Tragic Jungle (2020) - full transcript

1920, on the border between Mexico and Belize. Deep in the Mayan jungle, a lawless territory where myths abound, a group of Mexican gum workers cross paths with Agnes, a mysterious young ...

Unfortunate you, if you
cannot understand

the mysteries of the jungle.

Learn to listen to
what you cannot see,

and always keep your feet
on the ground.

Don't let her sweet
nectar intoxicate you.

Because you must know
that the jungle gives you plenty,

but also takes from you.

TRAGIC JUNGLE

Rio Hondo. Border between
Mexico and British Honduras (now Belize)

When you walk through the jungle,
you must always remain silent.

Do not stop to look at
the wilderness.



If you hear voices behind you,
do not turn back to look.

You should hope that
the one you fear and desire,

does not meet you along the way.

Because the Xtabtay woman
already knows the path you follow.

Look at the clothes she's wearing,
it's like a doctor's, a nurse's uniform.

They are the only ones
who wear white.

So, men.

Stop fooling around.

We must find out
where this morenita came from.

Just one thing...

If anyone messes with her,
that's the last thing they'll do.

Got that?

Yes, sir.

I couldn't get through.



The rains...

swept all the logs away.

I had to go the long way around

and the animals refused to cross

their legs kept sinking

and they kept falling in.

They were being real stubborn.

The rains have been heavy, Mundo.

But the working season was good.

Any news from headquarters?

The road to Payo Obispo
is still blocked.

But I have other news for you.

I stopped to take
a leak by the road.

And I saw a recently-cut tree,
with a new bag.

It wasn?t one from last year.

I reckon it wasn't us who did it.

The Boss ain't gonna like that.

I think it must be the Englishmen,

they must have crossed
the river to steal the gum.

We can't help the Boss.

Gum season?s over.

We can't get involved in his problems.

Don't get involved.

I agree, we shouldn't get
into trouble.

And the English are always well-armed.

Easy, Caiman.

Faisan...

Tomorrow you come with me,

we need to find out what's going on.

No, Yuca...

Yuca, no.

Stop, Yuca!

You were right, Faisan.

Goddam Englishmen.

She?s waking up.

Ausencio!

Untie her.

Who are you?

Where are you from?

Can you hear ?

Are you English?

Are you with those men?

How many men are?

Calm down!

She doesn?t understand us,
you're just scaring her.

Do you speak Spanish?

You English?

She?s English, sir.

Are you a doctor?

Come.

Come on.

He... sick.

Ill.

You, medicine?

Heal him.

I reckon she must be
from the English camp.

But that?s even stranger...

I thought they didn't
have any women with them.

Now, go and collect your bags

?cos this evening we'll cook
all the gum.

But be careful

the English are sure to be armed.

Let's see if you get better now, Cu?ado.

What's your name?

Hi.

You chew gum?

This is gum.

It comes from the zapote tree.

If you chew it, it cleans your teeth.

This kind of gum

it's good for chewing.

It's chewing gum.

Would you like to try...

a little piece?

Yes?

It comes from the zapote tree.

You cook the resin and
it makes this kind of gum.

You want a piece?

This is how you do it.

Like this, look. Like this.

You take a piece like this.

And you chew it. Look, like this.

This is how you do it.
Like this, look.

Chew like this.

Try it.

It's good.

It's good to chew.

Did you like it?

Hilario!

You?re very pretty.

OK?

Hilario!

Get over here!

What do you want?

What?

Why don?t you come and help me?

I was showing the girl
how to chew gum

I told her it comes from a tree.

You fool.

It's stuck.

Wake up!

Do something, look at him.

Come on!

You look worse, Cu?ado.

What is your name?

Can I call you Se?orita?

My Se?orita.

Anyone seen Lazaro?

He?s not back yet.

Press downwards.

That's it.

Try it.

Load it.

It's ready to fire.

Point it up.

Don't shoot.

Open it.

Take out the bullet.

Good.

The firing pin gets jammed
if there's no ammo.

Hard.

Ready to fire.

Fire!

How nimble you are,

you who are able to love
seven times a day.

And yet you cannot resist her love,
not even once.

Once you see the Xtabay,

you'll feel like life has revealed
itself for the first time.

She'll make you feel like
a tree blooming in the rain.

You?ll feel her eyes piercing you

like two arrows you cannot pull out.

But you won't feel pain nor fear,

only a crazy kind of joy.

So, you've not heard from Lazaro?

No.
I'm beginning to worry.

Maybe the English caught him?

I think they did.

And he?s just a kid...

so they would've got
the whole story out of him.

