4 latas (2019) Movie Script
NETFLIX PRESENTS
4L
Another friend,
or friend of the night.
Hello. Who's calling?
Hello, my name's Amaia.
Hi, Amaia.
Thanks for your call.
Tell us, where are you calling from?
I'm calling from here...
The Basque country.
What are you doing awake
at this time Amaia?
Well...
Sometimes you need
to talk to someone.
The nights...
The nights are tough and...
Sometimes you need some company.
We're listening.
- What's troubling you?
- Well... I've run away from home.
One day you wake up
and you've got no reason
to get out bed and...
You realize you hate your job.
You barely even recognize
your husband anymore.
You have nothing left in common.
It's no kind of life.
So you decided to disappear,
just like that?
TANEZROUFT DESER ALGERIA, 1979
I left without telling anyone.
I packed my bags
and left everything behind me.
Now I live alone in the country
with my garden, my chickens.
- And I'm so happy.
- That's great.
Where do you live, Amaia?
Excuse me, this is private property.
Can I help you?
My God!
You've changed a lot.
You've still got the same big nose,
but now you walk with a cane.
It comes with the vineyard.
Jean Pierre...
- Is all this yours?
- The bank's.
- I heard it was yours.
- Sometimes it is.
I tell women it's mine!
All of them?
Except the women from the bank!
- So you kept going down there?
- Yes, several times.
But I haven't been back
since the accident,
and that was over ten years ago.
What about you?
I haven't been back
since our last trip together.
No, thanks.
I stopped a long time ago.
I only stop when I'm asleep.
How's life treating you?
We're not talking.
I don't bother life
and she leaves me alone.
Leaves you alone in a good way,
or leaves you alone
meaning I should change the subject?
OK.
He's dying.
I want you to come with me.
I'm not sure this
is the best time for me.
So write to his wife
and tell her not to let him die yet,
that it's not a good time for you.
Alex, answer the door, will you?
If it's the people from the bank,
tell them you don't know me.
But I don't know you.
So, tell them that.
Hello!
We're looking for Joseba Montalbn,
he lived here years ago.
There's no one else here. I live alone.
How do you know Joseba?
Are you his daughter?
That depends.
Are you from the bank?
We're friends of your father.
My dad never had any friends.
This is going to be fun.
OK.
So...?
Jean Pierre and I,
we are going to see your dad.
Our plane leaves tomorrow.
We thought that you might come with us.
- To Timbuktu?
- Yes.
I haven't lost anything in Timbuktu.
- You've lost your dad.
- No.
My dad lost himself ten years ago...
Without warning...
It would be a good opportunity
to see him again.
He can come here.
Can't you read?
- Your dad can't come here.
- See you, babe!
I'll be back tomorrow
to tighten your screws!
Let's go.
If you don't come with us,
you'll probably
never see him again.
If you really cared about my dad,
you wouldn't go visit him by plane.
No way...
A 4L.
She's a beauty.
He spent years fixing it
to take me to the desert.
I'm still waiting.
The Marreau brothers drove this car
in the first
Paris-Dakar rally in 1979.
They finished second.
He told me he bought it
at an auction in Paris,
but I think he stole it
from a farm in Palencia.
She's perfect.
And we have everything we need
to camp out.
You want to come with us?
No.
What then?
I don't want to stay here either.
Go to duty free
and get me three bottles of gin.
Can't you go?
Yes.
But I'm the boss around here.
Why don't you go?
I don't know
how much each bottle costs.
I want to see if we can trust her.
Your two bottles.
I said three.
And your money.
Things you pick up in a foster home.
She's like her dad.
Just like him.
Dear friends,
as the great
Carl Sagan would say:
here begins
an extraordinary adventure.
The journey of two solitary men
against the power of nature.
Do you see this car?
Now...
Look at this dot on the map.
Timbuktu, our destination...
And in between,
an "imperetrable" desert.
Impenetrable.
Just like the great
adventures into space,
this could be
a one way journey,
our return cannot be guaranteed.
A journey of love for humanity.
A journey of love for Africa.
Traveling through Africa is
the last legal drug of our times!
Cut!
- Cut!
- Cut? Why?
You said drug.
I didn't say drug,
I said legal drug.
Legal drug
includes the word drug.
You said no drugs.
But it's a metaphor:
legal drug, journey, Africa...
You didn't mention Joseba either.
And you're overacting.
What do you mean I'm overacting?
He's right.
It's bullshit.
- Let's go again.
- OK, let's go.
Impenetrable.
French asshole!
Look.
The idea is to start like this...
Over the music at the start,
we'll put this footage...
Then when I talk about Joseba,
we'll show a shot of him
and we'll mix the shots
of the car now
with the ones from the trip...
- Was it in 1980, or 1981?
- 1982.
When you got us lost
and we were robbed.
- Are you sure?
- Course I am!
We were celebrating all our birthdays.
Some nomads appeared
and joined in the party.
- It was our last trip together.
- Ah, yes, I remember.
It was your 21st
and our 29th birthdays.
It was the last time
I had to babysit you!
Ely, look, here's your dad.
- Are you always like this?
- Like what?
Like two old ladies?
We're not like old ladies.
You spend all day talking about things
that happened 80 years ago!
Tell me, what's the most exciting thing
that's happened to you in the last 20?
Take your feet off the table.
Yes, grandma.
Are you going to treat her like that
the whole trip?
I met the half-man, half-monkey
in my neighborhood. Yes.
Whenever I travel to Africa
with Tocho,
he suffers a mutation
which turns him into a monkey.
He's the most disgusting guy
I've ever met and he's beyond help.
He was born
with a manufacturing defect.
Jean Pierre was born
to be a nobleman,
and I'm certain he'll die trying.
He has two weaknesses:
Having affairs with women
and the terrible diarrhea he gets
every time he's in the desert.
These are my two travel companions,
a fucking nightmare.
No... It's all in your imagination.
It's not the reality.
I never said that.
I'm telling you I didn't!
Listen, we're going to
count to ten
so you can think about
what you just said... OK?
One... two... three...
Let me finish!
Four... five...
six... seven...
I haven't finished yet!
Eight...
nine... ten.
What do you say now?
