Original subtitles

DEBA, DECEMBER, 1958

No references to God.

Atheism scares people away.

We can't be too close to the PNV.

It's no good starting out with a complex.

We shouldn't think about others,

but what we want to be ourselves.

Secular?

Non-religious.

"Non-religious."

And democratic.

We have to tell a story outsiders will understand.

Basque representative democracy

predates Washington and Jefferson.

Israel.

What?

That's our model.

The Jews went 2,000 years without a homeland.

For us it's been 500.

We're the Israel of Europe.

Write it down.

And the name?

"Aberria Eta Askatasuna" ("Homeland and Freedom").

No. No good.

Why not?

The acronym would be ATA,

"duck" in Basque.

How about...

"lraultza Ta Askatasuna" ("Revolution and Freedom").

-LTA... - Well?

It sounds like IRA, they'll think we're copying the Irish.

- Is that bad? - The vowels are in the same order.

What are we? Basque soldiers or linguists?

"Euskal Alderdi lraultza" ("Basque Revolutionary Party").

Too many vowels.

"Euskadi Ta Askatasuna" ("Basque Country and Freedom").

The acronym would be ETA.

Write it down.

THE INVISIBLE LINE

Don't move!

Shut up! Shut up!

Shut up!

Don't move. Look at me!

- Look at me, I said! - Come on!

He has concussion. He doesn't remember anything.

He thinks he's 15, at Catholic boys school.

Jesus!

The doctor said he was out for over an hour.

- It can happen. - And the police?

They've questioned him.

But Ander says he's very religious

and he'll only talk to Father Inaki.

See what happens when you rob banks?

- A bank courier. - I don't care.

Ander's in hospital.

The police will beat him until he remembers what he did.

To end the dictatorship, we need money.

If they won't give it to us, we have to take it.

You start by robbing a bank,

you end up taking El Pardo all by yourself.

So we do nothing?

Txabi, Txiki...

Leave US OH OUT OWH.

Why?

What's the problem?

I'd prefer us to talk alone.

Because I'm a woman?

We authorized the attack because you said the risk was zero.

Zero risk means 100 years of dictatorship.

- Euskadi isn't Algeria. - So what's the plan?

Strikes, the workers' struggle.

Franco laughs at the workers' struggle.

The strike at the Bandas factory in Etxebarri will shut down Euskadi.

The company sent in the police so they could cut workers' wages.

We have to be there.

So you want to turn ETA into a union?

How long have you been in the organization? A year?

At least then we were throwing firecrackers.

José Antonio is brainwashing you, Txabi.

All my brother wants is for the Basques to know who we are.

If that means doing things no one dares to do, I support him.

While Erreka and I are in charge, ETA won't engage in armed struggle.

- People will lose hope. - What people?

Us, the Basques.

This isn't Basques against Spaniards.

It's the exploited against Fascists, do you understand?

You're not listening to me, Txabi.

What?

I asked if you'd filled in the forms.

What forms?

Graduate studies. Oxford.

- Ah... - What's on your mind?

I sent the papers but it doesn't mean I'll be chosen.

There'll be thousands of candidates.

And if they pick you?

Then you come too.

We'd have to get married.

- Are you asking me to marry you? - Don't be silly.

- You know I'd love to. - Marry me? I know.

No! Go to England.

- How about going to France? - No, I prefer England.

What if I stay here?

You'll get that scholarship.

I'm not asking about that.

Why would you stay?

Txabi, you don't fit in here.

The Contafac Factor-R model

is made in Spain by Telesincro, and the designers are local.

It has a RAM of 128, which is not a lot,

and a system of integrated circuit boards,

which is not very sophisticated, but it works well.

- Down with the dictatorship! - Police, murderers!

Hey! They've hung out a banner!

- Outside! - Come on!

What's going on?

- Let's go! - They've hung out a banner!

There's a banner out there!

- Come on, hurry! - Everyone out!

DOWN WITH THE DICTATORSHIP

Down with the dictatorship!

Down with the dictatorship!

