've got no hair yet. You can come
inside me.
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Mariano: Leave me alone, kid.
Mariano: I walk three times around the block. She's not here.
I buy an ice cream. I'm so fucking dumb. She wasn't real. It was
the booze.
It was Death itself, breathing behind my neck.
I sit on a bench, my ice cream melts away. Minutes melt away,
and every second I have less and less time left.
A room in a motel.
Mariano: But I just found out I'm dying. I've talked too much, how about
you?
Estrella: I'm thirteen. At fourteen I'll have to leave here. I don't know
what I'll do then.
Estrella: Estrella. Told you a hundred times. You sure you're alright?
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Mariano: Ok.
Estrella: If I'm late, El Tony will take my money away. And if I stay he's
gonna beat the shit out of me.
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Estrella: What?
4.
A dream.
Carlos: Me?
Mom: You never left. Your little soul's been here all along.
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Carlos: The end of what?
Mom: Birds open their cages at night, while we sleep they fly.
Carlos: Get the hell out of there, of course. I hate men who wear suits,
they have so depraved thoughts it's fucking gross.
Pedro: Oh, babe, for what that fucking truck's worth, even I'd
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done what ever sick fucking thing he said.
Carlos: I don't trust men who seek for other men dressed like women.
Carlos: No way. You, I've already got. That was about me.
Pedro: Bullshit.
Carlos puts his hand inside his pockets. The house phone rings.
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Pedro: Who called?
Carlos: I won't. You were gonna tell me some real important shit. Go on.
Pause. Pedro can't find the courage to talk. Phone rings again.
Carlos: Si? Bueno? Sim, ele fala. (Pausa.) - Hello? Yes, Iam.
Sim. E a minha me. (Pausa.) - Yes, she's my mother.
Ela morreu? Quando? (Pausa.) - She died? When?
No. (Pausa.) - No.
No. (Pausa.) - No
E meu tio Battista? Onde est? (Pausa.) - My auncle Battista?
Where is he?
No. (Pausa.) - No.
Sim, eu sou a sua unica familia. (Pausa.) -Yes, I'm all she had
left, I guess.
No. (Pausa.) - No.
No! (Pausa.) - No
Perdo, mas Eu no posso ir para o Brasil. - Sorry. I won't go
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back to Brazil.
Nem, foder. Nem! - No, goddamn. No!
Hangs up.
Pedro: Why?
Carlos: There it is. It's always about you, playing the victim's role, you
have to rub it on my face.
Carlos: No, you fucking dumbass. I haven't been alright for a while.
You've made fucking shit out of me.
Carlos is enraged and attacks Pedro. Pedro holds Carlos in his arms until
he's out of strength.
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Pedro: You have to tell me what's wrong.
Awkward silence.
Carlos: I know you were always ashamed of me, 'cause you know.
I wish I'd been a fine daughter, but I'm not.
I'm a man, mom.
And I always think about you. Soon I won't be an
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embarrassment to you.
I'm becoming what I should have been from the start.
I'm being reborn just for you.
I've got a job, I'm a dancer. I'm dancing for someone important,
a politician, something like that.
It pays well, this job, more than anything I've ever earned
and I'll be able to pay my operation, finally.
Carlos: I did.
Pedro: Don't you dare say that, for seven years, I've done
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Carlos: I don't know! Fuck! I'm a fucking hybrid being, I'm a dragonfly
trapped in a damn cocoon, I'm a fucking freak.
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Pedro: Don't say that.
Carlos: But I mean the woman I'll be She doesn't have any place
in your life either.
Pedro: And what exactly do you want in your new life? (Pause.)
Pedro: Don't be stupid, Carlos! Cutting your dick off doesn't mean
you can get pregnant.
Pedro: And what will happen with the life we've built.
Pedro: No. It's yours. So is this. (He gives Carlos a big load of
money.)
Carlos: No.
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Pedro: To get your new life started. I don't want anything that
smells like you.
I don't wanna see you after your sex change. I wanna remember
you this way.
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5.
Lucja: At a bakery store. I swept the flour from the floor and
washed the trays.
A year later, the owner let me work in the cashier in exchange
for a favor.
Lucja: What else could I do? I was fifteen, I had no family, I never
finished school.
I dreamt about having a car, I dreamt about living in Italy or
France,
where people have nice lives.
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I didn't want to spend my life working for an old guy.
I saved every cent I stole, but it wasn't enough.
The cashier machine was always full of money.
Every time I opened it, I dreamt of stealing all that money,
changing my name and starting a new life somewhere else.
I was about to do it when I met a man.
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Client: It's a miserable place for a beautiful girl like you. How
much do you earn?
