The tiny outpost of El Idilio
was so remote that it might
be said
it was at the end of the earth.
In truth, it was far up a river.
A distant tributary in the great
Amazonian system
deep in a jungle whose frontiers
may never be drawn.
Just upstream lived Antonio Bolivar,
alone in a hut of his own
making
on land of his own choosing.
Antonio guessed he was aged
more than 60,
but the few inhabitants
of El Idilio
simply called him "Old Man".
As a young man,
Antonio had left the mountains of
his birth with his wife, Dolores,
to help colonize the Amazonian
jungle.
The government was promising
large tracts of land
and plentiful technical help
to the would-be settlers.
After three weeks of travelling,
they were put ashore at a bend
in the river.
They were assigned two
hectares of jungle,
a couple of machetes and a bag,
empty of promises.
Antonio remained in the jungle
for almost 40 years.
Finally emerging from the jungle
and settling in El Idilio,
Antonio Bolivar discovered
he possessed the antidote
against the poison of old age.
"One final time..."
He could read.
"... the lovers joined together
in a tor-rid
embrace... torrid embrace...
holding...
squeezing,
clasping each other
desperately...
their hands...
sear-ching,
their mouths...
burning".
Their hands searching, huh?
Searching for what?
And why are their mouths
burning?
I can guess why.
"It was
a kiss
of im-pass-ioned
in-ten-si-ty".
"A kiss...
to re-mem-ber
their...
lives... by".
That's a strange way to end
a book.
"A kiss to remember their
lives by".
I don't remember my life
by any kisses.
Not even with my wife.
Antonio and Dolores
had known each other as children,
living in a mountain
village near the Embaboran
volcano.
They had been betrothed
as thirteen-year-olds.
Not that, Antonio.
Those kisses are sinful,
I can feel it.
In that green hell of the jungle,
Dolores didn't survive two years.
Not many kisses with you,
were there, Dolores?
She was carried off
by a burning fever,
racked with malaria.
"It was a kiss...
of impassioned intensity...
impassioned intensity...
impassioned...
intensity..."
No,
the people...
don't kiss at all.
That's the impassioned intensity,
but no kissing.
Antonio Bolivar...
you are not one of us.
But you are like us.
That's why we want you with us.
That's why...
you must go away some time.
So that... we can feel
the sadness...
of not being able to talk to you.
Josefina...
"It was a kiss
of impassioned intensity...
A kiss
to remember
their lives by".
I think I understand.
The rains were coming,
that time of year when El Idilio's
isolation was even more complete.
The riverboat that visited
every few months
wouldn't now return after this trip
until the wet season was over.
That left El Idilio's
only civil servant,
his Excellency the Mayor,
in a temper even more foul
than usual.
Zamora!
The Mayor's chief occupation
was managing his beer supply.
Tell Josefina to get me
another beer!
Seated in his office, he would
eke out each
bottle by taking a sip at a time,
for he knew that once his supply
was exhausted,
life would become even more
desperate.
Down on the wharf,
Doctor Rubicondo Loachamin's
twice-yearly
travelling dental clinic
was open for business.
Does that hurt?
The good doctor's portable
chair was quite
an institution along the rivers.
It's supposed to hurt.
And whose fault is that?
Mine?
Speak up.
Oh, of course, you can't.
Well, it's the government's fault,
get that into your thick skull.
All of you thick-skulled no-hopers,
it's the government's fault
that your teeth are rotten.
It's the government's fault
that you've got
toothache.
What are you monkeys gawping at?
Jibaro have good teeth, eating
plenty monkey meat.
One day...
you'll fall into my clutches!
Then you'll thank me for it,
just like this poor devil
will when I'm...
Let... let go, you ninny!
...when I'm finished with him.
There you go.
The mouth of a new-born babe.
Got the rum, Old Man?
There's a canoe coming!
Ignore it. It's probably some
bloodsucker from the government
come to collect more taxes.
There's two of them!
There's a sick gringo on the way!
Someone get the Slimy Toad!
The gods have accepted you,
Antonio Bolivar.
Few who are bitten ever survive.
Although you are not one of us,
we welcome you to stay
as one of us.
Snap out of it, Old Man.
That's no sick gringo...