Charlotte! Listen to me!
Charlotte!
Shit!
Shit!
Where's Tocho?
I thought he was with you.
Aren't you tired? It's late.
I'm trying to upload
photos on Instagram, but I can't get 4G.
There's no water...
How are you going to get 4G?
Fuck!
Don't shout!
You're fucking hysterical!
I don't know why the fuck
we brought you!
Hey...
Calm down.
You're making her life impossible.
Aren't you her dad's friend?
Her dad doesn't even know
she's coming.
That doesn't matter.
Here...
Drink this.
Perhaps he doesn't want to see her.
Why wouldn't he after ten years?
If he hasn't seen her for ten years,
he must have his reasons.
Why are you acting like this?
Hey, my friend! I got something for you!
- Look!
- Out the way!
- Hashish?
- No.
Excuse me...
You're Spanish, right?
What's in that bottle?
Hey! Wait up!
Soriano, from Valencia.
I'm looking for something
you really like in Valencia.
Finding paella here's tricky!
Hashish.
I've got the best... It's first rate.
How many kilos you want?
Tocho, from Bilbao.
I did a degree in chemistry.
Passed with flying colors too.
After that I got a job as a courier,
to try and pay for
a master's degree,
but I got fed up with it.
And a buddy said,
with the welfare money I was getting,
I'd be better off living in Morocco,
so I thought I'd come for a few months
until I found a better job.
How's it going?
I've been here two years already.
What are you doing in Tangier?
I'm on my way to Mali.
By plane?
In a 4L.
A 4L? You really are from Bilbao!
In the 80s,
me and some friends would go
to France,
buy second-hand 4Ls,
then sell them in Mali.
They're sturdy cars.
We'd sell them in no time.
- Make a lot of money?
- Enough to pay for
a plane trip back,
not much more.
Well, it's not about money,
it's about adventure.
Like me with the hash.
Listen...
Could I get a ride with you
to the edge of the desert?
Pass the joint.
I said no drugs on this trip!
Shit!
Shit! I don't fucking believe it!
- Open the window! Help me!
- OK, OK!
- Good morning.
- Good morning, Sir.
Passports, please.
Here you go.
Spanish?
They are. I'm French.
And I'm Basque.
Stay inside the vehicle.
Hello!
What a gorgeous dog!
What's his name?
Gaddafi.
Oh! What a lovely name!
Yeah, lovely name!
Gaddafi!
Here, fetch! Fetch!
- Get out and show me what you've got.
- OK...
I'll get out, but...
I don't...
This is your fault for
letting a stranger come with us.
Get off me!
I know how to walk.
Sit down and behave yourself.
Give us a smoke.
I don't smoke.
Hey, you! Give me a smoke.
I don't smoke either.
Just what part of "no drugs"
didn't you understand?
I'm sorry... I'm just so used to
carrying it in my balls,
I forgot it was even there.
It's like my third ball by now.
What can we offer the police?
We've got just enough to survive on.
And we've got tobacco
and enough booze to open a bar.
Ah, well a little bottle
of whisky could really help us out.
Imagine the whiskey in one hand,
a cigarette in the other
and in the middle...
What? Paradise!
Look at lovely Romina.
So... Let's see..
Two gins and a carton of cigarettes,
30 euros,
the whiskey, 10 euros,
and the poster
and this carton of cigarettes are on me.
So everything's cool. Right?
Come on, dude!
Jerks!
- Assholes!
- No more strangers on this trip.
We're doing things my way
from now on.
Ely... Why are you here?
To see my dad, right?
No, that's not what I mean.
What then?
Things haven't really gone my way.
What I mean by that is...
Well, you know what it means.
Things have gone bad.
Pretty bad.
With work or a boy?
Both at the same time.
At the same time?
That's an achievement!
Not if you work for your ex.
You're too young
to say things have gone bad for you.
They could go worse I guess.
Especially if we find my dad.
Don't you want to see him?
I've always hated him for leaving,
though if I'm honest,
I hated him because...
it worked out fucking well for me.
I know it sounds strange, but it's true.
Whenever something went wrong,
I could blame it on Dad for leaving me.
I'm an asshole...
I'm sorry.
Why not just forget her?
Because I love her...
But you fucked that other one,
what's that chick's name?
You fucked someone else?
Catherine.
That's it, Catherine.
- Your go.
- No, it's your go.
You can't love her that much.
- What do you know?
- Do you love her,
or do you want to be with her?
- What's the difference?
- She's right.
- Shut it, you!
- Neither of the above.
- You just don't want to be alone.
- That's it!
- I don't care about that.
- Bullshit!
If you didn't care, you wouldn't be miles
from home, talking about her.
I've had enough of following her
around like a cat...
Cats don't follow their owners around.
Like a dog then, or an iguana,
or whatever you like...
Like a snake.
I'm going to rent an apartment
and become an eligible bachelor.
Sin is what makes
the world go round.
Bachelor, sure... Eligible?
And the desert is the epicenter of sin.
One day I'm going to prove
that in the desert
a man's capacity
to get an erection doubles.
It's actually a theory
by some explorer or other,
who used science as an excuse to go round
boning half the women in Timbuktu...
And two or three camels as well.
He had to flee,
because the Tuaregs
wanted to circumcise him...
at the neck!
Overacting... Definitely overacting.
Ol!
Jean Pierre, you look a mess!
Look, look!
Careful! The map!
Full moon!
Dear friends,
on the other side of that barrier,
the end of the world begins.
The mother of all deserts.
A dead, empty land,
in which only the best...
- Cut.
- Cut!
- Why cut, damn it?
- The barrier... The barrier.
Good morning.
Come with me.
You have to register yourselves.
What's the motive for your trip?
We're going to Timbuktu,
to visit a friend.
I'll need to see
your vehicle inspection certificate.
My vehicle inspection certificate?
You can't continue without it.
Another ball-buster.
- What did your friend say?
- Nothing.
Shut your mouth!
Yes, I know what you mean.
Vehicle inspection certificate.
It's in the car.
I'll go get it.
They obviously want us to bribe them.
You think you know
what an Algerian soldier wants?
I'm not giving those bastards
a single dirham!
The vehicle inspection certificate!
Give me a break!