Client: Is that a way to treat your clients? What would your boss
say?
Lucja: He'd say you're not a client until you buy bread.
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Lucja: I can't leave this store.
Lucja: Since then I feel horny every time I smell warm bread.
That was the second time I almost die scragged.
In order to live, I had to hit him with a rolling pin.
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Rocco: Hello, sweetie. Same as always, please.
Lucja: Why?
Lucja: Get the fuck out of here. I'll never be into someone like
you.
Lucja: Fuck off, Rocco. You're ugly as a rat. I'll never love you.
Detective: So you dumped the only man that treated you nicely.
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Lucja: No one had ever given me an imaginary flower. I didn't
know what to do, I was scared.
Lucja: You can't get rid of him. Rocco is like a rat, I was right
about that.
When I got out of work, it was knowing. Rocco was waiting in
the dark.
Two months later, I'd left my job and I lived with him.
Rocco: No, I'm asking if there's anything that you wish for with all
your heart.
Rocco: Why would I be? I'm with the best girl in all the world. I
have ypur naked skin, I have your body.
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Rocco: Let's leave. Let's get out of this shitty country once and for
all.
Rocco: Paris? Paris is full of fags and men who kill themselves.
Russia can also be full of shit, but there's tons of money if you
know where to find it.
See?
Lucja: What?
Lucja: Jackass.
36
Rocco: We're poor. We're not leaving just to end up cleaning some
cossack's toilet. I'm not gonna humiliate you like that.
Rocco: I'm a fucking loser, Lucja. I can't even get you out of this
damn country,
Lucja: Don't worry. We're gonna make money. We're gonna make
money together.
Rocco: 4 million.
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Rocco: It's really easy to hate.
Lucja: Yeah.
Rocco: Last Tuesday night, Marco was drunk in wine and vodka,
he said
Lucja: What???
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just to spend a night with you,
Rocco: No, Lucja! It was a stupid idea, I'd never let anyone touch
you.
6.
Mariano: I was dying last night. I called you a thousand times, I needed
you to take me to the hospital. You didn't even answer your phone.
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Mariano: What do you want?
Ramn: It states that, when you die hopefully not for a long, long time
my father's inheritance will stay within the family.
Ramn: Don't worry. You can spend anything you want before you die.
Even if you're a drunkard and love whores so much
Mariano: I don't even have a fucking hole to drop dead and you wanna
take it from me.
Ramn: Come on, Mariano, you won't (Mariano throws up all over
him.)
You're so fucking disgusting, bro.
Ramn leaves.
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Mariano: Don't touch me. Please. I'm a disgusting old fart. I can't even
get a boner anymore.
Estrella: My mom looks after my brother, but I've not seen them for a
long time.
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Estrella: A whore? Many girls in Tenancingo are just like me.
Estrella: I've been four years in here. I send my brother half of what I
make and
Mariano: It's alright. It's just that fucking worm. Never mind, tell me
more.
Estrella: Worm? What are you talking about? Are you really alright?
Hospital.
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Doctor: Any treatment now would only elongate your suffering until the
end.
Doctor: In one week you won't even be able to leave this hospital. You'll
be in unbearable pain.
But we can ease that pain. We will start you on opioid
painkillers, so
Mariano: Bullshit. What the hell are you talking about? Soon I'll be unable
to wipe my own butthole and you talk about easing the pain. Fuck you! I'd
just I'd like a little more time I want I wish I'd met her before. Before
all of this.
Motel.
Mariano: Thanks to chemo. I'll be fully recovered soon. And when I'm
fine, we'll get the hell out of here. I'll take to see the ocean for the first
time.
Mariano: Then I'll take you back so you can see it again.
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Estrella: I hate the ocean. I'd rather be in a city.
Estrella: I'm just messing with you. Take me wherever you want.
But what am I going to do if I'm not a whore? I don't know
anything else. I'l never get another job.
Mariano: And you won't need anyone else. Ever. I promise. You just have
to give me your name.
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Mariano: Listen to me, Goddamnit! I just need your name, I won't tell
anyone. Listen to me! Fuck! It's the only thing I ask of you before I die!
Mariano: Well I'm not. And I want to leave you everything I have, so
please
Estrella leaves.
7.
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The man whispers something in her ear. She shakes his hand to seal the
deal. Carlos recognizes his mother in the audience. He's nervous, but goes
on dancing.
Outside Carlos's house, in the favela. Carlos is 14, and his voice just
changed.
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Hello, boy. You're a gorgeous one.
Carlos: No quero.
I don't wanna go.
A night club.
