- 2 days ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00A man is seen attempting to escape from a prison in Chile, crawling through a narrow underground
00:04tunnel. It's the year 1990, a time when protests filled the streets of Santiago. The country was
00:10under a brutal military regime, ruled by a dictator who saw dissent as treason. Protesters
00:15were labeled terrorists and kept under constant watch, 24 hours a day. The prison they were sent
00:20to was known for being impossible to escape, and most of these men had no idea they were already
00:25marked for execution. Among them were five prisoners who refused to give up hope. Led
00:29by a man named Vargas, they began to plan a way out. Vargas wasn't just any inmate, he
00:35was an architect. When the guards assigned their cells, he studied the layout carefully and
00:39decided that cell number 50, located on the second floor, would be the most strategic place
00:44to start an escape. Unfortunately, that cell was already taken, forcing them to settle for
00:48the one next door which is cell 51. And inside that cell, a secret pact was born. This is
00:54jailbreak pact.
00:59Life inside the prison was strict, but during their brief moments of freedom, inmates were
01:03allowed to play soccer or sing together. It was during these breaks that Vargas and his
01:07friends secretly discussed their escape. Using his skills, Vargas began to design their route.
01:13He knew that not far from the prison stood the Mapoko River, surrounded by thick trees which
01:17were a perfect cover once they made it out. His plan was ambitious. They would have to dig a
01:22tunnel 70 meters long, hauling out tons of dirt without the guards ever noticing. For
01:26a task this massive, they needed more hands and a way to hide all that soil. But someone
01:31had been watching. A fellow prisoner named Begot had been observing them closely, and when
01:36he realized what they were planning, he asked to join. Vargas refused, saying they didn't need
01:40any more people for now. Insulted and angry, Begot kept quiet, but he didn't forget the rejection.
01:46Meanwhile, Vargas and his group continued to inspect the basement, choosing the perfect spot
01:51to begin their tunnel. They soon discovered they couldn't dig through the floor because it was too
01:55thick and noisy, so they decided to break through a wall instead. The broken bricks would later be
01:59used to create a movable concrete cover, one that could open and close to conceal the tunnel's
02:04entrance. As for the soil, Vargas decided it would be stored above the ceiling of their cell,
02:08the only place strong enough to hold the weight of several tons of dirt. But they had no proper
02:13tools. Then, one of the prisoners handed Vargas a simple screwdriver. It wasn't much, but it was
02:19enough to start. In return, Vargas invited him to join the mission. With their tools finally ready,
02:25Vargas and his friends began the delicate process of breaking through the concrete ceiling.
02:29Every tap, every scrape had to be done slowly and quietly, because even the faintest sound could
02:34alert the guards. To cover the noise, they called over a fellow prisoner who played guitar,
02:38letting his music echo through the hallways while they worked in secret.
02:43When the ceiling was finally cracked open, Vargas asked for eggs. He mixed the egg with lime to
02:51create a lighter kind of cement, making it easier for them to open and close the ceiling without
02:55raising suspicion. Once the patch was done, they covered the spot with a poster of Maria Ozawa,
03:01hiding their work perfectly. Not long after, the guard suddenly launched a surprise inspection.
03:06Luckily, the cell was spotless. When the guard entered, he started tearing down all the pin-up
03:11posters in the room. But the one of Maria Ozawa, the one hiding their escape route,
03:16stayed untouched simply because it was his favorite. Days passed, and the men kept digging,
03:21using whatever they could find. Even fragile metal spoons became tools in their hands.
03:26Before they knew it, 34 days had gone by. That meant it was visiting day.
03:31Vargas' friend Rafael finally got to see his wife again, though she didn't bring their children.
03:35A few days later, the group continued experimenting with ways to make a better concrete lid,
03:40one that would look more natural. This time, they built a wooden mold and filled it with cement.
03:45But in the middle of their work, word spread about another sudden inspection.
03:49They rushed to clean up the chaos in their cell, and by the time the guard arrived,
03:53everything looked normal. Once the coast was clear, they went right back to work.
03:57The sound of a loud radio masked the noise as they broke through more of the wall,
04:01and when the opening was wide enough, they tested their new concrete lid and it fit perfectly.