Mr. Mayor.
Where did you find him?
I don't suppose these jungle
men understand.
Up the river. Two days.
Turn him over.
You killed him.
- Not kill him.
- It's obvious. Machete, slash, dead.
You Captain, you'll be taking
a body and four
prisoners back.
All right. Get going,
we'll have a little
interview in my office.
Move!
Despite my deepest respect
for the authorities,
your Excellency,
I don't think that you're shitting
in the pot.
What are you talking about?
- What does he know about it?
- Only what I can see.
You see how the flesh is torn
in even strips,
deep in the jaw and shallow
lower down?
You see how there are
four gashes, not one?
So what are you getting at?
A four-bladed machete?
Claw marks.
It's a jaguar.
A big one.
- Smell it.
- I can see it's putrid.
Bend down and smell.
Don't be afraid of death
and maggots.
- Smells of death and maggots.
- Smells like cat piss.
This gringo was killed
by a female jaguar.
She pissed on him to mark him so
that other animals wouldn't eat him.
Superstitious rubbish.
These savages robbed and killed him,
then sprinkled him with cat piss...
They'll stop at nothing.
All right, your Excellency,
I think we've solved it.
Don't you dare move!
This man is an American citizen!
The Americans
have declared war
for less than this.
Let them go.
They and understand.
This bastard gringo killed
these cubs. Look at the bullet holes
in these little skins.
And what happened to the father?
He would have been caring for them
while the mother was out hunting.
That's what these animals do.
Look at the size of those claw
marks on this gringo.
She would have found him
by the smell of her
babies in his pack.
Let them go.
So you're not dead yet,
Antonio Bolivar.
It doesn't look like it.
- I'm not stinking either.
- I didn't know
you were a detective,
Old Man, you certainly
shut his Excellency up.
Dangerous thing to do.
But he deserves it. I hope
that one day
the Jibaro put a dart
through his head.
I think his wife will kill him first.
She's storing up the hatred.
- These things take time.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
I completely forgot with all this
dead man business.
Tell Josefina things are a little
hot for me right now.
Give me ten minutes.
Not like the old days...
You know,
I rue the day that you started
to read, Old Man.
Cost me the best lay
this side of the river.
Next.
- Name?
- Antonio Bolivar.
- Can you read?
- Don't make me laugh.
He's practically a heathen.
Can you?
I, I, I don't know.
You've been in the jungle
too long, Old Man.
The jungle rots everything,
even your memory.
What does it say here?
"The...
hon...
our...
able...
honourable...
can...
di...
date..."
Candidate.
"The honourable candidate".
There you are.
- You have the right.
- The right to what?
To vote...
in the universal secret ballot...
to make a democratic choice
between
one of the three candidates
aspiring to government office.
What is this right going
to cost me?
Nothing.
Democracy is free.
Who am I supposed to vote for?
Me, of course.
The people's choice.
Mark your cross in the top box.
It's his democratic right
to do as he's told.
Fron-te-ra.
Frontera.
Next.
Yes, I can read.
I am too old for the jungle
but at least I can read.
Sar...
di-nes.
Sar...
di...
nes.
Sar...
dines.
Sardines.
"K-nock
then enter".
- What do you want?
- The sign said
- "K-nock then enter".
- I know what the sign says.
And the word is "Knock",
you idiot.
What do you want?
I want to borrow something
to read.
What to read?
Anything.
I just got a newspaper.
Three months old.
Josefina!
Bring me that newspaper!
Not thinking of starting
a revolution, are you?
No, no, no, no.
I just want to read something.
Give it to him.
He wants to read.
That cost me dearly,
Antonio Bolivar.
I had to pretend I was in for
a "quick one".
His Excellency was in a rage
and he charged me double.
Is it sad?
She said that you'd weep
your heart out.
People who really love each other?
Yeah, like nobody ever loved
before.
They suffer a lot, huh?
I just get them, I don't read them.
Is there a happy ending?
- She said you'd like it, okay?
- Okay, okay, okay.
Here's to great suffering
and happy endings.
"Lovers
of the For-got-ten Gar-den".
Clever.
Some mystery just in the title.
"Lovers
of the Forgotten Garden".
"Lovers
of the Forgotten Garden".
