He told me I would forget the desert, and what they had fought for.
But how could I not remember?
It was where my life began.
This land where death is not the end, but only the beginning.
The story began before I knew it was a story.
Hearing his voice before I knew who he was.
The struggle for truth is part of the struggle for human dignity.
And only to the altar of truth has he borne his offerings...
...the most genuine product of American genius and spirit.
Nice to see you, Miss Winslow. Have classes begun yet?
I'm not sure I'm teaching this year.
And how is your mother?
Very well, thank you.
I'd like to learn Spanish. Have you any books?
Spanish? Well, we must have something. Let me see. Spanish, how interesting.
A paragon of a writer. I am honoured to present...
...the author of these marvellous collected works, Ambrose Bierce!
Ladies...
...admiring ladies...
...prudes...
...suffragettes, foolish women of America...
...and gentlemen.
I address, above all, you professionals of the written word...
...who are already corrupt.
Or well on your way to selling the products of your pens...
...to the highest bidder.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bierce isn't well...
Only my lungs are sick!
Every word I utter comes directly from my perfectly lucid mind!
There is something in my editor's words, however, yes.
Yes.
When he spoke of my being faithful only to the truth. Yes.
Day after day, believing that every printed word was eternal.
And would, somehow...
...open men's minds.
I...
...sacrificed every day of my family's life.
Every day of my children's lives.
And for what? I wrote. You read. He grew richer.
Hearst, the owner of my newspaper.
He acquired more power.
My words did not serve the truth. They served him.
Now, after this triumphant presentation...
...of these 14 volumes of meaningless paper...
...I bid you farewell.
I look you all straight in the face!
And with an enormous amount of pleasure...
...I bid you farewell!
I hope never to see you again!
I never saw his face that day.
He had done what I hadn't dared to do until then...
... say farewell to his world...
... just as my father had done 15 years before.
Harriet, I'm ready!
Harriet!
You're not dressed yet. We'll be late.
- I'm not going. - What did you say?
I'm not going with you to Arlington, to that ceremony.
Not ever again.
It's the 15th anniversary of the war in Cuba.
Your father's fellow officers will be there.
What'll they think if we aren't there?
What are you doing?
How can you be so disrespectful of your father's memory?
I'm not being disrespectful. I'm being honest.
From now on I'm going to be honest with my father's memory.
I don't know what's gotten into you.
Take a few of those pills for your nerves.
You haven't been yourself for months. Breaking your engagement...
That engagement was a lie! Like it's a lie to collect checks...
...for 15 years...
...as the beloved family...
...of a man who died honourably on the battlefield.
Harriet, control yourself.
I don't want to control myself.
I don't want pills.
I don't want funeral honours for a father who's still alive.
Mother, let me say it finally. Alive! More alive than we are.
I don't understand what you're talking about.
You're not a widow, Mother.
He didn't come back because he didn't want to live with you.
Your husband left you.
And now you are planning to do the same.
You too want to abandon me...
...without saying a word!
This is dated October. How long have you had this?
How dare you?
How dare you respond to the offer? Have you taken leave of your senses?
This is the first sensible thing I've done in my life.
I've been hired!
You can't be serious! You can't be a servant in some Mexican family!
You're an educated, independent girl.
I'm not a girl, Mother. I'm a spinster.
I'm not independent. I'm like you. We live on pensions we don't deserve.
Why don't you try calling things by their name for once?
You know, Harriet...
...you are too much like your father.
There's one more on top.
- Smashing barrels in the street.
- Buenos días. - They say Villa will outlaw alcohol.
- I'm Harriet Winslow. - Yes, your room is ready.
Drinking will be punishable by death.
- I hope you're pleased with your room. - I'd like to send a telegram.
Yes.
They're moving against eight important families in Mexico.
Declaring them enemies of the Revolution and confiscating property.
Is there anything else we can do for you?
Howard, I can't hear you!
But it's addressed to Miranda.
Could you send that for me right away?
- They're waiting to hear. - We'll do what we can...
...but sometimes they cut the lines, sometimes they intercept them.
Miranda has been declared an enemy of the Revolution.
I just phoned it to my paper.
Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear. Professional liability.
What does that mean, what you just said?
Chihuahua is now revolutionary territory.