04:05The next challenge was the dirt. Every shovel of soil had to be carried back to their cell
04:14and hidden above the ceiling. To keep suspicion low, the group made sure to act like normal inmates
04:18like playing soccer or singing, keeping their routines exactly the same. But progress was slow,
04:23and the tunnel was still short. Vargas realized they needed more people if they wanted to finish
04:28before someone discovered them. The next morning, one of their members, a German, ran into trouble.
04:33A guard stopped him while he was disposing of dirt and demanded to see inside his bag.
04:38German froze for a second, but he'd prepared for this. When the guard opened it, all he saw were
04:43harmless personal items. Satisfied, the guard told the German to follow him. Before leaving,
04:49German quickly handed his bag to Vargas, assuming he was about to be punished. But instead of a beating,
04:55the guard surprised him with a men's magazine. While German chatted with the guard, the others kept
04:59digging, the sound of the radio covering their movements. Then, a piece of news crackled through
05:04the static about the Chilean dictator had finally been overthrown. The men froze, listening closely.
05:10That single announcement filled them with new energy, new purpose. They were no longer just
05:15escaping prison, they were breaking free from the shadow of tyranny. With renewed hope,
05:19they dug faster than ever. By day 86, Vargas and his friends knew they couldn't finish the tunnel alone.
05:25So they turned to the prisoners who had already been sentenced to death. Instead of waiting for
05:30their fate, Vargas offered them to fight for a chance at freedom. Their schedule was different
05:34from everyone else's. These death row inmates had to work twice as hard, digging and hauling dirt every
05:40two hours, day and night. To keep their operation hidden, the group built a secret passage that
05:45connected the tunnel to the ceiling, creating a new way to dump the soil without drawing attention.
05:49Even with all their precautions, not everything went unnoticed. A prisoner named Oscar began watching
05:55them closely. Known for being a snitch, Oscar confronted the group and demanded to join.
06:00Most of them wanted to refuse, but when he threatened to expose everything to the guards,
06:04they had no choice but to let him in. As the tunnel neared completion, Vargas realized they still faced
06:09one major problem. Escaping would be impossible without help from the outside. They needed to reach
06:14their friends, the protesters who were still free and ask for their support. By day 182,
06:20Raphael finally got a visit from his wife. During that brief moment together, he asked her to find
06:25Vargas's contacts on the outside and bring them together. She wasn't sure if she could pull it off,
06:30but she promised to try for him. Weeks later, on day 205, the prison erupted into chaos. A massive
06:37raid swept through the cells. Vargas immediately ordered the guitarist, who was still working deep in
06:42the tunnel, to crawl out before the guards discovered them. But moving through that narrow space
06:47took too much time. To buy him that time, Raphael made a desperate choice. He intentionally started
06:52a fight with the guards, creating a full-blown brawl that distracted everyone.
07:01The plan worked, but it came at a cost. The prisoners involved were punished,
07:06forced to stand shirtless under the blazing sun. As for Raphael, the ringleader, he was thrown into
07:11solitary confinement, a suffocating room they called the hotel. Outside the prison walls,
07:16Raphael's wife continued her mission. She tried to rally the other protesters to help,
07:21but they refused, afraid of the risk. Still, she didn't give up. She went to see Vargas's father,
07:27German's wife, and an old friend of Raphael's. One by one, they agreed to help. By day 392,
07:34the tunnel had grown so deep that oxygen was running thin. One of the prisoners even fainted while
07:39working underground. It was a dangerous sign. The deeper they went, the more deadly it became.
07:45To solve this problem, the group recruited a fellow inmate who happened to be a carpenter.
07:49They needed his wood polishing machine to build a proper air duct system for the tunnel.
07:54As Vargas and his friends pushed closer to freedom, the man they once rejected,
07:58Begot finally showed his true colors. Still bitter over being left out, he decided to betray them.
08:03In exchange for a pack of cigarettes, Begot became an informant for the guards,
08:07secretly feeding them information about what was happening inside the prison.
08:11But the work continued. After months of digging, Vargas's team finally broke past the prison's
08:16outer wall. Raphael marked the end of the tunnel with red paint which is a signal for their allies
08:21waiting outside. When Vargas's father saw the mark though, he realized it was dangerously close
08:26to the guard tower. The next day, he came to the prison and quietly warned his son. Realizing the risk,
08:31the group decided to extend the tunnel even farther, just to stay out of the searchlights.