Now here is a question. Straight away,
even before the story begins.
This garden has been forgotten
by someone.
The question is,
who forgot this garden?
Not the lovers,
because otherwise
they would not love
this garden so much.
I hope they're lovers of each other
and not just lovers of this garden.
"Paul...
kissed her...
ar-dent-ly...
ar-dent-ly...
while
the
gon...
doo...
layer, gondolier...
looked
the oth-er
way...
and...
the...
gon...
doo-la...
gondoola...
glided peacefully...
down the canals...
of Venice".
"Glided peacefully...
down the canals...
of Venice".
Now let's go back and work out
what that all means.
A canoe!
A canoe is coming!
Must be a lunatic in this rain.
Napoleon Salinas.
Is it that cat again?
What the hell. One less.
Sooner or later he was going
to be a goner.
At least his corpse doesn't stink.
It's not completely stiff either.
What do you make of it,
Mr. Expert, hmm?
Same as your Excellency.
He left here late,
drunk, got caught in the storm,
pulled onto the shore
to see the night out...
and that's when the female
attacked.
He managed to launch his canoe,
and that's where he bled to death.
I'm glad we agree.
So our beast is getting closer.
Yes...
and probably on our side
of the river.
I can't see any reason
to shit our pants.
A grief-crazed jaguar is more
dangerous than 20 murderers.
Is that so?
She's scented and tasted
human blood
and in her small animal brain,
we all murdered her babies.
We all smell the same to her.
Vamoose!
I have an inquest to perform.
Mr. Expert
will help me here.
Is your name Napoleon Salinas?
It is? Good. Inquest complete.
In pater sum mea culpa
ex domine... something like that.
That looks like
a gondoola.
Looks nothing like a gondola.
It's not long enough,
there's no prow.
Gondola...
Josefina's getting restless.
Do you know anything about it?
She's a good servant and she
makes me a bit of money
on the side.
But she's getting subversive
ideas.
- Ideas.
- Yes, ideas!
What's wrong with ideas?
They upset the natural order
of things.
We don't want that, do we?
The natural order of things is upset
already. She's hunting men now.
Josefina?
No,
the jaguar.
We'll have to do something
about that then, won't we?
You're slowing down.
Back so soon, Rubicondo?
Yeah.
There was a woman's husband
waiting for me...
with a gun...
pointed at me.
- You're here for the rains then?
- Yeah.
You're looking very thoughtful,
Old Man.
Out with it.
There is a set of 5-centimetre
claws
waiting for me in the jungle.
How so?
I suspect the Slimy Toad is planning
a hunting expedition.
Well, just tell him that you're
too old for that kind of thing.
He's got one over me.
I'm not getting very far
with this.
Ardently.
Ardently. How do you kiss
someone ardently?
This Paul clearly is not
respectable
or else he wouldn't be kissing her
in the presence of the gondolier.
Obviously, this is not a kiss
to remember a life by.
A bit like my friend, the dentist.
I can just guess how he kisses.
Ah, so maybe
he's almost ravishing her.
But could he do that in a gondola
without tipping it over?
I can barely
see the word clearly,
much less work out what it means.
I'm a fool.
A man who reads love stories
and admits it
is less of a fool than one who beats
his wife thinking she loves it.
Maybe I'm not.
Okay.
Let's put Rubicondo the Dentist
in Paul's place and see if it works.
"Rubicondo kissed her
ardently".
Oh, yeah,
I can imagine that.
Hold it!
It's Alkaseltzer's mule.
- Where is Alkaseltzer?
- That's it.
Search party in the morning.
We'll see who can kill the best,
us or that jaguar.
We do not hunt the jaguar.
Their flesh is not edible,
and one skin is enough to make
adornments that last a generation.
The white man hunter,
carrying a gun,
violates death with the poison
of pain.
I brought you the best part
of the liver.
Thank you.
Listen, old fellow.
Talking
helps people see eye to eye.
I ought to have you arrested
for squatting but we're friends.
And as one hand washes the other
and both wipe the shit off,
we must help each other.
These are very important
gringos, my friends.
They want to see the real jungle
and I've told them only you
can show it to them.
It's a juicy deal and I'll cut
you in on it.