Boss: That little bitch almost had me fool. You almost fooled me,
you sick bastard. But you're an awesome dancer. It's nothing personal. I've
got nothing against fags. I've even fucked some of them when I'm drunk.
But I'm not gonna forgive any single fucker that messes with me. SO why
would you mess with me, you fucking asshole?
Boss: Rosita was my little girl. I bought her since she worked in
La Merced, I rescued her.
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Boss: A damn queen like me can play whatever she wants. I call
this game: Help the little ass find her tail.
Boss: Shhh. Hear something. I can hear the ants walking. Can
you hear the ants? Millions walking on the floor. Can you hear them?
Carlos: No.
Carlos: Yes.
Boss: Just for the sake of it, ain't that right? It's beautiful to kill
such a small being. Can you tell me how many ants you've killed?
Boss: See? Now we are really getting somewhere, you and me.
Tirantes! It's your birthday today, right?
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Boss: Come on, dance for him.
Dance, you son of a bitch!
No no no no, dance like you danced in there.
You've got such delicious hips, where are you from?
Carlos: Brazil.
Carlos: Dolores.
Boss: Oh, my fucking God, you're killing me. I really love you,
bitch, I do. I'd like to play with you all night long, but they're calling me.
Next girl's up for our new game.
Boss: Oh, this little bitch is nothing like the one we ripped apart
before. She's classy stuff. Her name's Frida. Her mother worked in Solid
Gold. Fine flesh!
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Carlos: Leave her alone! Play with me instead, you sick fuck!
Boss: You know what, Tirantes? Take him to the junkyard and
teach this bitch some manners.
He wants to be a lady, let's make a fucking lady out of her.
I want you to cut his dick off and bring it back to me.
You can do whatever you want with him after that.
Let's get this party back on track!
8.
Lucja: Marco's client paid a million dollars for two nights with
me. So I was told. I never saw any money.
Lucja: Marco found new clients and I, who was worth a million
dollars, became cheaper each time. But I never complained. Rocco always
found his way with words.
Detective: A cheater.
Detective: That's what they all say. And you went to Russia in the
end?
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Lucja: Every night, after he sold me, I waited him home, listening
to a piano concerto by Handel, with our bags ready, as he was negotiating
our pay. But months passed by before we finally left. And on that day
Something changed
Rocco: You liked it, didn't you? Fucking all those men?
Rocco: Marco says all his clients leave with a smile on their face.
He says he's never seen a whore as happy as you.
Rocco: But it wasn't the first time you fucked for money, right?
(Pause.)
Answer me!
Lucja: No.
Rocco: No?
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Lucja: Don't ask me that, please.
Rocco: It's an easy question, you dumb bitch! You suck their cocks
or not?
Lucja: Yes.
Rocco: Do you brush your teeth after they cum in your mouth? Do
you brush your teeth before sleeping with me?
Lucja: I do, Rocco. I brush my teeth like ten times. Each time.
Calm down, please.
Rocco: You said you had no dreams, but it seems you love to be
fucked in every hole. Maybe that is your only dream.
Rocco: And how many times have you come thinking about me?
Rocco: I want you to suck me like you suck all those dirty pigs.
Rocco: Fuck you! I know exactly where you belong. I know a place
in Moscow perfect for whores just like you.
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Lucja: You said you've never been in Moscow.
Lucja: I don't know if that was his plan from the very start, or if
he just stopped loving me.
But when we arrived, Rocco could speak Russian like a native
and he knew let's just say he knew the right people.
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Lucja: Nothing.
Detective: (Laughs.) How old were you when you started working
there?
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Lucja: The only time my guard got distracted, I ran outside, to
the streets in Moscow.
Lucja: What else could I do? If nobody thinks about you before
falling asleep If you can disappear from this world without anyone
noticing, if nobody cares Then you don't even exist. It doesn't matter
how much you wanna believe in yourself.
Lucja: Rocco found me. He beat the shit out of me, but I didn't
scream. I chose to stay with him I chose to exist, even in that way. When
we got home, we listened to Handel's Sarabande while he sold me on the
deep web. Since then, that word, Handel, has a wild and beautiful meaning
for me.
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Detective: Why would you do that? You didn't even complain?
Detective: You didn't try to escape. Not even then. What about your
dream of being free?
Lucja: You can't be free if you don't exist. At least this way, I'd
have clients who would think of me.
Galatea: Don't you think you're special just because you're pretty and
white. I am the top bitch here.
Galatea: If you need anything, first you talk to me, only I can talk to our
pimps. Don't you dare steal my clients away. Don't you dare look prettier
than me or I'll rip off your face with this nails. You like them?