Ely, give me a hand.
They want a vehicle inspection
certificate? No problem!
And if they want the insurance papers
for the spare wheel,
they're going to get that too.
Open this and look for a folder
called "Admin Africa".
Here it is.
"Single Women in Africa III,
The Revenge of the Mandingo".
I said folder, not video!
Look for a document called "4L.
Got it. Registration date?
24th January, 1975.
It's that old?
This car's in better shape than you.
Old would be me... Or Tocho.
Especially Tocho.
Paper... Here.
OK...
- Here it is.
- Pass it here.
And this one...
Why so many?
- Isn't that too many?
- It's all about the stamps.
It's what most impresses.
Is the vehicle in good condition?
Better than me.
Do you have enough water?
Enough to open a dolphin sanctuary!
You mustn't leave the road
under any circumstances.
It's marked out with black barrels.
980km of desert road.
If there are no hold ups,
you can do it in three days.
Avoid driving at night.
What did he say?
That the sunsets
in the desert are stunning.
Be on the lookout for bandits,
they're very dangerous
and we can't help you with that.
And now?
That at night you can see
spectacular meteor showers.
You may continue on your way.
- Good luck.
- Thank you.
Around the 500km mark,
you'll find Oil Drum 5.
It's a good place to stop and rest.
You can buy gas and water there.
The owner's French too.
He's still alive?
Yes.
What's he saying?
He hopes we don't get lost.
What an idiot!
Wait, wait!
What is it?
It's forbidden to cross the Tanezrouft
in a single vehicle.
You'll have to wait
to form a convoy.
It's for safety.
I already told you,
this isn't the first time
I'm crossing the desert.
How long are we talking?
I don't know.
Could be two days...
Two weeks...
Or never.
What did the jerk say now?
Cigarette?
Pass it! Over here!
After the football, "calimocho".
"Calimocho"? Coke, ice,
and cheap wine. Cold.
Mine, mine!
You deal?
No?
Three goats...
Hey!
Why don't you just let us past?
Hi, Suzy.
Look.
This is the paradise
I've told you so much about.
I really miss you.
Hey!
There's no one here.
Come on, quick!
Hey! Hey!
- Come on, Tocho!!
- Asshole!
- Move it, Tocho!
- You asshole!
Stop! Ely, tell him to stop!
- Stop!
- Come on! Run!
Jean Pierre!
You piece of shit!
We're on our way!
WE MADE IT THIS FAR
Africa!
Here we are!
A lifetime trip.
Freedom!
Freedom...
What a bullshit word.
What the fuck is freedom anyway?
Oh! I'm in Africa! I feel free!
You're not fucking free!
You're just a fucking idiot!
What does the dictionary
say about freedom?
The power to act, speak or think
as one wants,
or doesn't want.
What a crock of shit!
You have to go to Africa for that?
The only freedom we have,
is death.
And dying is very distasteful.
What the fuck was that?
- I don't fucking believe it!
- Please! Water!
There's a black guy here
who speaks Spanish.
What the hell are you doing in there?
I was with the group at the military post.
Well we're headed south.
Europe is north.
I'm going south too.
To Mali.
I've got no money or strength left.
I'm going home.
Not surprising the state Spain's in.
I never made it to Spain.
We'll go back to the military post
and leave him there.
But we're going to the same place.
This isn't a class trip!
If he's not coming, neither am I.
You're exaggerating.
Maybe, but I bet I can annoy you
into changing your minds.
Say what you like.
There isn't enough water for us all.
You don't know me... I said
if he's not coming, then neither am I.
Come here.
Feeling better?
What's your name?
Mamadou.
Come and get in the car with me.
Come with me.
Mamadou?
I don't smoke.
- Have a toke, man!
- Leave him alone!
Ely, Mamadou,
let the air out
of the back wheel.
Ely, get in and start the engine.
Come on, Mamadou.
Ely, you have to get out of
the tire tracks! And what are you doing?
Can't you push it
more than five meters?
I can't...
Shit! Come on!
Come on, Mamadou,
a bit more.
Come on, let's go.
Shit! Not like that!
Don't take your foot
- off the clutch so soon, Ely!
- Screw this!
Mamadou, come on.
Let them move the fucking car!
Where are the flares?
We've only got one
and they've already seen us!
You think they've seen us?
They saw us in Bilbao!
I'm Akly,
from the Iferouane oasis
in the Air mountains.
And this is Ekaley,
my slave.
This is Mamadou, our slave.
Very good, Sir.
And I'm Jean Pierre,
from Bordeaux,
- in the south of France.
- Tocho.
Ely...
We've been stuck for hours.
Could you give us a hand?
My God!
- This is a gem!
- Yes.
Sometimes they let them
fall in the desert,
where nobody will find them.
What are you going to do with it?
Sell it online.
The Americans pay a fortune for these.
Do you want it? Sir...
Do you want it?
I'm a five-star seller on eBay.
Take it now
and you'll save the shipping costs.
It's Black Friday today!
- Black Friday?
- Yes.
- Bilbao...
- Hello!
Hello.
It's a great opportunity, Sir.
- Yes.
- This is your big chance!
I've got no room for it.
- Go on, go!
- Go, go!
- Let's go, let's go.
- That's it! Come on!
Let's go!
Go, go, go!
That's it! Go, go!
We did it!
Thank you!
Thank you so much!
What can we do for you in return?
No, no, Sir.
For us Tuaregs, helping people is normal.
It wasn't a good idea
to shoot the flare.
This territory belongs to
- Said the Scavenger.
- Excuse me!
A Libyan bandit. I don't think
you should spend the night alone.
Understand?
Sir, this is for you.
No, no, it's for you.
It's kif. Good kif.
- It won't hurt you. It's good.
- Don't be so rude.
If you reject it,
the Tuareg's going to be pissed.
Old Trafford is amazing...
You can't believe it
when you see it from inside.
I was sitting right next to
Manchester United's bench!
They let blacks in for free.
Have you been to Chelsea's stadium?
Yes, of course.
But it's not the same.
They don't let blacks in?
Yes, but you have to pay.
Now that really is rude!
He's Muslim!
I've got a friend back home
who prays while drinking wine!