How about this, huh?
How much for the photograph?
Old Man? How much for the photo?
First time I fired this gun,
I killed its owner with it.
Tell this bastard gringo if he doesn't
put that photo back,
I'll pump two rounds straight
into his belly.
Clear out!
Clear out!
I don't do business
with people who don't respect
each other's homes.
You're the one who'll have to clear out,
you old shit-bag!
This is my house!
And who owns the ground
underneath it?
- Nobody owns it.
- All the land
next to the river from this shore
to 100 metres inland,
belongs to the state. And in case
you've forgotten,
I am the state around here.
You haven't heard the last of this.
- What's eating that old asshole?
- You must understand his mentality.
He's a mountain peasant.
These people hold those sort
of thing sacred.
It's his wife. He brought her to the
jungle years ago and she died.
He's never forgiven himself.
He particularly likes Americans.
I guess you're asking me if I'll come
with you on the hunt.
You see?
Talking helps people
see eye to eye.
Enjoy the liver.
Gon-do-la...
Gon-do-la...
What a nice word!
It will make a great name
for my canoe.
The gondola of the Nanogolicia.
You...
- Doctor Dentist...
- Rubicondo Loachamin reporting
for his civic duty, sir.
- I didn't know you were a hunter.
- Yes, I've tangled
with some of the most dangerous
man-eating she-cats in the world.
So I figured you could use
my experience.
I do have some slight medical
knowledge, your Excellency.
Very well. Very well.
- Where are those free delicacies?
- They're not free.
They're paid for by the state.
Why is the state sending geriatrics
into the jungle now, huh?
Even though all these items are
issued to you personally,
they actually belong to the state.
They are
state property in your care,
and they must be signed for
upon issue
and accounted for upon your
return.
If we return.
You are unlikely to. Now is that
understood?
The plan of action
is as follows:
We will make our way to...
to Alkaseltzer's hut carefully,
and...
Hello, Antonio.
And...
And after that we'll er...
we'll see...
It's a good strategy,
your Excellency.
It's a very, very good strategy.
We go to Alkaseltzer's and then
after that we'll see.
That's very good.
I have not yet
formulated any plan. I, I...
I haven't planned for...
We must remain...
prepared for change...
Where the hell do you think
you're going?
I'm moving out.
You can't!
You don't have my permission.
I won't allow it!
Yes, I can.
I'm not a slave.
Where do you intend to go?
To his place.
His place.
Good luck with the hunt,
Excellency.
After her, the jaguar will
be easy.
Shut up, Doctor!
Otherwise you won't be going.
You're going to regret those
boots, Excellency.
They will make walking difficult.
Why don't you try like us?
- Why don't you shut up?
- Okay.
Hey, wake up, Old Man. You won't be
catching any cats sleepwalking.
Help me out of here, will you?
- Manuel, Onecen! Hold on!
- Don't go so fast,
you bastards!
What's keeping you?
Load your rifles.
- It's better to be prepared.
- Better keep our cartridges dry.
- I'm the one who gives orders here!
- What do you say, Old Man?
They're government-issue cartridges
so you do what the government says.
Help me!
Help me!
We told you they'd get
in your way.
Copy us. Walk on the dead branches.
It's easier.
Pull! Pull! Shit! My boot!
- Find my boot!
- Forget it. It's vanished.
Is no-one going to find my boot?
You bastards are just trying
to sabotage my expedition.
I wouldn't do that if I were you.
Why not? It's my boot!
Scorpions.
They bury themselves
till the rains are over
and they don't like
to be disturbed.
Do you think I'm going to swallow
that nonsense?
You're just trying to frighten me,
make fun of me.
No.
Because you're sweating
they are particularly
attracted to you.
Shut up!
Take them all out.
- Tell me what's wrong.
- Take them all out.
One by one. Line them up there
on the table.
Open your mouth.
You've got quite a few good
teeth left but
quite a few not so good.
Can you pay?
We've made a bet, Doctor,
my friends and I.
You'll take all my teeth out
and I won't make a single sound
while you do it.
You and I will share my winnings.
Once he starts pulling, you'll run
crying home to mummy.
You'd better go and have a few more
drinks. I don't like silly games.