FRANCO MURDERER

- Down with the dictatorship! - Murderers!

Down with the dictatorship!

Everybody out!

Get out, all of you!

Down with the dictatorship! Down with the dictatorship!

Police, murderers!

- Everybody out, I said! - Come on!

Run, run, run!

Police, murderers!

You hear me? Don't get in trouble.

- There's always trouble in universities. - Thank God.

- Thank God for what? - Someone's doing something.

Taking on the government will just ruin your life.

Why do you say that? Because of my crutches?

Pay no attention to your brother.

Why did José say that?

Because he's silly.

They tried to run down the stairs,

but the police blocked the way.

Of course. They have no goddam idea.

It's as if they liked getting beaten up.

- Do you know what I would do? - What?

Jump.

Jump? Where to?

- To the ground. - You'd be dead.

- Or not. - You would.

Remember the Vietnamese monk who set himself on fire?

It was in all the papers.

Yes. What about him?

Suddenly, the whole world started asking what was going on in Saigon.

Right.

Maxi told me about your argument with Michel and Erreka.

- They have no idea. - Right.

No goddam idea.

What would you do, Txabi?

- If you were in their place? - Me?

I don't know, I'm no one. I don't have a pedigree.

- You're my brother. - Right, the brother.

Right, the brother.

The brother.

- The younger one... - Txabi, listen.

Why don't you talk to El lnglés?

- He doesn't even live here. - No, he lives on the other side.

But I'm in touch with him, he can help you get it.

- Get what? - A pedigree.

Txabi, El Inglés has many faults,

but he's a brilliant guy.

Ever since Michel and Erreka took control of ETA, they've ignored him.

They say he's a racist for prioritizing Basque sentiments.

That he's bourgeois, with no class consciousness.

But he knows the kind of struggle we have to engage in.

He'll be delighted to know there are people who want to change things

from within.

Good afternoon!

Well?

How's Hopalong?

Who?

José Antonio.

You're nothing like your brother.

The Bandas strike is idiotic.

They won't achieve anything.

Franco will send the Armed Police,

fill up the prisons, and it will all carry on as before.

I agree. And so does José Antonio.

And many others don't agree

with what Michel and Erreka are doing.

Where are these people?

Waiting for someone to speak for them.

If we want to change things, we need to call an assembly.

But to do this, we need a majority.

Do you know how to get a majority?

By explaining what we want to do, right?

First we have to convince them of who we are.

- We're not trade unionists. - Or Spanish.

We're Basque anti-fascists.

Defending the rights of a nation older than Spain itself.

Defending the right to a language, a culture, an identity.

That's what we have to get across.

That's what it is, a feeling. Not an ideology.

Ideologies come and go.

Feelings remain.

Identities remain.

If we want to take power from Michel and Erreka,

we have to find people who are willing to give their all.

To give up everything.

Starting with you.

Are you willing?

But what is "everything"?

Everything other people might have.

A life.

I'm not scared to work for Euskadi.

If you get that majority,

El Inglés will go to Bilbao and take over.

Then we're going to put up a fight.

If you had to pick a nickname what would it be?

- A nickname? - Yes, a nom de guerre.

What would you like? Something simple.

Pepe.

Pepe is fine.

It's to honor my brother.

Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen, outlive thy glory like my wretched self!

And see another deck'd in thy rights as thou art stall'd in mine!

Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen!

Hastings and Rivers,

you were standers-by when my son was stabb'd with bloody daggers:

God, I pray him that none of you may live his natural age...

Hello.

Where have you been?

I stayed late at the university.

- Doing what? - Some papers for...

For the scholarship for Oxford.

What are you watching?

Richard III.

With José Maria Prada.

She hath had too much wrong,

and I repent my part thereof.

He looks more like a navvy than a king.

What would you know?

I left you some squid in the kitchen.

Squid?

Has he remembered anything?

The doctors say we have to wait.

But we can start applying pressure.

What's that priest called, the one who he talks so much about?

Inaki.

- Inaki... - Father Inaki.

Have you investigated him?

He's very friendly with the PNV.