The Miranda hacienda is controlled by Federales. You're not going there?
Perhaps it would be wiser for you to return home.
No, gracias.
I'll never buy another newspaper in my life.
You understand English?
No, of course you don't.
I'm writing my last letter.
There's always a last time for everything in life.
"If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall...
...and shot to rags, please know I consider it a good way to depart.
Beats old age, disease, or falling down the stairs.
To be a gringo in Mexico...
...that is euthanasia!"
Buenas noches. Are you Miss Winslow?
- Buenas noches. Yes, I am. - My name is Frutos Garcia.
You got a telegram from the Mirandas?
Have they sent you for me?
It's a long trip. We'll leave before sunrise.
Happy New Year!
She'll give us the luggage.
A gringa wouldn't think an Indian smart enough to trick her.
What if the Mirandas have left?
But they wired her.
What if they left?
I promised General Villa a Miranda for Christmas, remember?
And then we join with Villa to capture the city of Ojinaga.
Staring at me for any particular reason?
I have never seen an old man drink so much.
Revolutionaries should study some history. In every war...
...drunken nations have conquered the sober one.
Drunks always talk better than they shoot.
- You think I'm drunk. - Aren't you?
Niño, newspaperman. Come, help me for a moment.
Maybe mister would like to join us for dinner.
No, gracias.
- I want to go with you. - Where?
I am looking for Villa.
What do you want with him?
To fight. In la Revolución.
Frutos!
Here we are, general!
What's happening?
Look at fatso running! Look at him!
Hi! Are you ready for the fight?
Monsalvo, have the train leave! Wait outside the hacienda.
See you there, Pedrito. Good luck!
Who is that man?
A crazy old gringo on a white horse.
The horse must also be gringo.
Stop! They've seen us!
Los Federales are coming, señorita.
Get out of the car. It is better that they see you.
Oh, this is beautiful!
Without my realizing it...
... we had crossed the line between the revolutionary territory...
... and that held by the Federales.
Casimiro, who's that?
She comes to teach the Miranda children.
Tell her she's too late!
Hey, teacher, the Mirandas have already left!
It's a trap!
What is going on?
Where's your army? Why don't you attack?
They're in a train close by, awaiting my orders, but we're too few.
We came to take a Miranda. Now we have no hostage.
You must help us!
Are you Ataulfo? You will take a message to my people.
Why didn't we leave?
How did they get here?
You said the valley was safe!
She's the governess who wired.
- Señor Miranda? - I'm his administrator.
- Call him, please. - He's gone.
No, he sent me a telegram.
We sent the telegram to trick the bastards who intercept the wires.
Not for you, gringa estúpida!
You never saw something like this, huh?
Stop! Stop!
Stop! Old fool!
Excuse me, gentlemen. Can anyone tell me...
...where I might find Pancho Villa?
I am Villa!
Me, I am Villa!
We are all Villa!
We all owe the poor administrator. All of us!
How much do you owe, Maria? And you, Ataulfo, Manuel?
Tomas! He must live!
- General Arroyo, we need him alive! - We're going to repay him!
You!
Listen to me, whoever you are!
General Tomas Arroyo, Third Regiment, Northern Division.
Tell Frutos I am promoting you.
Thank you, general!
You have to get me out of here.
You have to take me back. At least to Chihuahua.
I have more important things to do.
But you brought me here.
You deceived me to get in here.
Sí, señorita. And los Miranda deceived the both of us.
What do you intend to do with me then?
With you? Nothing.
Give me a horse, and I'll go alone. I don't need any of you.
The Revolution needs horses, not governesses.
- Irrefutable logic! - Just stay out of this.
Now I know why the gringos come to Mexico.
Because they can't stand each other.
Don't you sleep?
I slept enough when I was young. You and the general make your peace?
General!
Please. He's no general.
I know something about the military.
My father was a captain in the war in Cuba.
Shameful war.
That war was invented by a newspaper...
...and a group of bastards reaped the rewards.
I'm very proud of my father. Who are you anyway?
They call me Bitter.
- Why are you here? - Well, why not?
You intend to stay?
Forever.
I must get out of here.
I must find a way back to Chihuahua.
Someone waiting for you there?
Nobody's waiting for me anywhere.
A very privileged situation, you know.
It hurts!
