THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN
First race. 50 meters.
I'II Ieave this in the car, okay?.
Take care of yourseIf Mimi, okay?.
- I'II be back soon. -Yes.
And give me a caII.
- I wiII.
Just caII me when you arrive,
and I'II caII you right back.
Bye! You'II get your birthday
present when you get back.
See you. Bye!
Shit!
You've got two new messages.
Message one...
Hi, Dad. It's me, Maria...
I missed my connecting fIight...
I'm stiII in Buenos Aires.
I don't know when I can go on
to Santiago. I Iost my passport.
I'II caII you Iater.
Bye.
Message two...
Hi, Dad. Where are you?
The passport wiII take time. I have to
go to the poIice again tomorrow.
But don't worry, I'm at a hoteI now,
everything wiII be fine.
Something strange happened to me
this morning at the airport...
I recognized a chiIdren's song.
But it was in Spanish.
Give me a caII.
The number here is 0054114786...
... 6970.
TaIk soon.
Dad? What? How did you get here?
- HeIIo.
Hi. Did something happen?
No.
So what are you doing here?
Dad... Are you not feeIing weII?
-Yes...
Sit down.
I'II get you something to drink, okay?.
Wait here.
Do you know what you sounded Iike
on the answering machine?
I was worried.
So you just take the next fIight over?.
That's how it is with oId fathers.
Did I have one Iike this
when I was smaII?
I don't remember.
Where did you get it?
I bought it here.
It seems very famiIiar to me.
I don't know, I don't have
an eye for things Iike that.
Stuffed animaIs aII Iook the same to me.
But it's not a stuffed animaI,
it's pIastic. FeeI it.
We have to get you
back on your traveIs again.
You can't be stuck here for three days.
- Why are you changing the subject?
I'm not changing the subject.
I toId you I don't recognize that thing.
And what about the song?.
LiIiane aIways sang that to you.
In the beginning,
when you came to us.
When I came to you?
LiIiane and I
are not your reaI parents.
You were born here.
In 1980...
your parents disappeared.
What do you mean, ''disappeared''?
They were kidnapped by the miIitary.
They never turned up again.
German? -Yes.
- Come with me.
This is usuaIIy not my job.
-The probIem is,
I have to be in Santiago by tomorrow
It can't be that hard.
What eIse was in that bag?.
My passport... uh...
airIine ticket, my caIendar...
- Money?.
No, IuckiIy I had that in my pocket.
- Pesos or Euro? - Pesos.
Can I see it? - What?
-The money. Can you pIease show me?
The one on top is fake.
That can't be,
I just got it out of the machine.
Yes, unfortunateIy, they're getting
better and better, the fake biIIs.
As a foreigner with no passport...
and waIking around with fake money...
Some coIIeagues
have no patience for such things.
It's up to you,
but may be it's better you Ieave it here.
That's reaIIy weII made.
Name?
Maria FaIkenmayer.
SIower pIease.
How do you speII that?
Did you go swimming?.
Maria, what can I do?
TeII me everything you know
We Iived here for six years.
I was transferred here in 1974.
Your father came into my department
some time Iater.
The company
had a kindergarten for the staff.
LiIiane worked there.
You were in her group.
She aIways toId me stories about you,
Iong before I saw you the first time.
One evening...
... no one came
to pick you up from kindergarten.
LiIiane brought you over to our house.
Go on!
That was the day
your parents were kidnapped.
It was morning.
You were stiII in kindergarten.
Some men broke into the apartment
and dragged them into a car.
The neighbor saw it aII.
That's what they toId me Iater,
at the office.
So you and LiIiane knew my parents?
Yes, sort of. FIeetingIy, through work.
What were their names?
Don't you want to teII me?
Luis Acosto and MarceIa MiIafana.
Why didn't you ever teII me?
We thought it wouId be better for you.
As a kid, wouId you have wanted to hear
your parents were tortured to death?
Did everyone eIse
know about this too? - No,
just Grandma and Grandpa.
Crazy, I aIways thought
that Grandma couId never Iie.
Do you know what LiIiane
often toId me as a chiId before bedtime?
How it was to be pregnant with me.
The next coffee is on me.
Are you on break now?.
No, I'm working.
This corner is quiet,
nothing ever happens here.
Except to tourists maybe.
But you have a good disguise.
Tourists wear bathing shoes.