I know why there are
no good black goalkeepers.
Why?
I can't take any more of them.
What are you talking about?
About his master.
He says he treats him really bad.
Seriously?
You can't imagine...
The Tuaregs are assholes
who treat blacks like slaves.
Ask him why he doesn't escape.
OK...
She wants to know why
there are no good black goalkeepers.
Goalkeepers only touch the ball
when it's flying
straight at their heads!
It's messed up.
Like us blacks don't already
have enough problems.
He says they've got
his family working for them
in the village.
If he escapes,
they'll make them work
twice as hard or kill them.
Shit.
I'm sorry.
It's a really tricky situation...
Tell him that if he needs help,
he can count on me.
OK.
She says there aren't
any black goalkeepers in Europe,
because no white man
wants a black man behind him.
He says thank you.
Thank you very much.
I was looking up at the sky.
And I was looking at it...
They landed back there.
Who?
The flying saucers.
Ready to invade Africa.
- For Africa.
- Yeah.
You need another dump?
- French fertilizer for the desert.
- Wait here.
- How many were there?
- Forty invisible UFOs.
- How many were left?
- Thirty nine.
Thanks.
Thanks.
- You want some?
- Smoke!
- Look! It appears and disappears.
- Like the UFOs.
They were flying saucers.
I can't smoke any more.
Tocho.
Tocho!
Jean Pierre!
- Wake up! They've robbed us!
- What?
Robbed?
Who?
They've taken all the money!
And my gin! And my tobacco!
Wasn't that asshole a Muslim?
They've taken our passports.
They've taken everything.
Now we're all illegal.
At least they left us some gas, water
and a couple of tins of sardines.
We can make it to the border with that.
The asshole! My backpack!
When I find him I'm going to kill him!
I'm going to rip his head off
and put it on a fucking stick!
Fuck you!
No...
No!
You fucking Tuareg piece of shit!
I'm going to fucking kill you
and stick your turban up your ass!
When I find him he'd better pray,
'cos I'm going to fuck him up!
- Ely! Stop, stop!
- Again?
No, you're right.
I'll just do it in here.
Stop!
For fuck's sake!
You shouldn't have drunk water
from a goat-skin bottle!
What's the soldiers' water
got to do with it?
It was that shit
you made me smoke last night.
If you took more drugs,
this wouldn't happen to you.
I feel terrible.
Shit!
- Shit! The exhaust pipe fell off.
- Fuck the exhaust pipe!
Shit!
We need to pour water on the radiator.
But we've only got two bottles left.
I've lost my gin already today.
I'm not losing my water too.
If we don't pour water on it,
we're not going anywhere.
What are you doing Mamadou?
What are you doing?
This is an African remedy.
You can't piss on the radiator.
Oh, Tocho!
Johnny!
Don't you need a piss?
I told you.
You can't piss on a car radiator.
The problem's not the radiator.
I know it's not,
but I'm saying you can't piss on it.
If it was for pissing on,
they'd have put a toilet there.
And you could really use a toilet!
- Tocho!
- What?
Pass me that stone over there.
- Ely?
- What?
Do you have a hairband?
- Yeah.
- Are you going to listen to a guy
who fixes cars by pissing on them?
Do you have cotton wool,
or something spongey?
I need to stop
this small oil leak.
I've got this. Will this work?
Piss and tampons!
What an engineer!
NASA is missing out!
- Ely, try the engine.
- OK!
We should have left him
at the military post.
All he does is use up food and water.
You're such a dick!
You haven't changed in 30 years.
Jerk!
That guy's an idiot...
It's OK.
He doesn't feel well.
You must be dying to get home.
They had a collection for me
in my village,
to pay for me to get to Europe
and send money back home.
I can't go back with nothing.
I feel like a failure.
Don't worry.
We're all failures.
At least you tried.
How did you get those scars?
Trying to cross over into Spain...
Once by raft
and five times at the fence in Melilla.
The last time
I got stuck on the barbed wire.
That's when I decided to go home.
You can't trust people with scars.
Don't you have any?
Yeah,
but you can't see them.
Take your shoes off.
What?
Do me a favor
and take your shoes off.
Did you know love for the earth
enters through the soles of our feet?
Raise your hands.
And close your eyes.
Feel the weight of your body
in the soles of your feet.
Can you feel
they're connected to the earth?
What can you feel?
Heat.
What do you mean heat?
I feel heat.
Can't you feel the earth's energy
coming through the soles of your feet?
For that I'd have to smoke
all of Tocho's hash!
Africa! Can't you feel Africa?
You're nuts, Mamadou!
You... Crazy girl!
What the hell are you doing?
I'm so thirsty!
Deal with it like the rest of us!
I'm dying!
I could kill you right now!
Don't tell my wife I died of diarrhea.
Tell her a Tuareg killed me
or that I sacrificed myself for you.
You're not going to fucking die!
How can you be so sure?
It's my fault you're here.
I'd never forgive myself.
- Come on.
- OK.
That's eight for me.
Take that!
Do you regret coming?
No.
I dreamt of this trip.
Since I was little,
Dad told me stories about...
all your trips across the desert.
He always said when I turned 18,
that would be my gift.
I'm not sure I want to see him.
Look at me.
Look at me.
Joseba's the best guy
I've ever laid eyes on.
Yeah...
His heart, and his balls,
are as big as this desert.
Have you got kids?
You're joking, right?
What?
The world's got
enough assholes already.
A wife?
Girlfriend?
Anything?
What are you going to do after this trip?
Old ladies don't make plans
for the future.
They just talk about the past.
Come on! We're leaving!
That's my boy, Mamadou!
Ely,
stop, stop.
Stop!
But we're almost there...
I can't go in there.
You're going in, like it or not!
There's water, gas...
everything we need.
Alain...
No fucking way!
That fucking frog's still here?
The soldier told me.
Who's that?
Some frog...
They say he came here
to escape the law.
He does business with crazy people like us
and he built a hostel
on the ruins of "Oil Drum 5.
In two years he was
the biggest trafficker in the Tanezrouft.
Are you in shit with him?
No.
Yes...
What?
I don't believe this!
My last trip, I was part of a convoy
of five tank trucks
carrying gas.