Am I going to die?
Yes.
Why did you tell him he was dying?
A man deserves the truth.
At least once before he dies.
He didn't need the truth.
He needed comfort.
It must be horrible to die, frightened and alone.
Very few have the foresight and opportunity...
...to plan any other kind of death.
You're so eloquent, but you say...
...such appalling things.
That's been the story of my life, my dear.
Everybody appreciates the form and is frightened of the content.
When I woke that first morning...
... the men had left to round up the last Federales.
I found myself alone, with the women and the children.
I was only trying to change my life.
They were trying to change their whole world.
What beautiful hair you have.
You know, a güera like you could ruin my business.
What do you mean? What is your business?
I'm a whore.
Please forgive me.
Ah, no reason, señorita. I feel no shame.
Can you imagine this army without a good whore?
And you? Who are you?
You really come to teach the children of los Miranda?
That's why the gringas are so white. They squeeze like that.
- Your blood can't circulate. - Why do you put it on?
It's my corset.
You know, if I wore it, everybody would get to see it.
If you would like it...
...l'd be very happy to give it to you.
Thank you. Oh, I'm going to make them crazy.
Is it true that your armies go to war with no women?
Yes, it's true.
And the women, do they stay at home when the men fight?
- Of course. - How can they like it that way?
They do like to make wars.
I mean, they go so many different places to fight, but with no love...
...no children, no cooks, no nothing...
We are very different.
When I was a girl, my mother never let me name my legs.
I had to say "what I walk with." Or my ass.
I had to say, "what I sit with."
I was never naked in front of anybody before Tomas.
Never.
Then one day the bells in the town rang. They rang and rang.
This is how we knew la Revolución had arrived.
And Tomas arrived into town.
And he gave me a name.
He named me La Luna, the moon.
And I followed him. It was simple.
I should have left sooner.
Much sooner. But no bells rang for me.
Are you not a little old to be a soldier of fortune?
The gringo is not a soldier of fortune. He's an observer.
- Observer? - You know how the gringos are.
While we kill each other, they like to watch.
That is so true.
You must be a very brave man to be so happy, under the circumstances.
You mean, because I'm going to die tomorrow?
Why worry about the future, when one is no longer there to feel it?
You gringos are too complicated. Death is just death.
I would advise more humility regarding such a subject.
You gringos are not the ones to teach us humility.
You can't bet on how you'll behave...
...when death is staring you in the face.
I do not think you have something to teach me, just because you are old.
I wonder if the captain would remain true to his theory...
...if General Arroyo would put him up against this wall right now?
Instead of tomorrow.
General! It's a crime to murder an officer without proper trial.
No one is going to murder you, captain! We're just going to kill you!
Line the officers against the wall.
You can't kill me like this!
I won't kill you.
You, gringo!
You shoot him.
I'm giving you an order, gringo!
Kill him!
You don't want to do it?
You just want for us to kill him now.
Frutos, you were right.
The gringos are great for giving ideas...
...but they want others to kill for them.
Zacarias, come.
We're going to shoot this gringo as well.
What are you doing, Arroyo?
No! Don't! No, you can't do this!
No, you can't kill him!
Oh, God, no, please!
Are you doing this because he wouldn't act like a savage?
Oh, no! Oh, my God, no!
We had until tomorrow, viejo!
Please, don't!
Why waste time playing with these gringos?
Get rid of them! Villa needs us!
Let's go! Stop this foolishness.
Please, let go of me.
We won't kill you, gringo.
Here, we do not kill our friends.
Come.
- Come. Please don't stay here. - It was a joke.
A joke?
Look at this! Look at this killing! You call this a joke?
They have a different sense of humour, and of death.
I don't understand you.
You can't understand me or anything else.
It's their war, their country, whether you or I approve of it or not.
I behaved despicably.
Poor captain.
He was only trying to impress us with his bravery in the face of death...
...proving he could die admirably.
It was almost amusing, feeling that it couldn't happen to me...
...because I wasn't ready.
But you know...
...it was worth it...
...just to see you.
You were magnificent!
Your passionate interest in saving my life was...
...deeply flattering!
I'm deeply moved.
You are intolerable!
Tolerate me.
Tolerate me, please, I beg of you.
It's been such a long time since anyone even tried.