08:36Then came day 558. Without warning, an earthquake happened. The entire prison went into chaos as
08:43inmates and guards scrambled for safety. Vargas ran with the crowd but suddenly stopped.
08:48His friends were still inside. Without hesitation, he turned back, rushing toward the danger to pull
08:54them out. Thankfully, everyone survived, and the tunnel remained intact. But they knew one more
08:59quake could destroy everything they'd built. The day before their escape, Vargas remembered one
09:04prisoner who couldn't join them, a man who was paralyzed from the waist down. Feeling sorry for
09:09him, Vargas offered to help him escape, but the man refused. He knew he couldn't crawl through the
09:14tunnel. Instead, he asked Vargas to deliver a message to his family if they made it out alive.
09:20When the big day arrived, the prison was calm. The inmates gathered in the common room,
09:24watching television under the guard's eyes. Vargas saw his moment. One by one, he and his team quietly
09:30slipped away, pretending to take breaks, leaving without raising suspicion. But Begot noticed.
09:36His instincts told him something was off. With a cunning smile, he made his way toward Vargas' cell,
09:42determined to catch them in the act. On his way, however, he was stopped by the paralyzed prisoner.
09:47The delay only made Begot more certain that an escape was underway.
09:50Inside cell 51, Vargas took attendance. Around 50 men were ready, lining up in silence to crawl
09:57through the narrow passage. Each one moved carefully, one after another, into the darkness.
10:03Oscar, the inmate once known for his loud mouth, was assigned to guard the tunnel entrance.
10:08Moments later, Begot burst into the cell. He found only Oscar and a hole in the wall large
10:13enough for a man to crawl through. It was all the proof he needed. He turned to run, ready to alert the
10:18guards. But Oscar stood in his way. There was no way he'd let their one chance at freedom be ruined
10:23now. The two men fought violently in the small cell. Oscar, driven by desperation, overpowered Begot,
10:34knocking him unconscious. But in the struggle, Oscar was badly injured. Bloodied and weak,
10:39he looked toward the tunnel entrance but he couldn't move anymore. Meanwhile, at the far end of the tunnel,
10:44Vargas and his friends were waiting in silence and covered in dirt. Then, a faint scraping sound
10:49echoed from above. The team outside had arrived. Moments later, the final barrier gave way, and a
10:56burst of fresh air filled the tunnel. One by one, the men crawled out into freedom for the first time
11:01in years. Outside, Raphael's wife was waiting with a bag of clothes. They quickly changed into clean
11:07outfits, disguising themselves as ordinary travelers. Then they hid near the Mapoco River, concealed by trees
11:13and shadows, waiting for the bus that would take them away. After what felt like an eternity, the bus
11:18finally arrived. The men climbed aboard, hearts pounding, but one of them was missing. German
11:24suddenly realized that Oscar hadn't made it out. Worried, he ran back toward the tunnel, forcing the
11:29bus to wait. Minutes ticked by, but when he returned, his face said it all. Oscar hadn't survived the escape.
11:36Time was running out, and they had no choice but to leave him behind. Back at the prison, chaos erupted.
11:42The mass escape had caused confusion among the remaining inmates, who quickly noticed that many
11:47cells were empty. Curious and desperate, some rushed to Vargas's room, found the hole in the wall,
11:52and tried to crawl through. But before they could, the guards stormed in. They found Begot unconscious
11:57on the floor, surrounded by a crowd of prisoners. Realizing what had happened, the guards immediately
12:03rounded up everyone left behind, including Oscar, who was too injured to move. News of the breakout
12:08spread fast, reaching the highest ranks of the military. Furious officials saw it as a national
12:13embarrassment, one that threatened their authority and exposed cracks in the system they claimed was
12:18unbreakable. As for the escapees, Raphael's wife provided them with money, fake identities,
12:23and directions for their new lives. The group then split up. Each bus stopped marking a different
12:28destiny. When Vargas stepped off, he turned to Raphael, gave him a final nod and disappeared into the
12:33night. In the end, 49 prisoners escaped that night, making it the largest prison break in Chilean
12:39history. Some found new lives abroad, others were eventually pardoned by the government. So the moral
12:44of the story is, if you ever plan a jailbreak, make sure your tunnel isn't hidden behind the guard's
12:49favorite poster, and always be nice to the snitch, just in case he's having a bad day.
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