Prisoner to President

After getting them blindfolded and binding their hands, the military police beat them mercilessly. They have been arrested without a court hearing or a verdict and have no clue if they will be imprisoned for some days, months, or years.

A few days later, the police decide to separate them into different cells and torture them in solidarity. Three of the prisoners, Pepe, Mauricio, and Fernández, are transferred to an establishment a few miles away. The police see them as playthings and treat them as such.

The poor men are covered in gasoline and threatened to be burnt to death. With terror in their hearts, they accept their fate, but fortunately enough, it turns out the policemen were playing a sick joke with them.

This is set in 1973 Uruguay when it was ruled by a civic-military dictatorship. Times were harsh for the Uruguayan population, especially for the non-supporters of the dictator. Among all the parties revolting against the dictatorship, is the leftist Tupamaros group which is embroiled in guerilla warfare with the National Police.

The three men imprisoned are Pepe, Mauricio and Fernández, the members of the Tupamaros group who have been caught by the national police and illegally held as hostages in a government-run prison.

This is the second prison they have been transferred to but they won’t be here long because the department has decided to rotate them around the prisons in the country so they won’t be able to escape.

The men know getting out of the prison will be difficult but they are unaware that they have fallen into the pit of doom. In the morning, they try to look out the window in their cells.

The prison guards realize the men do not deserve the right to look at the sunlight for going against their government. In the next hour, the windows are covered. The scene changes to twelve months later.

As the guards wanted, Pepe, Mauricio and Fernández haven’t seen the sunlight in a year. They have been given just enough food to live and no additional facilities. They haven’t even talked to anyone during this time because they were beaten brutally if they did.

It is finally time for them to be transferred again and the three hope for a slightly better life. As they had hoped, they are put into jail with a bed. It feels like the greatest luxury to the guys who were used to the comfort of the concrete floor.

One day, the commander comes to Mauricio and tells him that he is getting a chance to meet his family who has threatened a lawsuit if they don’t get to see him. However, he has to be quiet about how he is being treated in the peasantry.

He is given a bath in months, a fresh haircut, and new clothes for the occasion. Finally, the day comes when Mauricio gets to meet his parents and daughter. Overwhelmed by the reunion, their eyes are filled with tears. However, the next thing they know, Mauricio is being dragged away because the meeting time is over.

He tries to resist and is beaten in front of his family. They cry at how their son is being treated but can do nothing about it. Less than a year later, they are transferred to their fourth prison. Mauricio and Fernandez are kept in underground cells with a window on the ceiling. Sometimes, the soldiers give them food and water but they are starved most days.

After being thirsty for months, the prisoners see a stream of water falling through the window, but it turns out to be a guard peeing. As time passes, the guys start communicating with each other through noises.

They count the number of times one knocks on the wall and relate it to the alphabet. It gives them an activity to do in solitary confinement and helps their loneliness. However, it is different for Pepe who is alone held at the bottom of a grain silo.

His only friends are the ants and insects. After more than a year of communicating with knocks, Mauricio and Fernandez are able to play chess in the same way. A closeup of their fingers shows that they are scraped and wounded because of the continuous knocking.

On the other hand, Pepe’s mental condition worsens as he starts hallucinating about the torture he received. He frequently sees his mother through the window and thinks the hallucinations are real.

At the same time, his mother is outside trying to get permission to meet her son. She stands in the rain for hours before being told he isn’t available for family meet-ups, since he is a national terrorist. Pepe frequently hears two soldiers talk about a girl one of them is interested in.

He knows their story entirely and knows just what the soldier should do to impress the girl. One day, he talks after months and tells the soldier to write the girl a love letter. He even offers to write the letter for him if given a pen and a piece of paper.

The soldier insults him and calls him an imbecile but a few days later, he gives in and asks Pepe for advice. With his help, the man writes the girl he likes a beautiful letter and manages to impress her. The news goes around the prison and reaches sergeant Alzamora.

He also has a girl he wants to get close to and needs Pepe’s help to impress her. He listens to some details about the said girl and ends up writing another beautiful letter. Impressed, sergeant Alzamora gives him a pen and notebook as a reward.

From that day onwards, his life gets a bit better with the sergeant’s help. He is given decent food and allowed to listen to the news on the radio. However, it ends soon when the guards are ordered to move him to another prison.

On his way to be transferred, Pepe gets a chance to look at the sky and a field for the first time in years. Just when he thinks he might be able to live longer, he is thrown into solitary confinement yet again. This time, his hallucinations get worse and he imagines himself getting electrocuted.

It happens several times everyday and weakens his will to live. At this point, Pepe wishes for death rather than freedom. Somewhere else, Mauricio and Fernández continue living the way they do. Since they can talk to each other, they do not feel as lonely as Pepe does.

Suddenly, one day the guards bring in tables, books, a typewriter, and several other stuff for them. The prisoners are worried rather than excited because they would never be granted such privilege in normal conditions.

Their doubt turns out to be true when they find out a team from the red cross society has come to the prison to check how they treat their prisoners. The tables and books are just a show for the officers so the prison doesn't get into trouble for ill management.