Oh, once, once, the women sighed.
Swelled out their chests...
How beautiful they were!
I thought they'd always be there...
...sighing into my moustache.
Admiring my every glance.
Just waiting for a sign from me.
But they've all gone. They didn't wait.
I suppose I didn't inspire enough love...
...in any of them.
What was it?
What? What was what?
What did you do to make them sigh?
I never sighed for a man.
Well, when I was...
...little more than a child, I dreamt I would...
...do things that would change the world.
And one night, when I was about 16...
...I promised a girl that I would do something grand.
Something really grand...
...that would make it impossible for her not to love me.
And that afterwards, I would come back for her.
"Well, what is it exactly that you will do?"
I would write the most beautiful poem that anybody had ever written.
A poem that would make people cry with happiness...
...love with desperation.
Make them feel they understand the meaning of their existence on earth.
"Oh, no...
...you cannot write that poem. Nobody can."
And I said, "Wait."
"For how long?" she answered.
Since I was a child...
...and every hour seemed filled with limitless possibilities...
...I told her just for a short while.
I wrote for 50 years.
I wrote every day of my life...
...without exception. I wrote and wrote.
I wrote during long nights of insomnia...
...in foreign countries...
...in newsrooms full of enemies.
I wrote while my youth drifted by.
And while love...
...betrayed me.
Many years ago, I forgot her face.
The exact colour of her eyes, the precise line of her mouth.
But today, with my back against that wall...
...I saw you.
And I knew that you were she.
And that the only place on earth I could have written that poem...
...would have been in your arms.
My God...
...how I'm longing to kiss you.
That's what I did, you see.
You just sighed.
May I ask, general, why the hacienda is burnt down?
There was a battle.
Will the land be distributed, the owners compensated?
Careful, general. The headlines will say your answer was:
"Private Property Abolished in Mexico."
Yes, the peasants, the true owners, will receive reparations.
This is what we are fighting for.
What are you doing with my map?
Excuse me, it's upside down.
You know that the earth is round, don't you, Mr. Journalist?
That means that sometimes you are above and sometimes you are below.
Or no?
It's a wonderful statement, colonel, and a curious idea as well.
One moment. Hold still.
What is keeping you here?
Villa is already marching south.
We leave tomorrow, with the permission of General Arroyo.
I can take you to the border.
Ever since we met, you've tried to send me back.
It must be my chivalrous spirit. Are you coming?
No, I don't think so.
- Don't we know each other, sir? - Nope.
I try to write an honest report. It's not easy with Arroyo.
He answers everything by saying nothing.
A prudent attitude when dealing with the press.
People need to be informed.
Hearst doesn't want to inform people. He wants to use them.
You know Hearst?
Of course you do! I know you!
I tried to see your collected works in Washington.
I hear there was quite a scandal.
Mustn't believe everything you read.
Meeting you here is quite a story.
You will not write a word about me.
Why not?
Because I'm asking you not to.
Anyway...
...who cares how a writer nobody reads ends his days?
I do!
I could have left with him.
Even the men were prepared to go.
Their mission was accomplished...
... and Villa needed all his people at the front.
And yet they waited.
All of us waited, because Arroyo wasn't ready.
What are you doing?
Don't play with their toys.
We mustn't accept anything from them!
No toys...
...no clothes, no ideas, nothing!
He's only a child. He was just playing.
We cannot play.
Don't you think your patrons owe you a few things?
Me too. I also owe you some new clothes.
I think this will fit you very good.
And you don't have to sleep on the ground. You have a bed.
Why are you doing this?
Las patronas gave their old clothes to their governesses.
Listen to me...
- You don't call me general. - I don't think of you as one.
You know only generals who study in schools and win on maps.
I am of the Revolution. The battles have made me general!
The land that we fought for, metro a metro.
And the people you've killed.
Sí, señorita, the people I have killed.
Starting with the first.
The one who slept in this bed, el viejo Miranda.
When I was 17, I killed the man who raped my mother and made me a bastard.
She was an Indian peasant. E I patrón was my father.
You see?
That horrifies you, no?
Do you want to know how I grew up, watching the Mirandas?
How I watched them round up the youngest and weakest of the women...
...as if they were cattle and rape them in front of everybody?