PNV...

And if the firm thinks

it can cut wages and increase workload without any comeback...

- Who will stop them? - Us!

Because the firm

wants to produce more.

And more!

And more!

But that's not all...

...they want to cut wages. More.

And more, and more...

What are we going to tell them?

We're going to say no!

Of course we are!

This is a despotic company...

Thanks, see you later.

- How's it going? - Heating up.

- Will the strike go ahead? - The works council meets tomorrow.

There's no stopping this.

Txabi was on the other side.

- What? - Txabi.

He went to San Juan de Luz to see El Inglés.

Strike! Strike!

Strike, gentlemen!

El lnglés is a fanatic.

Maybe, but he's one of the founders.

He has contacts overseas, in Algeria, Belgium and America.

Contacts for what?

What's the plan?

To call an assembly that will change things.

- That's ambiguous. - To put up a fight, Maxi.

Define "put up a fight."

Do what Michel and Erreka refuse to do.

Exactly.

You mean armed struggle.

It's a possibility.

You've always agreed with that, right?

If we don't get the support

we'll just be expelled.

We'll get the support, Maxi, I'm convinced of it.

José, you know the priests.

We need a place to hold the assembly.

Yes, we'll talk to Father Inaki, it'll be fine.

If we promise people this is going to be Algeria,

we'll have to deliver.

- You know that, don't you? - Yes.

Bye.

Thanks, Father.

- See you, Father. - See you.

- Lots of people don't want El Inglés. - Yes.

What matters is the project, Father.

Michel and Erreka are leaning more and more to the unions.

What does El Inglés say?

He is on the other side. We're the ones who are here.

Exactly. We decide.

What support do you have?

A lot of people.

How many?

If you agree to call the assembly,

more people will join us.

- We all win, Father. - Of course.

What do you want me to do?

Give sermons on how great another assembly would be?

How many have you held?

It would be the fifth, Father.

All we need is a location.

The spiritual retreat in Getaria would be perfect.

Our priority now, comrades,

must be honesty, dignity and justice!

- And most of all, - Yes!

Comradeship, we have to act as one.

Am I right?

Am I right? Act as one!

Know how we fix this? By going on strike!

Strike! Strike!

Yes!

All or none.

Strike! Strike!

Maxi's bringing 5 more from Paris.

Paul, Txato, Balduino,

Kortxo

and Tintin.

Hello. Hi.

Of course we want higher wages, better pensions.

But we want them for those who will make sacrifices for Euskadi.

We want them for Basque working people, for you.

Because the mirror we should see ourselves in

isn't Berlin or Warsaw.

We have different models. Cuba, Algeria...

Oppressed nations that rose up.

That made sacrifices

to reclaim the overwhelming truth of their national identity.

Careful, boys, it's the cops!

Hey.

Txema, Pepe.

Hello.

- Txema. - Maxi.

Txema.

The pride of Roncesvalles, of the tree of Guernica,

the blood shed by our Basque soldiers in the Civil War.

For them...

...we have to stop turning the other cheek.

For them...

...we have to change things.

WORKERS STRUGGLE

Strike!

All or none!

All or none!

All or none!

Strike! Strike! Strike!

WORKERS STRUGGLE

Get out.

Come on! Move!

Quick!

Move!

Come on!

Let me see.

I'll tell you one thing, the Church...

...fills me with peace.

Great peace.

But not just spiritual peace.

It's also political.

Because when we Basques decide to fight

we become carlistas.

Not communists.

You see, I'm very Franciscan.

- I like to stand with the weak. - Then become a missionary.

Go to Borneo, Amazonia, Africa...

They're weaker there than here.

Of course, they're harder to manipulate.

I don't manipulate. People are adults.

So many subversives talk to me about you.

I've been teaching religion for 15 years.

I've probably taught subversives, legionaries and falangists too.

And...

...the man in the sketch, which group is he in?

I don't know him, Inspector.

Well he's going round haranguing people

in factories, and in bars, like a visionary.

I don't like visionaries.

Especially the ones I have no control over.