Doctor,
if you don't let me win my bet,
I'll cut your head off
with my little friend here.
There are fifteen teeth.
One!
Two!
Three!
Four!
Five!
Six!
Seven!
Sorry. A tough one.
Eight!
I could never tell between a coward,
a fool and a brave man.
Nor could I, but
if they work for the government,
there isn't any difference.
Right! Let's go.
We can't carry on.
The men need to rest.
That makes sense...
for once.
You stay. I'm going to find
somewhere safe.
I'm the one who gives the orders
around here.
You look for some place safe,
then.
No, I didn't mean that.
You do it. Off you go.
Do you think she's out there,
prowling around?
I don't know,
but I'll know if she comes near.
It's a pity we can't have
a big fire.
- Better this way.
- It'd be much safer with the fire.
Animals don't like fire.
With this fire she can see us...
and we cannot see her.
Well, she'd better show
herself soon.
- I can't go on forever sitting here.
- Patience, Excellency, patience.
You cannot succeed at this
and go back a hero without
patience.
Once before,
I was hunting down a jaguar
for some settlers whose cattle
were being killed.
I tracked it and I tracked it
but it would not let me
come near.
And finally I had this idea
to lie down on the ground
in the open,
without moving a muscle,
finger on the trigger
and wait for it to make a move.
I waited like that for three days.
Three days.
Three days of aching joints,
and fighting sleep and pissing
in my pants.
Three days
waiting for that animal
to feel confident enough
to launch an attack.
So what happened?
I don't remember.
My brain started playing tricks
on me.
I think I fell asleep.
I was very lucky...
because that cat could
have killed me.
It was a great ruse,
to lie down on the ground,
in the open.
If you've got so much patience, you'd
better take the first watch.
I'd be happy to.
We should have a fire.
Even savages protect themselves
with fire.
...and you are chatty like
drunken parrots!
And you are as loud as
the devil himself.
And where you come from?
- What is it like?
- It's cold. It is very cold.
You wear long woollen
ponchos and hats.
That's why you stink. You shit
in your ponchos.
Do you hunt in your stinking
poncho?
Mountain people don't hunt.
- Then what do they do?
- They work in the fields,
from sunrise to sunset.
What fools!
A bad way to go, my friend.
- Switch that off!
- There's something out there!
- Put that thing away!
- What the hell do you think...?
Congratulations.
We had a fair go at that cat
just then,
but you can kiss her goodnight
now.
What was that?
What is this?
It's shit. Can't you smell it?
- I know it's shit! But what sort?
- Bat shit.
We camped under a tree of bats.
They fly off in one direction, you know
that something's coming
from the opposite direction. You,
for example. Or the jaguar.
You have trouble with the
government, huh?
- I won't have you speaking that way!
- Your Excellency.
If you hadn't granted that gringo an
illegal permit, we wouldn't be here.
I will tell you what to do from
now on.
That's why you brought me here.
Otherwise, you can clean up
your own mess.
What's it to be, Excellency?
Leave you here for the cats?
If she was with us last night,
she wouldn't be here now,
would she?
We're here, aren't we?
I don't yet know her.
The lamps are still on.
The cat is probably stretched out
in Alkaseltzer's hammock.
Well, Plasencio...
Well, well, well.
You finally made it.
All those years of effort.
Nobody would ever believe that these
stones were not from around here.
Then the prospectors would come,
and then the road builders...
the tourists...
You're already done for, cat!
So am I.
What a pathetic place to have
a pathetic store.
You need customers
to run a store.
Where are his customers?
Prospectors, hunters,
gold diggers. He did all right.
What did he do with his money?
Gambled it away with his
customers.
Looking to get your fingers on it?
No, I didn't mean that...
There is another body outside.
I'll be able to read
until I'm a hundred.
How many times must I read that
Artemio Mateluno
killed his best friend by stabbing him
twenty times?
Really, if this is reading I'm glad I didn't
waste my whole life on it.
A bible?
You want me to get you a bible?
Why for God's sake do you
want a bible?
- To read.
- You know a bible will rot
your brain worse than
the jungle will.
To have something to read.
I'm very relieved.
But you know,
if you're after reading material,
then I think we ought to...