How they punished with whips...
...and tore them apart for looking the patrón in the eye?
It was not los Miranda only. It was the same all over Mexico.
It wasn't just my history. It was the history of everybody.
When I understood that...
...then Villa made me general.
Get inside! Don't be afraid! I'll hold you.
The papers are in a wooden box.
Go higher!
200 years ago, the Spaniards wrote in these deeds that this land is ours.
You found them!
We found them!
We got our papers back!
They were where the old Indians told me to hide them years ago.
These papers prove...
...who owns the land.
The Mirandas will have other papers.
Papers don't mean anything.
When gringos like you weren't even a dream...
...our people were already rich and wise...
...and powerful!
These papers have existed long before the gringos...
...or los Miranda or the grandfathers of their grandfathers!
These papers are sacred!
No paper is sacred, general.
Perhaps it seems so to you because you don't know how to read.
I do not need to know how to read...
...to know which piece of this immense earth belongs to me.
I know who I am. Do you?
What are you doing in a country that does not belong to you?
What will you do in a grave that no one will visit?
Don't be afraid! Come on in!
Do you see yourselves?
This is you!
Look at me!
It's me that you see waving!
Look at yourself, Ataulfo! And you, Nicasio!
You're laughing, Ataulfo! I see you!
Look, Leocadio! It's you, the stubby guy!
And you, Maria. Look what beautiful hair you have.
This is us!
These people are us!
Look at yourself, gringuita!
Look and see if you can see what I see.
Look at yourself close.
You see how something in your face begins to open?
Look at your eyes.
They are more sweet now than when I knew you in Chihuahua.
And the mouth.
More soft.
Look at how you look at us now.
Now that you look at us without fear.
Now I like to look at you when you look at me.
Hey, gringo!
- Come with us! - Where to?
Where to?
It is a short trip, gringo, but you have to gallop!
A new face is always welcome.
- You still like women? - I do, and I will after I'm dead...
...but it isn't easy at my age to bring together...
...opportunity, desire and energy...
...and it would require patience incompatible with your business.
I like you, gringo. I've never met an old man like you.
I've had many gringos, but they was young and their skin was tasteless.
But you, you seem very tasty.
I'd love to have patience with you.
Thank you very much, but we have another problem.
I have never paid in my life.
- It's about time you started. - It's a matter of principle.
Principles? When gentlemen start talking about principles...
...we poor people lose what we don't even have!
I like a woman who can make a man laugh.
I bet you even make them laugh in bed.
- So you don't pay? - No.
What you do when you're not fighting?
- I read. - You read books?
The priest in my village, he say:
"To read books can make a man go crazy."
I can't blame the books. At least not the ones I've read.
Perhaps the ones I've written.
You wrote books?
Yes, a few.
So, why are you sad?
When you are gone, the people who can read...
...they'll remember you.
Yes!
You give me one of your books...
...I no charge you.
Your work for my work.
That way you stay with your principles...
...and me with mine.
So you like the clothes of los Miranda.
Everyone likes what is beautiful.
Man is one of the most pathetic creatures on earth.
Condemned to a desire that contradicts the laws of nature...
...to close the gap between two human beings.
Some call this desire love...
...and it is desperately impossible to satisfy.
Nevertheless...
...I would like to delude myself one more time...
...to feel intrigued, hopeful...
...enthusiastic.
And not knowing...
...if this might perhaps be...
...your first time...
...l'd like to request that you participate with me...
...in what will undoubtedly be...
...my last time.
Please, try to close your mouth.
You don't have to answer me now.
Think about it.
You've seen all the clocks in this house?
When I was a boy...
...I used to think that time belonged to los Miranda.
That they were the owners of the hours.
I used to dream...
...of going inside one of those...
- Pendulum. - Pendulum, yes.
I stop it...
...and everything stops because I want.
And then when I want, everything starts again.
But it is different because then it is...
It is our time, not theirs.
Speak to me more, General Arroyo.
I like to listen to you.
You like it?
And now...
You like when I speak in my language?
You understand me...
...not my words.
I like you, gringuita.
You like me to say it to you?
When Villa told me to take this hacienda, Mother...
...I was afraid.
Maybe my fate was to come back...
...to look at myself in their mirrors, to dance where I couldn't even walk...