They were Alain's.
We were supposed
to sell them in Niger.
I took one of the trucks
and went to Mali. I sold it in Bamako.
For fuck's sake, Jean Pierre!
Who in their right mind
steals a truck from Alain?
I wanted to retire.
I wanted to buy a vineyard
and make my own wine.
Why didn't you say before?
When the soldier said
Alain was still alive,
I thought we could go another way
and avoid him, but...
getting robbed screwed up my plan.
So what now?
If we go in there,
the frog might kill him.
Then what?
If we don't,
he's going to die for sure.
I want to die with you.
When we get back,
I'm going to stick your vines
up your fucking ass
'til you shit wine!
What are we going to do?
Find a way out of this,
that's what we're going to do.
Here.
Come on!
Go, go!
- What are you doing?
- Hey!
Works wonders for a fever.
Where are you going?
To get gas,
we can't stay here too long.
What if someone comes?
You punch them
as hard as you can, OK?
OK.
Mamadou, close the door.
Welcome to "Oil Drum 5".
I'm Alain, the owner.
Thank you... Merci beacoup.
Ah, Spanish.
Nice car!
She's a beauty.
Where'd you get her?
From the first Paris-Dakar...
or the second?
First.
She's a beauty alright...
But she's a copy.
Not worth anything.
And that piece of junk?
A satellite...
It was a gift from a Tuareg.
It's seen more of the desert
than it has of space!
Your face...
Have we met before?
No, I don't think so.
I'd remember.
You used to come here with that Spanish
guy who was always fucked up...
and a Frenchman, Jean Pierre.
And your name was...
Tocho.
Tocho!
My God! Tocho. That's it!
And the other guy was...
- His name?
- Joseba?
Joseba! I remember him perfectly!
- He was ugly as sin!
- Yeah!
- He was an ugly fucker, yeah!
- So ugly!
- Yeah.
- Yes.
How's Jean Pierre?
Jean Pierre?
I haven't heard from him in years.
He went back to France,
that's all I know.
I didn't like him.
He wasn't trustworthy.
Strange guy...
- Yeah.
- Always so elegant with his scarf...
- Yeah.
- Where are you headed?
Up? Down?
We're headed south.
Ah, so then...
You're not alone?
Who are you with?
A black kid from Mali we found
on the way, and Joseba's daughter.
- Joseba's daughter?
- Yes.
She's not as ugly as her old man!
I'd love to meet her!
- OK.
- OK.
Alain?
- Alain.
- Alain.
Alain.
Tocho!
Good morning!
What the fuck was that?
I did what you told me to!
- Alain's here.
- What?
- Fuck!
- What did he say?
The asshole was all charm.
He asked about Jean Pierre.
Does he know he's here?
No, he hasn't seen him.
Is he any better?
No.
Better than if Alain sees him.
It's OK.
I'm going to buy gas
and get you out of here.
- I love you!
- Fuck!
He's delirious.
Hey, Mr. Tocho.
Want a beer?
- I'm in a hurry.
- Nice and cold.
Sit down, it's on me. Sit down.
So...
Perhaps your friends would like a beer?
It's on me.
Thanks but they're resting.
Cheers.
I would've liked
to meet Joseba's daughter.
What a great guy!
He always drank
all the beer, the bastard!
Beer goes down a treat here.
The other one's here, isn't here?
The one who's always sick.
Did you forget to mention him?
I told you one of us was sick,
that's why I'm in a rush.
Do you know Martial?
You saw him.
The black guy who was with me.
Martial's speciality
is pissing
on people's necks
as they bleed to death.
So, I wonder...
Do you think
he feels like pissing now?
I don't know.
Has he drunk a lot of beer?
Don't fuck with me,
or I'll send Martial
to deal with Jean Pierre
and I'll take care of you myself.
Understood?
I just want to know
why you, my friend,
didn't tell me
Jean Pierre was with you.
He told us about the tank truck.
And what do you think?
- Terrible.
- Extremely.
I fucking told him! I said:
"Jean Pierre, you can't do that
to a great guy like Alain?"
He really regrets it.
And how can we fix it?
How much are we talking?
Fifty thousand.
That's a lot of money.
- The car then.
- The car's Joseba's.
Keep the satellite.
I heard it's worth a fortune.
There is one more option...
You stay here and never leave.
For fuck's sake!
He's getting worse.
He needs a doctor.
I don't fucking believe this!
What is it?
He wants 50 grand...
Or the car.
No fucking way!
That car's my dad's!
- Keep your voice down!
- We brought the car here for him.
We're not giving him the car.
Jean Pierre.
Jean Pierre!
How much money have you got?
Get me out of here, please.
I need to know
how much money you've got.
I don't know...
Fifty grand?
- I've never had that much.
- Whatever you've got then.
I'm not giving that asshole any money!
The car then.
Not a chance!
Fuck, Jean Pierre!
We have to give him something!
Give him...
the satellite.
Give him the satellite.
What the fuck's he doing here?
Who is it?
The guy who's going to
get us out of this dump.
If it isn't my favorite Bedouins!
- Who'd have thought?
- I don't believe it!
Hey! Was that really necessary?
- I need your help.
- Oh, sure.
You're fucking joking!
I'm not lifting a finger for that asshole.
Then do it for me.
You abandoned me, Tocho, like a rat.
That's hard to forget.
Tocho. Get me out of here.
I need you to set up a party.
- What the hell?
- Is this enough?
Well...
If it's with this fucker's money,
I'll organize a fucking parade!
That's what I'm talking about, man!
OK, guys! Who do we have to push
through the window?
It's like they say on Mars,
- I went to buy a guitar.
- Give us a kiss!
- Dude!
- Give me a hand.
- Give me a kiss.
- Fucking give me a hand!
You really think Tutankhamen
- is going to fit through the window?
- Stop fucking about! Help us!
Come on!
- I want some of what he's had!
- Let's go!
Fuck, Soriano, come on!
- Son of a...
- Shit!
Watch his head!
Stop! He's going to fall! Stop!
Let me go.
Well, that hurt!
Come on, push!
Start the engine!
Foot on the clutch
and second gear!
Let go of the clutch!
Dude... I really owe you one!
