Men with Guns Page #4

But I was a bad actor.

I stopped believing in my role,

and lost my faith.

That's a shame.

A man should believe in something.

Are you religious?

No. I'm a doctor. A scientist.

I only believe in progress.

- Always moving ahead.

- That's it.

These days I just believe in moving.

Never mind which direction.

I have to admit my faith has been

shaken in the last few days.

I'm sorry for you.

So you got a village girl pregnant.

Oh, no.

Much worse than that.

You stole from the church.

There was nothing to steal.

I was a very good priest...

...until I was tested.

Tested?

I was tested, and I was weak.

A priest without faith is like a soldier

without a rifle.

You can never save a life.

You can make it longer,

make it better...

...relieve pain...

...but in the end everyone dies.

I wanted to leave something

in the world, something...

Eternal?

Something practical.

Something to be passed on

from person to person.

I wanted to save souls, but

how much better to save a life.

I dreamed your life

and you dreamed mine.

And we both ended up...

...a total failure.

You can't feel responsible

for those students.

The world is a hard place.

I should have warned them.

If you didn't know what the danger

was, how could you warn them?

I should have known.

Maybe.

Maybe innocence is a sin.

Your driver doesn't like me.

He's not my driver.

He's just somebody heading

in the same direction.

How far are you going?

Until I find my students.

You can stay with us tonight,

but in the morning you leave.

May God bless you.

Where are you going?

To relieve myself,

if it's all right with you.

Watch out for snakes.

Welcome.

We don't get many visitors here.

Where are you from?

Gum people go wherever the sap

is running.

But where were you born?

On the coast.

In the mountains.

But we live wherever the work is.

Do you know any stories?

Stories?

We don't get television out here.

People come to places like this

to get away from television.

It's good to have a story at night.

If you talk loud enough,

you can't hear the mosquitoes.

I'll tell you a story.

A true story?

It's a ghost story.

There once was a priest...

...who came to a mountain village

to teach the Bible.

He used theater...

...and put on plays with the children

to bring the holy word.

But...

...it was the time when the army

was mad at the people.

Because the priest helped

the people...

...he became their enemy too.

Before the killing began...

...there were threats.

Anonymous notes...

...things painted on the church.

But the people begged him not to go.

They thought that if he stayed,

God would protect them.

The army burned Los Sueos,

which was above the village...

...but the people there

had all become Baptists.

Then they burned El Chino,

which was below the village.

In El Chino everyone was Catholic.

But nothing bad or unusual

happened in the priest's village.

They were corn people...

... working the land...

... having children

and trying to feed them.

Nobody was interested in politics.

So when the army came...

... their only thought was to hide.

The comandante

left us this list of five men.

Five men and our Padre.

These are men he says

we must execute.

- What have they done?

- He says they are subversives.

He says they help the guerrillas.

That isn't true.

The comandante says it is.

And he has men with guns.

You saw them.

Can we fight them?

With machetes? With hoes?

He says it's our duty to march

the traitors to our cemetery...

...to dig holes, to kill them and

leave them there until he returns.

He says if we don't do this,

he'll know we are bad people...

...and his soldiers will burn our village

and kill us all...

...like in El Chino

and Los Sueos.

What if we run?

Then they'll kill us in small groups,

instead of all together.

We should have a vote on this.

We have three choices.

Try to fight and be slaughtered.

Try to run and be slaughtered...

...or sacrifice the men

on the comandante's list.

May I see the hands

of those who wish to fight?

And those who wish to run?

And those who think we must do

as the comandante tells us.

Father? Father?

You haven't voted.

I'm sorry.

I vote with the majority.

Thank you.

On the list are Padre Portillo...

...lsidro Mendez, Jacobo Duran...

...Eufemio Ramirez, Sixto Lima...

...and I, Moises lbarra, am the sixth.

These men have an hour

to be with their families...

...and then we'll all meet

at the cemetery.

It's best if we do this as quickly

as possible.

As a boy the priest read

the histories of the martyrs...

... as if they were comic books.

He often imagined his heroic death

at the hands of the infidels...

... a golden ray of light

lifting him to the heavens...

... his soul resting

at the right side of God.

But...

... when the reality was upon him,

well...

The church called the gospel

he taught liberation theology.

But he chose to liberate himself.

He knew the people of the village.

He had eaten in their homes,

shared their work...

... baptized their babies.

Because he knew them so well,

he could imagine every detail...

... of what would happen next.

Gonzalo, the sacristan,

led the Catholic part of the ceremony.

The priest's absence

was noted by all...

... but nobody spoke of it.

Their only hope was that the

comandante wouldn't blame them...

... for his lack of faith.

And so it went.

They could have sent someone

to bring him back if they wanted to.

But they didn't.

I suppose they had their reasons.

They waited for the comandante.

Patience.

The villagers clear a section

of jungle...

...knowing it will take seven,

eight years for a decent yield.

Do you know anyone

with that kind of patience?

What happened to the village?

I've been to where it was.

They were killed?

I obviously don't believe in heaven,

doctor.

But hell...

...I can give you a tour of hell.

And the priest?

I told you it was a ghost story.

The priest wanders the roads

and pathways of the country...

...never sleeping in the same place.

He is neither here nor there.

A ghost.

I'd hate to meet a ghost like that.

What would you do

in the same situation?

If it was me?

Who knows?

I'm not a priest.

Priests are not regular people.

They're not supposed to be.

Could you hear my confession?

I'm not a priest anymore.

I don't wear a cassock, see?

I was a soldier...

...but now I don't wear a uniform.

Does that mean I haven't

killed anyone?

Killing the enemy in battle

isn't the same as murder.

It's been a long time

since my last confession.

Bless me, Father...

...for I have sinned.

Do it! Give it to him!

Don't be a f*ggot!

Give it to him!

Hurry up! Kill him!

That was only the first.

It was my initiation.

I'm not a priest.

I can't absolve you.

Then what good are you?

I ought to kill you.

As you wish.

Father...

...tell me...

...are sins only things that you do?

Or can they be things that you

don't do?

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