...to sleep in their beds!
We kicked them out!
There's no Miranda left here...
...except me.
- You are listening to me, gringo. - I'm listening.
Your horse brought me here.
Come, come talk with me.
Talk with my family.
Here they are.
My godfather, Graciano...
...my mother, Dolores Arroyo.
And your father?
Was a Miranda.
And I killed him.
Want to drink with me?
- I thought you didn't drink. - I don't drink with the living...
...but tonight I come to visit my dead. To celebrate with them.
You visit your dead ones?
No.
Sometimes they come to visit me.
I had two sons. One killed himself, the other got himself killed.
I think they were trying to be like me...
...and they couldn't stand it.
We make a good couple.
Were you ever in love?
- Many times. - Women are...
... strange animals, no?
Yes.
But you never know...
...what they're thinking. - Never.
They always know what a man's thinking.
Not always.
But they think they do.
And you...
... how do you like your women?
Sighing.
I'll give you another name.
- What name? - I must look for it.
It must be a Mexican name...
...so that you will come when I call you.
This way, only I can call you that.
I think I love you.
You think?
I've never been in love before. I have nothing to compare it to.
Isn't it wonderful?
Look at them all.
I was always afraid of the unknown.
Whenever my mother said someone was different...
...what she meant to say was "worse."
Perhaps it's why she and my father didn't get along. He wasn't like that.
I want to tell you something.
My father didn't die in Cuba.
He fell in love with a woman and stayed to live with her.
I've never told that to anyone before.
I've spent my life taking care of an empty grave.
I wish I could see him again.
I wish I could embrace my daughter.
It would be wonderful to have a second chance.
It's unbearable to think life prints in its final form...
...what is only an awkward rough draft.
Things being as they are, there's a last time for everything.
And I want to plan that final version.
I like the idea of being more careful than God.
Of not allowing him to improvise with me...
...as he is doing with you.
Why not? His improvisations can be wonderful.
And he ran...
...and he ran, and he ran...
...and he was almost embracing his wife and children...
...when he felt a stunning blow...
...upon the back of his neck. And then all...
...was silence...
...and darkness.
And his body with the broken neck...
...swung gently from side to side...
...beneath the timbers...
...of the Owl Creek Bridge.
Look.
Skeletons. Death.
I will sing a corrido The story starts like this
Once upon a time an old gringo Came here to get himself killed
He wanted to fight with Villa Then he met a blond gringa
Who follows Tomas Arroyo Like a true soldadera
Our story stops here While the war goes on far away
Because our General Arroyo Is looking for himself in the mirrors
He sees a ghost that haunted him From the day he arrived
He did what must not be done Return to the place he was born
His past will not let him Come to a decision
To be a Miranda Or fight the Revolution
Good afternoon!
Good afternoon, my friends!
Sorry I'm so dirty from the trip.
Well, Zacarias...
...you deserted, you went home and killed people.
Defend yourself.
I went to visit my family. But, hell...
...those bastards exploited us.
I just wanted to teach them...
...but I got excited.
We're not here for your personal revenge.
- I know it was wrong, colonel. - And you stayed.
Of course! I was at home!
We are so many here!
I didn't think you'd miss me.
What would happen to the Revolution...
...if everyone stayed home?
And you? You did the same.
That's all you have to say?
Yes!
I'm sorry. I'll never...
Then I'm sending you to the firing squad.
To shoot me?
He ordered him to be shot.
Take him!
Forgive me, general! For the love of God! What happened to you?
Take him away!
Why? You could lock him up. You don't have to kill him.
I give the orders here.
You must leave this place.
Don't stay here, son.
I am not your son!
Someone has to help you to get out of here.
What are you looking at?
A Miranda.
I had not seen one until now.
That's a good horse.
A beautiful horse.
I'm gonna ride you now, Angel...
...if you'll agree.
I can promise you something.
I will never ride again.
Never.
What are you doing, gringo? Nobody can ride him.
If the horse doesn't kill you, Arroyo will.
Yes, perhaps...
...but he needs our help.
Angel knows...
...what I am thinking.
Don't you, Angel?
- You read English? - Me? I almost no read español.
I went two years to... Oh, that book.
The old gringo gave it to me.
He didn't give it to me, we made a trueque. A trade.