Be able to do better
than the bible.
What did you say, Old Man?
Nothing really.
I was just thinking about
reading.
Can you really read?
A bit.
I could never see the use of it myself.
What are you reading?
A novel.
What's it about?
It's about
love.
Why bother then?
Because the thoughts are
beautiful.
Because the words are beautiful...
and the sentences.
And sometimes makes me forget
the barbarity of man.
The barbarity of man?
You mean the Slimy Toad
over there?
Not just him.
Others too.
And me.
It's true.
You're all barbarians.
What about you, Excellency?
I'm educated. That's why I'm
the Mayor.
The dentist here is educated,
your Excellency.
That doesn't make him the Mayor.
Doesn't stop me from being
a barbarian, either,
Excellency.
God, how can people be so stupid?
Think what you like,
and stop calling me "Excellency".
You've all been saying it ever since
you heard the doctor say it.
What do you want us to call you,
Excellency?
The judge is called "Your Honour"
and the priest "Your Eminence"...
and his Excellency, "Excellency".
It's her.
She's scented us.
There's nothing to say that I didn't
at least wound the animal.
Why don't you go out and see?
Listen,
my little friend.
One day soon we're going to be back
in the town and I warn you...
Shut up,
you stupid Slimy Toad! You open
your trap once more and...
- Let's do a deal, Antonio Bolivar.
- I'm going back.
- I don't want this any more.
- Let's do a deal, huh? Huh?
You're the jungle veteran, huh?
You know it better than you
know yourself.
We're just getting in your way.
Track her down
and kill her,
and the state will pay you
a reward. Stay here,
do what you think fit and we'll go back
and protect the village, huh?
I am not interested in rewards.
Everyone has his price.
Even you. Money...
a spot of land, eh? A woman...
Everyone has his price.
That's her.
She's far off.
She's crying for her babies.
What do you say, huh?
Kill her...
and you'll never get bothered again
about where you built your house.
I'll even get you a certificate of
ownership. No more recriminations...
not even about Josefina. Live the rest
of your life in peace.
Sounds good, huh?
She wants to die.
Is it a deal?
You don't have to do this.
We can wait for her to come
to the village, huh?
We could easily trap her there...
It's thick-headed to try to beat
her on her own ground.
It's my ground too.
That Slimy Toad is just trying
to get you killed, you know?
Thank her for the reading glasses,
my friend. I never got the chance.
Tell her...
tell here it will help me to read
till I'm a hundred.
I will.
You should have warned them,
Old Man.
Why are you so sure you are the one
the beast is coming for?
Don't you think such an animal
could decide to pursue them?
She could pick them off one by one
before they get to El Idilio.
She's smart.
You should have gone with them,
but you didn't because you
think you know more.
You think it's you she's after.
"Maria
moaned
plain...
plaintive-ly".
Maria moaned plaintively.
But is that from pleasure
or pain?
The words are bigger and easier
to see... but their meaning is
no more revealed than without
the glass.
Why do you do this, Antonio?
Why do you read at all?
I didn't know you were
a reader, Old Man.
Neither did I.
But the very thought of
a bible...
That's too much.
Ok. Just...
look casual.
I won't pay the Slimy Toad if I'm
not going to be doing anything.
Josefina!
Rubicondo!
- Who's your friend? - May I present
Antonio Bolivar?
Jungleman... reader.
Hello.
The problem is
he doesn't have anything to read.
You've brought him to the wrong
place. I've only got love stories.
No detective or pirate stories?
Only heartache, hopeless love
and happy endings.
That's almost as bad as
the bible.
It sounds... it sounds
interesting.
May I try one?
This is one of my favourites.
I cried all the way through.
It must be very beautiful.
It is.
Ok. Now, go and read
the damned thing.
You two can swap
handkerchiefs later.
I can't read.
Perhaps you are afraid.
Nushino's people say,
"Hide from your fear".
What's the matter?
This is not the first time you've
faced a crazed animal.
You've imagined this jaguar
thinks of you as her equal.
Don't be so big-headed,
Antonio Bolivar.
Your eyes are tired...
and your movements are slow.
After four killings,
she knows as much about men
as you know about jaguars.
And perhaps
you know less than she does.
Come on, Old Man.