Don't worry. If you're good to me, I'll look after you. Just stay
quiet, please. See that little girl? Her mama worked here for years. When
she was born, mama tried to escape, you don't wanna know what
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happened to mama. I'll just say they found pieces of mama al throughout
the city. Now they're training mama's little girl.
Galatea: Can't you see how pretty she is? Her name's Frida. Soon she'll
be working on VIP.
Galatea: If you like her so much, you can look after her. She's a whiny
little bitch.
Galatea: I like you, babe. You're pretty but not a smug like the other
girls. Be careful with the Colombian bitches. They're the worst. If you're
not careful, they'll crush you between their huge butt cheeks. By the way,
my name's Galatea. What's yours?
Lucja: Lucja.
Galatea: Too simple. You gotta find a better name. Put this heels on, and
be sure to stuff plenty of socks inside your bra until you get a boob job,
'cause you're flat as a table, dear. Now put some pink in those lips and
tighten your ass, 'cause our pimp is coming to meet you soon.
Lucja: I've been here ever since. At Solid Gold. All my clients
wore a suit. I looked after Frida until an asshole went too far. We buried
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her in the backyard. She was six years old. That was the last time I cried.
Detective: How many services did you perform since you're here?
Lucja: I did count them. Each one of them. We all do. Thirty four
thousand, two hundred and forty one.
Lucja: Many came back to me. Some of them even fell in love
with me.
Lucja: I've told you already I've got nowhere to go. Are we done?
Detective: Just one more question: If you don't care about anything,
why don't you wanna go back to your country?
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Lucja: Mind your own fucking business.
Detective: Don't be rude, girl. I've got plenty of friends who can help.
But you gotta be good to me.
9.
Lawyer: Mariano Morales? Pleased to meet you. I'm Diego Robledo. I'm
your brother's lawyer.
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Mariano: What do you want from me?
Lawyer: You know what would happen if we press charges against you?
Lawyer: I think you'd rather die with your family than die alone in jail.
Lawyer: Well, I know you intend to leave all your money for that girl. But
if we press charges, she won't receive a single cent from you, and she will
end up in juvenile prison.
Lawyer: If we press charges, you can be certain she'll spend more years
in jail than she's ever lived. But if you're reasonable and sign this will,
she'll get a reasonable amount of money after you're gone.
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Mariano: A thousand fucking pesos? You're a bunch of fucking leeches.
Mariano: You know what I think of your last chance? (Mariano spits on
the lawyer's face.)
Now get the fuck out of here, and tell my brother to fuck
himself.
Mariano: Where is Estrella? She's not working today? Tell me. Please. I'll
pay you well. Here. Now tell me where to find her. No, I don't want any
company, I just wanna know where is Estrella. You don't know her? Don't
lie! Tell me please! Where is Estrella? Don't give me that bullshit! You
know where she is. Whores can't lie. Oh, your pimp's coming to kick my
ass? Let him come! He can kill me if he wants, I just wanna know where
Estrella is! What? Am I hurting you? You have it coming, you little whore.
And I'll hurt you even more if you don't tell me
Mariano: Estrella?
She doesn't talk, she puts something inside Mariano's pocket and
leaves.
Mariano crawls following her, but he faints.
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Mariano's house. A police agent knocks the door.
Agent: Come with me please. You have the right to remain silent.
Everything you say may be used against you.
Mariano: Yes. I'll go. But I need a favor first. Please, miss.
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10.
Carlos: They say your whole life passes before your eyes before you die.
Bullshit. You get one moment, that's it.
All your life you'd prepared for a single moment that's worth
every second you've lived.
A memory where you're safe.
Just like being a kid and hiding in a trunk, and in there
you feel like nothing can hurt you.
Your problems go away in the waves,
you're floating in a vast ocean,
where nobody can reach you anymore.
That's your last memory. Your only safe place.
And you stay there, to relive that moment over an over again.
One memory that's worth your whole life.
11.
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time.
There's a legend, back in Poland,
about a spirit that roams in the forest. He eats men in order to
live.
My mother told me that story, I'd forgotten it, but I remembered
today.
I still can't remember that spirit's name. So I'll name him Lucja.
We're just the same.
I've got nothing left besides that name, and the freedom I've
just found.
I found it inside a man's corpse, cooling down three floors down.
Who would have guessed that's the only thing I needed in order
to exist.
12.
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but they hang on to the bones of that old jaw that bit them so
much.
The ashes should always blow in the wind.
Once a whore, always a whore. I'm better off this way. I'm afraid
of what's out there.
I do wanna tell you my name. Mariana.
But sure you already know.
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