And he wrote it, you know?
Hey, you want to read it?
I've read it. I've read all his stories.
All this time we've been together, I didn't know who he was.
He was in Washington.
I never saw his face. I didn't know it was the same man.
I'm leaving, Tomas.
Won't you say goodbye?
We should have left this damned hacienda long ago.
Villa's expecting us!
He's going to take Torreon and here you are with your papers!
He needs us, Tomas!
Look, Tomas...
...the Revolution will live...
...only if we move.
If we stop, it dies!
Nobody moves without my order.
You must shoot me then.
Kill me, Tomas.
Because if you don't, I'm taking your army with me.
Why?
Why didn't you kill me?
You loved that horse!
This hacienda...
...is driving you crazy!
Why didn't you kill me?
I was beginning to grow fond of you, general.
You're too much like me.
You're capable of fighting for words...
...written on pieces of paper.
You are capable of killing...
...for pride.
These papers are meaningless!
There.
It's done.
Now you can leave.
These papers are meaningless.
Take your general away from this place.
These papers...
...mean nothing!
Get him out of this hacienda!
Not yet.
I know who you are.
This is Consul Saunders. He represents the U.S. Here in Chihuahua.
Have a seat, please.
Now tell me, how may I help you?
I am Harriet Winslow.
I've come to report that a United States citizen has been killed.
Please tell me, ma'am...
...when did this happen?
Yesterday.
It happened yesterday.
There was a fight and he was killed.
His whole body quivered.
Could you please give us the name...
...of the person who died during that fight?
I'll have to raise this matter with General Villa.
And I must have the name.
He said to me:
"I'd like to embrace my daughter again."
And I said there is...
...an empty grave at Arlington waiting for him.
Waiting for my father.
Your father was fighting here in Mexico?
I want his body. I want to bring his body where it belongs.
Miss Winslow, we must...
Please, give us the name.
Captain Harrison Winslow.
That was my father's name.
It could even give President Wilson an excuse to intervene...
...if I give him the corpse as is.
You see, Tomas, I can't prepare to attack the city of Torreon...
...with trouble with gringos because of a corpse full of holes in his back.
Who was he, anyway?
A crazy old man looking for death.
But he was brave.
Señorita Winslow...
...I am General Villa.
So you came all the way here to claim a dead body.
Yes, general.
You know, every time a foreign journalist asks me:
"Why are you fighting this Revolution?"
I answer, "So they don't have to ask permission from anyone...
...or have an army anymore."
When it is over, we can go home, and I'll be the first to go.
That'll be the end of uniforms and battles...
...and all this death.
But what would happen...
...if we all stayed home?
You know I love you like a son, Tomasito, don't you?
But you set a bad example when you should have come running here.
Now we have this body.
And this is the body of...
...Captain Harrison Winslow?
Yes.
What?
Let the lady speak.
This man fought courageously for our Revolution...
...alongside General Arroyo.
But he disobeyed orders as General Arroyo did himself.
So he deserved to be shot.
But not in the back.
Your father... You did say he was your father?
Yes.
We put here...
...that you witnessed...
...both executions.
If you please sign the paper...
...everything will be in order.
Sign it.
Thank you, Miss Winslow.
I am to blame.
No, I have disobeyed orders.
It is as if I had deserted.
You don't have much time, Tomasito.
- Why do you say he is your father? - I lied...
...because I had to claim his body.
I couldn't leave him in the desert with no one to mourn him.
I don't want you to die.
I don't want you to see me die.
You will forget.
You'll tell your grandchildren you saw people die in the Revolution...
...but you will forget why we have fought!
You will tell them you once ate tortillas...
...but you will forget the smell.
You will forget.
I shall never forget you.
Never.
You made me believe I could live a different kind of life.
And I will never be the same.
We're going to kill the last Miranda.
We make a good couple, viejo.
Hey, Miss Winslow! This is a moving picture!
Is it true you came south in search of your father?
And would you testify to the Senate as to the savagery rampant here?
Do you believe they'll achieve democracy?
Don't you think the U.S. Should intervene?
He told me I would forget.
But how could I not remember?
The young general who wanted to change the world...
... the old writer who wanted to bid it farewell.
I am the one who will live to remember them both.
Subtitles by SDI Media Group