Mauricio is brought in front of the officers for interrogation. He imagines telling them that he doesn’t even get a proper toilet but in reality, he is only asked his name.

The guards take him back and the tables and books are taken away as soon as possible. While cleaning the room, the guards find a bar of soap that wasn’t there before. It turns out that Mauricio had been using it to communicate with someone. The military chief is called to deal with the situation.

He interrogates Mauricio, asking him what the cravings mean and finds out he had been drawing chess moves. Although mad, the chief praises Mauricio’s sharp brain, and the matter is dismissed. But before leaving, Mauricio recalls the day he was arrested.

He remembers how his wife was killed and his house had several holes because of the gun shots. The Chief smiles because he was the leader of the brawl that happened then and Mauricio’s wife was killed because of his order.

In the meantime, Pepe’s mother hasn’t given up on wanting to meet her son someday, even though it has been several years. She visits every prison he goes to, hoping that the rules will bend someday. This time, she brings Pepe a pink pot for defecation and water.

She wants the items to be delivered to him even though she cannot meet him herself. To her delight, she is allowed to talk to her son for five minutes this time.

The meeting is overwhelming, but they keep their calm. Pepe tells her about his mental health and how he thinks something has been planted in his brain that talks to him every day. He talks about giving up which enrages the woman.

She yells at him to be strong and win against his enemies. The meetup ends but her words keep Pepe motivated for the next few days. He asks the guards every day if he can get the gifts from his mother but they refuse to provide him with anything.

One day, he hears an event taking place outside and uses it as an opportunity to get his belongings. He yells out the window, exposing a guard of cheating on his wife and getting syphilis.

The guard stops him, surprised that the man knows so much about his private life. When Pepe threatens to shout even louder, he is given the pink pot and a glass of water alongside it.

When the commander gets a hint of Pepe’s degrading mental health, he allows some mercy and makes him go to a psychiatrist. The doctor is a kind woman who explains to Pepe what he is going through.

She asks him to write because it is the only way he can control his thoughts. When she finds out the guards don’t allow him pen and paper, she sends the commander a special request to allow him everything he needs for medical needs. Finally comes 1980.

Mauricio and Fernández listen to the news on the radio playing somewhere outside. They hear that the nation is voting for or against democracy and the results have come in. 39% say no and 61 say yes.

Mauricio and Fernández ask each other which side they are on because they did not get to hear half of the news. Suddenly, the guards barge into their cells and beat them up black and blue to have lost against the revolutionists.

It is clear that the winning 61% was pro-democracy. This is the first beating in their life that Mauricio and Fernández take happily. Soon, the nation will celebrate democracy and the purpose of their imprisonment will be fulfilled.

Two years later in 1982, the prisoners are transferred again. Unbeknownst to Mauricio and Fernández, Pepe is also transferred to the same prison. In the new penitentiary, everything is different and they are finally treated as humans.

At first, they are given proper medical treatment. Pepe is then approached by sergeant Alzamora who is now a chief guard. He shows off his wedding ring, revealing that he married the girl Pepe helped him impress. Both laugh at each other, acknowledging the absurdity of the situation.

The sergeant asks Pepe if there is something he can do to pay his debt. In the following scene, Mauricio, Fernández, and Pepe are reunited outside. They have been close to each other in the past decade but they never got to see each other’s faces.

Enjoying the sun and the fresh air, they sit down outside for an hour. It is almost as if the short period of time healed them of everything they’ve been through since their imprisonment. Next, we see the prisoners looking into the mirror.

The last time they saw themselves, they were youthful and happy. They are sad to see what time and improper treatment have done to them. Still, they take the freedom to go to the toilet, eat food daily, and live like a human as a gift.

When they get a chance, the three talk to each other through their cells and ask each other about other fellow revolutionaries. Some of their friends died and some are said to be living like them going from prison to prison. Pepe plants a seed in the pot that his mother gifted him. Days pass and the seed grows into a plant.

The three now wear clean clothes, interact with other inmates, cook, and live a decent life. Then, in 1985, Pepe is called into the commander’s office and asked to sign some papers. The commander threatens to kill Pepe outside and reveals they are actually release-papers.

With the establishment of democracy, the revolutionists who fought for it are being freed. Fernández and Mauricio are also released alongside all other prisoners. But as the others leave, Mauricio stays in the kitchen cleaning the dishes for a long time.

After twelve years in prison, he is almost scared of what life has for him outside. In the following scene, the prisoners get into a bus and are taken to the city. A crowd of people waits for them outside, cheering on the heroes who fought for democracy. The men look at the sky, the water, and the greenery, having missed the little things in life for so long.

In the following scene, the prisoners get into a bus and are taken to the city. A crowd of people waits for them outside, cheering on the heroes who fought for democracy. The men look at the sky, the water, and the greenery, having missed the little things in life for so long.

Upon finally reaching their hometown, they are reunited with their families. Pepe shows his mother the beautiful flower that has grown out of the seed he planted in her pot.

The movie ends as the prisoners hug and cry with their family, recognizing that the hard times have passed. In an epilogue, we find out that Pepe later became the President of Uruguay and his friends also had a good life.