Yup... I think I'm a little bit wasted.
Just a little bit.
In 20 kilometers
there's a trafficker's route.
If we go that way,
Alain won't find us.
Fuck me!
- My stomach hurts.
- Deal with it!
Come on!
We have to get out of here
before that bastard finds us.
Don't worry.
We're far enough away
from the main road.
If nobody comes tomorrow,
we'll have to find help
on the traffickers' route.
Yeah, but Jean can't move.
I'll go alone.
No.
You're not going anywhere.
We have enough water
for two days.
This is what happens in the desert.
Something happens
at the last minute
and you get another chance.
You know what?
What?
You were right.
Right about what?
I can feel it now.
What can you feel?
Africa.
I can feel Africa.
Where's Mamadou?
Isn't he with you?
Mamadou!
Mamadou!
He's not here.
- He's not here!
- What do you mean?
Where could he have gone?
To get help.
He told me last night.
He's going to die.
Mamadou!
No...
Ely!
Ely!
What are you doing?
Fuck!
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Fuck!
No! No! No!
It's OK.
It's OK.
Drink.
Jean Pierre?
Jean Pierre?
Drink some water.
Come on.
What are we going to do?
- What do you suggest?
- I don't know.
Something...
You're the experts.
We've got no more water.
We have to wait.
What are you doing?
You can't set light to a tire.
Why not?
Alain...
If Alain doesn't kill us, the desert will.
Don't do it.
I told you the tire wouldn't work.
Hi! Yakimoto! Yakimoto.
We've broken down.
Kaput.
Kaput.
Yes, yes. English, English.
Do you see black man walking solo
in the desert?
- OK.
- The car!
Tell him about the car!
These pieces of shit French cars!
Crossing the Sahara
in this heap of junk!
If they had a Toyota Land Cruiser,
I wouldn't be here
getting my hands dirty.
Who put this there?
You got the wrong hole!
I strongly admire your culture.
My first watch was a Casio Digital
with two buttons.
My sarong.
My sarong!
Mamadou...
Mamadou. Water.
Water!
Hey!
Hey, wake up.
Come on.
No, no, no!
Wake up.
No!
No!
Tocho?
Maimouna.
I'm Jean Pierre.
Jean Pierre?
Did we make it on time?
More or less.
- Come in.
- Excuse me.
You're...
Look, Ely.
Me and your dad in our neighborhood.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Did he know we were coming?
No, I didn't tell him.
I didn't know if you'd received my letter,
or if you'd come.
Joseba.
Joseba...
Joseba...
- What is it?
- Look who's here.
No way!
Tocho!
Joseba!
Tocho! I'll be damned!
Looking good, asshole!
As if I'd believe that!
I'm a liar too!
- Jean Pierre.
- Joseba.
Jean Pierre.
Joseba.
Your nose got bigger.
Still an asshole!
God damn!
You're beautiful!
Forgive me!
Forgive me!
- It's OK.
- No, it's not. We have to talk.
Look... Look what I brought you.
The diary.
It's the only thing
I left you, isn't it?
I'm going to call the embassy.
The embassy? What for?
They're obliged to help us.
We can get him out of here tomorrow.
In two days he'll be
in Spain having treatment.
Or we could take him to Paris.
I know a private clinic.
Didn't you hear what he said?
What did you expect?
He's too fucking proud.
He said he didn't have any money
to go back to Spain with.
He said he didn't want to die
in a hospital in Madrid,
far away from his wife.
His wife could come to.
Joseba wants to die here.
Joseba doesn't want to die.
He's not going to die.
Joseba doesn't want to die.
No one wants to die.
But we have to respect his decision.
Wow!
You're like fucking Fitzcarraldo!
All you need is the gramophone,
the Indians, the children and the opera.
It hasn't moved for a year.
You think it could
still be a good business?
Don't doubt it.
It's the only one
on the river that can carry
five times as much weight
as the others.
How much would it cost
to get it running again?
Around 25,000 euros, but...
the problem is that it's hard work,
and I don't have the strength anymore.
But I do.
You want to take the boat?
No,
I want to stay here with you
and fix it up together.
I want to stay too.
And I can finance the repairs.
Jean Pierre, Tocho, come here.
People love the desert,
and I'm not saying it's a bad place,
but if you analyze it objectively,
it's basically a pain in the ass.
Your shoes are always full of sand,
and it's hotter than Hell.
I doubt Saint-Exupry and all those guys
have been here in their fucking lives!
I don't know
where they got their information from,
but I think they were very wrong.
And hey, let's not kid ourselves,
the desert is like a beach,
but without girls in bikinis
or beach bars.
And the water
a fucking million miles away...
4L
Another friend,
or friend of the night.
Hello. Who's calling?
Hello, my name's Amaia.
Hi, Amaia.
Thanks for your call.
Tell us, where are you calling from?
I'm calling from here...
The Basque country.
What are you doing awake
at this time Amaia?
Well...
Sometimes you need
to talk to someone.
The nights...
The nights are tough and...
Sometimes you need some company.
We're listening.
- What's troubling you?
- Well... I've run away from home.
One day you wake up
and you've got no reason
to get out bed and...
You realize you hate your job.
You barely even recognize
your husband anymore.
You have nothing left in common.
It's no kind of life.
So you decided to disappear,
just like that?
TANEZROUFT DESER ALGERIA, 1979
I left without telling anyone.
I packed my bags
and left everything behind me.
Now I live alone in the country
with my garden, my chickens.
- And I'm so happy.
- That's great.
Where do you live, Amaia?
Excuse me, this is private property.
Can I help you?
My God!
You've changed a lot.
You've still got the same big nose,
but now you walk with a cane.
It comes with the vineyard.
Jean Pierre...
- Is all this yours?
- The bank's.
- I heard it was yours.
- Sometimes it is.
I tell women it's mine!
All of them?
Except the women from the bank!
- So you kept going down there?
- Yes, several times.
But I haven't been back
since the accident,
and that was over ten years ago.
What about you?
I haven't been back
since our last trip together.
No, thanks.
I stopped a long time ago.
I only stop when I'm asleep.
How's life treating you?
We're not talking.
I don't bother life
and she leaves me alone.