Because your duty is... to control, I imagine.

And yours, to teach the Gospels.

- Don't forget that. - That's what I do.

Right.

God be with you.

- Hello? - Txabi.

It's me, Inaki.

Don't even think of coming back to the church.

The Social Brigade from Guipuzcoa are after you.

They have a sketch.

It's not a photo, but... they'll get you eventually.

Then I'll have to hurry.

- Hurry to do what? - To start the revolution.

This is very serious, Txabi.

You saw what happened with the strike, Father.

They give us no choice.

Then we have to pray hard.

Yes, we'll have to pray.

The center's more expensive, because it's in demand.

But I found an area, Cowley,

which is affordable, and close to the university.

It depends on the scholarship they give you.

Julia...

We're not going to Oxford.

We're not going?

No.

Have they turned you down?

No.

SQ?

If I get the scholarship, I'm going on my own.

What are you talking about, Txabi?

I think it's for the best.

Best for who?

You see...

Julia, I don't want to waste your time.

I don't even know if I'll come back from England.

That's how I feel now.

So...

- You're bored of me? - No, it's not that.

- There's someone else. - No, it's nothing like that.

- You've fallen out of love... - It's nothing like that.

Then tell me what's happening.

Is that all you have to say?

Julia...

Julia!

Go to hell.

Txabi.

Hey.

Hey, Txabi.

What's going on?

You're making a mistake.

What mistake am I making?

Get in the car.

I told you both that many people were unhappy.

So you'll solve that by going back to Sabino Arana?

What the hell, Sabino Arana? What the hell is this?

- Basques first, right? - I never said that.

"Basque working people"?

Aren't workers from Badajoz breaking their backs in the shipyards?

You don't understand, this isn't about...

Have you seen your hands?

Look at them.

They've never touched a machine, never got grease on them, or sweated.

Stop it!

But you think you can talk about working people.

Michel, face it, the Bandas strike failed.

That's how it is!

Franco declared an emergency, we're worse off than before!

We're not worse off than before.

If you think that, it's you who doesn't understand.

If you hold this assembly, you'll split ETA in two.

- It's already broken, Michel. - How will you fix it? With bullets?

I'm not the one laying down the red lines.

Who told you that? El Inglés.

I'll see you at the assembly. Goodbye.

- Txabi, wait. - Let me go.

They still have five delegates more than us, at best.

That doesn't worry me.

We'll call the assembly by telephone the day before.

And?

Well, we decide who we call... and who we don't call.

That's not very honest.

As Lenin says, "The end justifies the means."

Or, as Father Inaki says,

"Everything's legitimate as long as it isn't a sin."

You'd like to stand, wouldn't you?

- Stand? - To lead the assembly.

Me, on crutches..

- No. - And if you didn't have crutches?

No.

You sent me to the other side to boost my pedigree, not to bring El lnglés.

Know what the problem is?

Nobody wants El Inglés.

SQ?

SQ?

We need a leader.

We've got one.

- Who? Maxi? - No.

No, Maxi thinks the same way I do.

The leader has to be you, Txabi.

What are you talking about?

- Yes. - Come on...

Come here. Listen to me.

You've mobilized the people.

Am I right?

You don't arouse distrust like El Inglés.

- Plus, you don't have a past. - Everyone has a past.

No, you don't have a past.

And if I don't want to?

Of course you want to.

I have my own point of view,

and often it's not the same as yours.

Well, in that hypothetical case...

- You would be right. - How do you know?

Because you've always been better than me.

Always.

El Inglés won't agree to it.

I spoke to El Inglés.

Help me up.

Do you know what I told him?

I said you're perfect.

Because you've got it, Txabi.

That thing we all aspire to and none of us have.

You can see it through.

- You don't know that. - Yes, I do.

- Nobody knows that. - I do.

Remember what you said

about the monk who set himself on fire in Saigon?

Well, that monk did it.

That monk saw it through to the bitter end.

A French school? So you can speak French.

You're a real bastard, Txabi, you know that?

I expect it from your brother, he's selfish.