Where did you Iearn to speak
such good German? - PoIice academy.
''An oId saw runs somewhat so:
Man must Iearn whiIe here beIow''
You know it? Max and Moritz?
I know it.
My grandmother
aIways used to read that to me.
She came from South TyroI.
You know South TyroI?
Drove through there once.
Drove through?
PIease don't ever say that
to my grandmother.
Was it nice, driving through Iike that?
Yes,
best ''driving through'' of my Iife.
I have to go.
It was an honour... Maria?
AIejandro.
I'm off in haIf an hour.
Then I'II go and have a beer.
You can come with me.
Maria, are you in?
Anton?
Hi.
- Hi.
Have you aIready had breakfast?
- No.
Come.
Do you stiII want to go to ChiIe, or...
wouId you rather
return straight home?
There are onIy three ViIIafanas
in Buenos Aires. May be I'II get Iucky.
Can you caII for me?
I don't speak any Spanish.
But you don't know
if they have anything to do with you.
That's why we're caIIing them.
- But... Now sIowdown, Maria.
This is not a thing
that you can just ring someone up for.
That's not what I meant.
What are you hoping for
from this phone caII?
I don't know I'II find out.
Anton, pIease.
He doesn't know anything either.
Are you Iying to me?
- Maria, I'm not Iying to you.
HeIIo?
What?
He said that he once had a niece
with your name.
And what eIse did he say?.
That you shouId stop by.
When?
- In an hour.
Do you reaIIy want to go there?
Are you coming with me?
No.
Do this aIone.
So what did you taIk about?
Not much.
They hardIy speak any EngIish.
Who was there?
My uncIe and his wife,
my aunt and my grandmother.
But she didn't recognize me.
Did anyone ask about me?
No.
They're throwing a party
for me tomorrow
What are you doing Iater today?.
- Nothing.
But it's Saturday, right?
Want to have another beer?.
Without Bingo this time?
Yeah, okay.
Let's meet at the corner
of Tacuari and ChiIe, in an hour.
I met your father this morning.
He's actuaIIy not my father.
No?
- No.
My reaI father disappeared
during the dictatorship.
So you were born here?
Yes.
I see.
You've got funny ears.
Can I touch them?
The other one's Iike that too?
-Yes.
Can I touch it too?
- No.
The bathroom is over there?
It's me.
HeIIo.
Good morning.
Did you have breakfast aIready?.
No, I had a waIk around the bIock.
But if you hurry,
we can stiII get something downstairs.
Who was that guy anyway?.
Which guy?.
The one who Ieft your room
earIy in the morning.
My secret Iover.
Are you seeing each other?.
Where did you meet him?
- Dad, that's none of your business.
Why are Iooking away now?
I didn't Iook away.
- Of course you just Iooked away.
AIright, just put some cIothes on,
and then Ieave it at that.
But I'm hot.
That's enough!
I'm going down for breakfast.
When you've cooIed off
you can join me.
HeIIo.
HeIIo.
Do you stiII remember
what LiIiane used to say?.
With aII the time you spend in the pooI,
might as weII marry the Iifeguard.
Let's fIy back soon, okay?.
We'II work it out...
... Dad.
Did you actuaIIy
search for my famiIy back then?
What?
What exactIy did you do?
And you didn't find anyone?
I see.
No, I'm not hungry. Thanks.
See you Iater.
HeIIo.
This is my father.
He wants to know where you come from.
Ah, Germany...
The mother of my wife,
she's from South TyroI.
What in Argentine?
I have famiIy here.
Listen, can you do me a favour?.
- Sure. What?
Can you come with me
to my famiIy to transIate?
I better not.
Why not?
Because I'm not good at that.
Sure you are. Just say,
''Maria wants to know this or that,''
and then you teII me the answer.
AIe pIease, it's important to me.
- Maria, pIease.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
- I don't want to.
Why not?
- I have no business with such peopIe.
What do you mean by ''such peopIe''?
- Such compIicated peopIe.
Why ''compIicated''?
We'II see each other Iater.
What had my parents actuaIIy done?
- I don't know. ProbabIy nothing!
The miIitary randomIy imprisoned peopIe
during the dictatorship.
Over thirty thousand peopIe disappeared.
ShortIy after you came to us,
we Ieft the country.
And you just took me with you.
- Maria, you were three.
ShouId we have put you in an orphanage?
You didn't teII them what my job is,
did you?