Leaves you alone in a good way,
or leaves you alone
meaning I should change the subject?
OK.
He's dying.
I want you to come with me.
I'm not sure this
is the best time for me.
So write to his wife
and tell her not to let him die yet,
that it's not a good time for you.
Alex, answer the door, will you?
If it's the people from the bank,
tell them you don't know me.
But I don't know you.
So, tell them that.
Hello!
We're looking for Joseba Montalbn,
he lived here years ago.
There's no one else here. I live alone.
How do you know Joseba?
Are you his daughter?
That depends.
Are you from the bank?
We're friends of your father.
My dad never had any friends.
This is going to be fun.
OK.
So...?
Jean Pierre and I,
we are going to see your dad.
Our plane leaves tomorrow.
We thought that you might come with us.
- To Timbuktu?
- Yes.
I haven't lost anything in Timbuktu.
- You've lost your dad.
- No.
My dad lost himself ten years ago...
Without warning...
It would be a good opportunity
to see him again.
He can come here.
Can't you read?
- Your dad can't come here.
- See you, babe!
I'll be back tomorrow
to tighten your screws!
Let's go.
If you don't come with us,
you'll probably
never see him again.
If you really cared about my dad,
you wouldn't go visit him by plane.
No way...
A 4L.
She's a beauty.
He spent years fixing it
to take me to the desert.
I'm still waiting.
The Marreau brothers drove this car
in the first
Paris-Dakar rally in 1979.
They finished second.
He told me he bought it
at an auction in Paris,
but I think he stole it
from a farm in Palencia.
She's perfect.
And we have everything we need
to camp out.
You want to come with us?
No.
What then?
I don't want to stay here either.
Go to duty free
and get me three bottles of gin.
Can't you go?
Yes.
But I'm the boss around here.
Why don't you go?
I don't know
how much each bottle costs.
I want to see if we can trust her.
Your two bottles.
I said three.
And your money.
Things you pick up in a foster home.
She's like her dad.
Just like him.
Dear friends,
as the great
Carl Sagan would say:
here begins
an extraordinary adventure.
The journey of two solitary men
against the power of nature.
Do you see this car?
Now...
Look at this dot on the map.
Timbuktu, our destination...
And in between,
an "imperetrable" desert.
Impenetrable.
Just like the great
adventures into space,
this could be
a one way journey,
our return cannot be guaranteed.
A journey of love for humanity.
A journey of love for Africa.
Traveling through Africa is
the last legal drug of our times!
Cut!
- Cut!
- Cut? Why?
You said drug.
I didn't say drug,
I said legal drug.
Legal drug
includes the word drug.
You said no drugs.
But it's a metaphor:
legal drug, journey, Africa...
You didn't mention Joseba either.
And you're overacting.
What do you mean I'm overacting?
He's right.
It's bullshit.
- Let's go again.
- OK, let's go.
Impenetrable.
French asshole!
Look.
The idea is to start like this...
Over the music at the start,
we'll put this footage...
Then when I talk about Joseba,
we'll show a shot of him
and we'll mix the shots
of the car now
with the ones from the trip...
- Was it in 1980, or 1981?
- 1982.
When you got us lost
and we were robbed.
- Are you sure?
- Course I am!
We were celebrating all our birthdays.
Some nomads appeared
and joined in the party.
- It was our last trip together.
- Ah, yes, I remember.
It was your 21st
and our 29th birthdays.
It was the last time
I had to babysit you!
Ely, look, here's your dad.
- Are you always like this?
- Like what?
Like two old ladies?
We're not like old ladies.
You spend all day talking about things
that happened 80 years ago!
Tell me, what's the most exciting thing
that's happened to you in the last 20?
Take your feet off the table.
Yes, grandma.
Are you going to treat her like that
the whole trip?
I met the half-man, half-monkey
in my neighborhood. Yes.
Whenever I travel to Africa
with Tocho,
he suffers a mutation
which turns him into a monkey.
He's the most disgusting guy
I've ever met and he's beyond help.
He was born
with a manufacturing defect.
Jean Pierre was born
to be a nobleman,
and I'm certain he'll die trying.
He has two weaknesses:
Having affairs with women
and the terrible diarrhea he gets
every time he's in the desert.
These are my two travel companions,
a fucking nightmare.
No... It's all in your imagination.
It's not the reality.
I never said that.
I'm telling you I didn't!
Listen, we're going to
count to ten
so you can think about
what you just said... OK?
One... two... three...
Let me finish!
Four... five...
six... seven...
I haven't finished yet!
Eight...
nine... ten.
What do you say now?
Charlotte! Listen to me!
Charlotte!
Shit!
Shit!
Where's Tocho?
I thought he was with you.
Aren't you tired? It's late.
I'm trying to upload
photos on Instagram, but I can't get 4G.
There's no water...
How are you going to get 4G?
Fuck!
Don't shout!
You're fucking hysterical!
I don't know why the fuck
we brought you!
Hey...
Calm down.
You're making her life impossible.
Aren't you her dad's friend?
Her dad doesn't even know
she's coming.
That doesn't matter.
Here...
Drink this.
Perhaps he doesn't want to see her.
Why wouldn't he after ten years?
If he hasn't seen her for ten years,
he must have his reasons.
Why are you acting like this?
Hey, my friend! I got something for you!
- Look!
- Out the way!
- Hashish?
- No.
Excuse me...
You're Spanish, right?
What's in that bottle?
Hey! Wait up!
Soriano, from Valencia.
I'm looking for something
you really like in Valencia.
Finding paella here's tricky!
Hashish.
I've got the best... It's first rate.
How many kilos you want?
Tocho, from Bilbao.
I did a degree in chemistry.
Passed with flying colors too.
After that I got a job as a courier,
to try and pay for
a master's degree,
but I got fed up with it.
And a buddy said,
with the welfare money I was getting,
I'd be better off living in Morocco,
so I thought I'd come for a few months
until I found a better job.
How's it going?
I've been here two years already.
What are you doing in Tangier?
I'm on my way to Mali.
By plane?
In a 4L.
A 4L? You really are from Bilbao!
In the 80s,
me and some friends would go
to France,
buy second-hand 4Ls,
then sell them in Mali.