He?s a kid...

so he'll talk, straight away.

So now they know where we are...

and that we have gum.
Plenty of it.

- Haunted?
- Yeah.

Haunted by goblins.

They won't do you nothing.

- Are you sure about the goblins?
- Yeah.

The same goblins.

The only way you could

avoid them is

if you hide your thumb.

They?re the ones with back foot?

Yeah, once they see you
without your thumb,

they'll think you're one of them.

So, Rahim.

You afraid?

You got first watch tonight, you know?

So, you know I don't want
to talk about it.

- Dangerous, brother.
- Yeah, move on.

Is that a real girl?

Couldn't be her.

Stop him!

Behind a tree.

There, there.

Leave him there.

There's about 100 kilos.

Here, there's another one.

What happened, Jacinto?

The one-eyed black guy
shot him and got away.

Look, Mundo.

This is for you.

We got it from the Englishmen.

Don?t feel down.

The Boss will make it up to us.

Those who didn't make it,
they are gone.

That was their sacrifice.

Nonsense. The Boss
just throws us the crumbs.

He ain't gonna bring my brother back.

I agree with Jacinto.

What's he gonna give us?

A few coins, some liquor...

That?s all.

Don Onesimo will understand us.

And he?ll reward us.

Right, Ausencio?

To hell with Don Onesimo.

Tomorrow...

we?ll head for the Hondo River,

and get over the border.

We?re gonna sell the gum
to the smugglers.

They?ll pay a thousand times more

than whatever the Boss
would pay us.

I know this Mennonite who would
buy the whole load.

We shouldn?t do that,

Don Onesimo will send
his people after us.

And if they find us...

they?ll kill us.

I don?t know about you,

but I?m not going
back to Payo Obispo.

No one is gonna
order me around anymore

or tell me what to do.

I think this is our chance.

With the English load...

we have about half a ton.

What do you say, Mundo?

If that?s how things are...

I say, let?s head to the other side.

I've got nothing to lose.

I agree with Don Mundo.

Then we?re agreed.

Cheers!

- Enough!
- Put it down!

Ok then.

Put it down, Yuca!

Unfortunate you,
naive and arrogant.

If you had to give your life
just to touch her,

seventy times you would give it away.

Because you found the Xtabay woman.

But she is fleeting, like smoke

and you follow her, like the wind.

Where is she taking you?
Where are you going?

The Boss, he found us!

He?s going to kill us all,
like he did the Tuxpe?os

who ran off toward Guatemala.

He made... made them suffer.

Easy, Campechano!
They?ve passed us now.

He tied them up to a guarumbo tree

so they'd get eaten by the ants.

Until their bones were clean.

They told him where
they'd stashed the gum...

but he showed them no mercy.

He made them suffer...

and he killed them.

Shut up, he can't be after us already.

Campechano, you fool.

You and your foolish ant?s tale.

One... two...

Let's go.

Push, push!

More.

There.

He is not sinking.

Ausencio.

I want to cross the river first.

No, you go last, look after the girl.

Cu?ado...

Go look for someone
to help you carry me.

I can?t stand up anymore.

Ruben, we can?t carry
any more load.

Ausencio...

at least kill me.

Ausencio!

We haven?t got any further.

We?re still near the river.

That's the Boss's boat.

Don?t get scared, one-eye.

We?re a mile away.

Come on!

Campechano.

Ausencio is getting us lost.

We?re just going round in circles.

But we have to keep going.

Now there's fewer of us,
we?re going to get more gum.

Those who followed
the Xtabay never returned.

Where are those who did not return?

But she won't call those
who won't follow her.

Those who wear an armor
made of hard leather.

Campechano lost his mind.

That?s what happens to folks
when they lose their mind.

It's a panic that spreads
through the body.

And makes them want to run

until they can run no more.

They trip over...

a stick,

or a rock...

and they just lay there.

The Boss found us.

Campechano was right.

They aren?t the Boss's men!

It?s the Englishmen!

Jacinto!

May you be released
from the hex of the Xtabay.

You who could not resist her.

If I could give you a talisman, I would,

but there isn't one.

Unfortunate you, who were
carried away by her.

The Xtabay is the woman
whom you desire in all women

and the one you have not
yet found, in any of them.

When you become her captive,

you'll think that she emerges
from the trunk of a ceiba tree,

but in truth, she comes from
the depths of your own heart.

INSPIRED BY THE VERSES ON THE XTABAY BY
ANTONIO MEDIZ BOLIO,
"LAND OF THE PHEASANT AND DEER"