- Not from you. - What are you talking about?

What you did to Julia.

- She told me today. - Listen...

No, you listen to me, Txabi.

You're not like that.

- Like what? - Like José Antonio.

Your brother's brainwashing you, Txabi.

All I want is for Julia to be happy.

That's all I want.

I saw your poems and letters. You're crazy about her!

That's precisely why I want her to be happy!

How could she be happy with someone like me?

What don't you understand, Teresa?

Your brother is using you.

- What are you saying? - Do you understand?

You don't see it. He wants you to be what he can't.

Then he'll tell you you're a Basque soldier, a hero...

But if you follow this path...

...you're a coward, Txabi.

Hello?

Yes, he's here.

Peru.

Hello.

Bye.

It's confirmed.

They called Urku and Sebas.

They have to go to a rectory in Getaria.

- What do we do? - It's a trap.

They called 5 or 6 of us to make it convincing.

- Let's go.

If we don't go, they'll say we're scared.

If we go, we legitimate their decisions.

- The assembly has no validity. - So who do we appeal to?

It's a trap, Erreka. A fucking trap.

I'm asking you, who do we appeal to?

Anything wrong?

José Antonio says you're going to spend a few days in San Sebastian.

I'm going to see some friends.

To see some friends.

Do you remember my neighbor, Herminia?

We used to fight when we were girls.

- Yes, I remember, mum. - I know, I've told you so many times.

When she burned my hair...

...when she broke one of our windows.

Do you know why she did all that?

- Envy- - Envy-

Her father was ruined, and mine was doing alright.

- I saw them sell their furniture. - If you're trying to tell me something...

I want to ask you both what's wrong with you?

What did I do wrong?

You didn't do anything wrong.

Do you know the worst thing Herminia did?

Worse than throwing stones, worse than anything.

She swore there'd be a curse on my family.

Kids say a lot of stupid things.

Sure.

But I always remember that.

When your father died, and I had to raise you on my own.

Or when your brother fell ill with something no one understands.

So I wonder what's coming next.

What's coming next, Txabi?

Mum...

Some say Euskadi is a fantasy.

I can testify that it's as real as what we see through that window.

I believe in the cultural identity of our people,

in its language, its traditions...

And this is not a fantasy, but a social reality.

Good morning.

- Good morning. - Hi.

Hi.

Carry on.

Some of the leaders of our organization say

we're playing into the hands of the priests.

And I wonder, which priests?

Nothing is more communist than standing with the weak.

And if we're here today, it's thanks to those Basque patriotic priests,

who take risks no Spanish priest would.

The problem for this organization

is not to choose priests or workers, the bourgeoisie or the exploited.

The real problem...

...is to choose...

...between struggle or surrender.

Bombs or strikes.

Sacrifice or capitulation.

As the poet said, "Love of the homeland is not that ridiculous love

of the earth or the grass we tread upon,

it is invincible hatred of the oppressor,

eternal animosity towards those that attack it."

That's right!

Long live ETA! Yes! Come on!

Alright!

Comrades...

It's time to propose a candidate to lead the organization.

One moment...

Aren't you going to let me speak?

Comrades, let's give a big welcome

to a key figure in our movement, a founder of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna.

After the journey that brought me here I didn't want to miss this moment.

Do you know why?

Because I think this 5th Assembly is going to be historic.

It already is.

It already is.

It gives me a tremendous sense of responsibility to say this...

...because ETA is like a son to me.

All of you,

regardless of the differences there may be between you,

are like my children.

That's how I feel.

But the fact is, with children you have to take great care

of who you hand them over to.

And today, comrades, I feel...

I feel peace of mind...

. . satisfaction . . .

...to think we can hand them over to the ideal person.

A man who can take us further than we have ever been able to go.

Long live the Basque Country!

Homeland or Death!

Long live socialist Basque Country!

Long live free Basque Country!

It was made in Guernica for Hitler's army.

He doesn't speak Basque.

Some Basque soldier...

We made it for the Nazis in '44.

If you want it to serve the Basque cause, that will have to start with you.