Has fear finally got you?
Isn't there anything you can do
to hide yourself from it?
You are a white man's hunter
now, Antonio.
You carry a gun...
and fear.
If the trailing is easy
and you think the jaguar
is yours,
he's behind you.
His eyes are on your neck.
Here you are.
Now I can see you.
Lashing your tail...
You don't care, do you?
You're aroused by the nearness
of your victims.
No, you are not hunting, you're
just moving around...
You're certain that you're dealing
with a weaker species.
Now...
off you go, there,
in that direction.
And then I lose you.
Do you want me to find you
or not?
What are you up to?
I know your game.
You want me here.
Here I am!
I am Antonio Bolivar.
And I have patience enough,
my beauty.
You're a strange animal,
that's for sure.
I can't work it out, whether
you're acting intelligently or
out of desperation.
"They crossed the velvety carpet
of snow..."
I always thought if you've walked
on snow it got dirty.
Have you ever seen the snow?
When I was a child.
A carpet of it?
It lay on the ridges of the
Imbabura volcano...
like sheep skin... set out to dry.
"They crossed the velvety carpet
of the snow...
as they exchanged promises...
in eternal love".
"And death...
united them...
forever".
It's so beautiful...
This is not true.
Death separates forever.
But we're not dead.
No.
Not yet.
So, we can still be united.
Yes, we can.
Keep your head about you,
Old Man.
Still too far to be sure.
Antonio?
Yes?
What is love?
Antonio, why don't you ask more
from me?
It is not mine to ask.
Why not?
You're already are...
what you are.
You are a thunderbolt...
What do you mean by that?
I had a friend...
a Nushino...
He said...
"Nobody can tide down
a thunderbolt...
and nobody can take for his own...
the rapture of the other".
In the jungle, the one that survives
is the one that moves.
Your brain is getting slow,
Old Man.
You should have done this before.
Why don't you attack me?
What's your game?
It's not you who wants to die,
is it?
This is why you brought me here.
Forgive me, my friend.
That lousy gringo...
he fucked us all up.
You were very lucky,
Antonio Bolivar.
That fall could have broken
a bone or two.
Lucky you had a fern mattress.
Hello, Antonio.
State property...
I'd better enjoy it...
I'm not sure how I'm going
to account for this...
when I return.
Maybe I am a thunderbolt,
but will you share my rapture?
I might live to be a hundred.
Then you'll need this.
I'm sorry, Dolores.
This lousy jungle
has fucked us all up.
Nushino...
We kill them for the sake of
killing.
But why?
It doesn't matter.
They all look alike.
But why, my brother?
Why not like always?
Go away and come back.
I'm getting too old for
the jungle.
Oh, Nushino...
I miss too many times
with the blowpipe.
I want to be able to...
What new trick is this?
I thought we were finished
with each other.
They say your kind can smell
the scent of death on our kind.
Is that true?
Is it the smell of death I have
about me?
Is it my turn?
You're pissing on me!
You're demented!
Bad way to go, my friend.
I cannot leave in peace,
my brother...
Until his head hangs from
a stake,
I will wander like a sad blind
parrot
earning the hatred of those
who never knew me,
disturbing dreams...
scaring game...
Save me, my brother.
Save me from eternal misery.
The Indians.
- Where are the Indians?
- On the other side of the river.
Don't worry.
They're not following you.
Antonio Bolivar...
You are like us.
But you are not one of us.
You should have killed him
with a poison dart.
Then
all of his courage
would have been captured
in his expression.
How can they shrink that head...
when in life...
it has been frozen...
into that mask
of fear...
and pain?
My eternal misery.
Go now...
my friend.
You have no rights
to linger...
among us any longer.
Oh, Antonio, you are a fool.
You can't even shoot straight.
I know you're watching me!
We're even.
I am Antonio Bolivar!
I have come to capture your
courage!
A curse on that gringo.
A curse on all the gringos...
And the prospectors...
and the settlers...
and the government...
and the tourists.
"One final time the lovers joined together
in a torrid embrace,
holding, squeezing, clasping
each other desperately,
their hands searching,
their mouths burning".
"It was a kiss
of impassioned intensity,
a kiss to remember
their lives by".