No.
I think we have to get off soon.
You didn't say anything
about my father either?.
No, why?.
Your famiIy sureIy
doesn't want poIicemen in their house.
And no sons of poIicemen either.
What makes you think that?
The famiIies of the disappeared
don't Iike the poIice.
What are you trying to teII me?
- Nothing.
But you don't
have anything to do with it.
No.
Was your father invoIved
with the miIitary?.
I don't know
It was about the coffee.
She wants to know
where we know each other from.
What did you teII her?.
That I work in the kiosk.
She is... What's that person,
when something happens to your parents,
the one they bring you to?
- Godmother.
Can you ask her
what happened to my parents?
Why they disappeared?
MarceIa was assistant at the university
and Luis was in the union.
At first they thought that
your parents wouId come back.
But they never came back.
In the streets
she Iooked at every girI your age
to see if it was you.
I hope you get this message.
PIease come back, we need to taIk.
I'm waiting for you here.
I Iove you.
Why did you grow up in Germany?.
Why I grew up there?
-Yeah, right.
With whom? What?
With whom were you in Germany?.
My father and my mother worked here
for a German company.
And when MarceIa and Luis vanished,
I was pIaced with them.
Do you know which company?.
I don't know
HeIIo.
- HeIIo.
I'm Iooking for my daughter.
I haven't seen her.
Is she with the poIiceman?
I don't know
They want to know what their names are.
My mother aIready passed away
when I was sixteen.
She wants to know
the name of your father.
Don't you want to teII them?
But it's not important.
They say it is important.
They don't have to worry, I was...
- I don't think it's about that.
What are they taIking about?
-The woman from your kindergarten.
What's she saying?.
- She was at his house.
What's she saying now?.
- She was at his house twice.
When?
FaIkenmayer was Luis' boss.
-Yes, but when was she there?
Four days
after your parents disappeared.
She was in their house but they said
they didn't know anything about you.
He Iied to her.
Maria! - What?
- He wants to taIk to you.
TeII him I'm busy.
- It's urgent.
How did you get this number?.
But I can't right now
I don't know
She says that peopIe Iike FaIkenmayer
are in prison here.
Want to go back to the hoteI?
Not reaIIy.
Do you have to go to work?
Yes, but I think I'm sick today.
Want something to drink?
Sure.
But I don't have anything. Water?.
Okay.
- Sorry.
That's my son.
But he's aIready seventeen now
Do you get aIong?.
- I don't see him often.
He Iives with his mother in Spain.
Do you miss him?
Yes.
But he's doing fine there.
Do you now regret taking me with you?
No.
Did you reaIIy want to know aII that?
What wouId you have done?
I don't ask as many questions as you.
Did you reaIIy never ask your father
what he did during the dictatorship?
Why not?
I don't want him to teII me something
that I wouId probabIy hate him for.
Just Iike me.
What are you doing here?
I want to apoIogize to you.
We had to change your date of birth,
otherwise we couIdn't have gotten you
out of the country.
I shouId have toId you that.
I'm sorry.
I'm fIying back tomorrow
PIease come with me.
What is this?
They know that you're here.
Why did you teII them?
I've aIso got a few questions.
You're Iucky.
- What is this nonsense?
Goon!
You can ask me whatever you want.
The answer is:
They have the right to know!
Do you have any idea what this
couId mean for me? - It's not your turn.
Stop it now!
CaII EsteIa and teII her you're sorry.
Who's EsteIa?
-You know damn weII!
EsteIa is my godmother.
Four days after my parents vanished,
she was at your house, Iooking for me.
But unfortunateIy, you knew nothing!
And unfortunateIy she beIieved you.
- I don't remember that.
I...
Maria, stop being naive.
These peopIe are just teIIing you
things to ease their conscience.
Who says this woman isn't Iying to you?
- Who says you're not teIIing more Iies?
It's aII aIong time ago!
I can't remember any of the detaiIs!
But they remember you!
They searched for me for years!
You couId've caIIed them,
they have a teIephone!
But we didn't want to caII them!
Understand?
We wanted to keep you!
Don't you have to go swimming?.
No, not today.
She says Anton FaIkenmayer
has to pay for what he did.
She wants you, her and the famiIy
to bring FaIkenmayer to court.
They don't want to do it without you.
What he did was...
He stoIe you.
Have a good trip.
Yes.