They're sturdy cars.
We'd sell them in no time.
- Make a lot of money?
- Enough to pay for
a plane trip back,
not much more.
Well, it's not about money,
it's about adventure.
Like me with the hash.
Listen...
Could I get a ride with you
to the edge of the desert?
Pass the joint.
I said no drugs on this trip!
Shit!
Shit! I don't fucking believe it!
- Open the window! Help me!
- OK, OK!
- Good morning.
- Good morning, Sir.
Passports, please.
Here you go.
Spanish?
They are. I'm French.
And I'm Basque.
Stay inside the vehicle.
Hello!
What a gorgeous dog!
What's his name?
Gaddafi.
Oh! What a lovely name!
Yeah, lovely name!
Gaddafi!
Here, fetch! Fetch!
- Get out and show me what you've got.
- OK...
I'll get out, but...
I don't...
This is your fault for
letting a stranger come with us.
Get off me!
I know how to walk.
Sit down and behave yourself.
Give us a smoke.
I don't smoke.
Hey, you! Give me a smoke.
I don't smoke either.
Just what part of "no drugs"
didn't you understand?
I'm sorry... I'm just so used to
carrying it in my balls,
I forgot it was even there.
It's like my third ball by now.
What can we offer the police?
We've got just enough to survive on.
And we've got tobacco
and enough booze to open a bar.
Ah, well a little bottle
of whisky could really help us out.
Imagine the whiskey in one hand,
a cigarette in the other
and in the middle...
What? Paradise!
Look at lovely Romina.
So... Let's see..
Two gins and a carton of cigarettes,
30 euros,
the whiskey, 10 euros,
and the poster
and this carton of cigarettes are on me.
So everything's cool. Right?
Come on, dude!
Jerks!
- Assholes!
- No more strangers on this trip.
We're doing things my way
from now on.
Ely... Why are you here?
To see my dad, right?
No, that's not what I mean.
What then?
Things haven't really gone my way.
What I mean by that is...
Well, you know what it means.
Things have gone bad.
Pretty bad.
With work or a boy?
Both at the same time.
At the same time?
That's an achievement!
Not if you work for your ex.
You're too young
to say things have gone bad for you.
They could go worse I guess.
Especially if we find my dad.
Don't you want to see him?
I've always hated him for leaving,
though if I'm honest,
I hated him because...
it worked out fucking well for me.
I know it sounds strange, but it's true.
Whenever something went wrong,
I could blame it on Dad for leaving me.
I'm an asshole...
I'm sorry.
Why not just forget her?
Because I love her...
But you fucked that other one,
what's that chick's name?
You fucked someone else?
Catherine.
That's it, Catherine.
- Your go.
- No, it's your go.
You can't love her that much.
- What do you know?
- Do you love her,
or do you want to be with her?
- What's the difference?
- She's right.
- Shut it, you!
- Neither of the above.
- You just don't want to be alone.
- That's it!
- I don't care about that.
- Bullshit!
If you didn't care, you wouldn't be miles
from home, talking about her.
I've had enough of following her
around like a cat...
Cats don't follow their owners around.
Like a dog then, or an iguana,
or whatever you like...
Like a snake.
I'm going to rent an apartment
and become an eligible bachelor.
Sin is what makes
the world go round.
Bachelor, sure... Eligible?
And the desert is the epicenter of sin.
One day I'm going to prove
that in the desert
a man's capacity
to get an erection doubles.
It's actually a theory
by some explorer or other,
who used science as an excuse to go round
boning half the women in Timbuktu...
And two or three camels as well.
He had to flee,
because the Tuaregs
wanted to circumcise him...
at the neck!
Overacting... Definitely overacting.
Ol!
Jean Pierre, you look a mess!
Look, look!
Careful! The map!
Full moon!
Dear friends,
on the other side of that barrier,
the end of the world begins.
The mother of all deserts.
A dead, empty land,
in which only the best...
- Cut.
- Cut!
- Why cut, damn it?
- The barrier... The barrier.
Good morning.
Come with me.
You have to register yourselves.
What's the motive for your trip?
We're going to Timbuktu,
to visit a friend.
I'll need to see
your vehicle inspection certificate.
My vehicle inspection certificate?
You can't continue without it.
Another ball-buster.
- What did your friend say?
- Nothing.
Shut your mouth!
Yes, I know what you mean.
Vehicle inspection certificate.
It's in the car.
I'll go get it.
They obviously want us to bribe them.
You think you know
what an Algerian soldier wants?
I'm not giving those bastards
a single dirham!
The vehicle inspection certificate!
Give me a break!
Ely, give me a hand.
They want a vehicle inspection
certificate? No problem!
And if they want the insurance papers
for the spare wheel,
they're going to get that too.
Open this and look for a folder
called "Admin Africa".
Here it is.
"Single Women in Africa III,
The Revenge of the Mandingo".
I said folder, not video!
Look for a document called "4L.
Got it. Registration date?
24th January, 1975.
It's that old?
This car's in better shape than you.
Old would be me... Or Tocho.
Especially Tocho.
Paper... Here.
OK...
- Here it is.
- Pass it here.
And this one...
Why so many?
- Isn't that too many?
- It's all about the stamps.
It's what most impresses.
Is the vehicle in good condition?
Better than me.
Do you have enough water?
Enough to open a dolphin sanctuary!
You mustn't leave the road
under any circumstances.
It's marked out with black barrels.
980km of desert road.
If there are no hold ups,
you can do it in three days.
Avoid driving at night.
What did he say?
That the sunsets
in the desert are stunning.
Be on the lookout for bandits,
they're very dangerous
and we can't help you with that.
And now?
That at night you can see
spectacular meteor showers.
You may continue on your way.
- Good luck.
- Thank you.
Around the 500km mark,
you'll find Oil Drum 5.
It's a good place to stop and rest.
You can buy gas and water there.
The owner's French too.
He's still alive?
Yes.
What's he saying?
He hopes we don't get lost.
What an idiot!
Wait, wait!
What is it?
It's forbidden to cross the Tanezrouft
in a single vehicle.
You'll have to wait
to form a convoy.
It's for safety.
I already told you,
this isn't the first time
I'm crossing the desert.
How long are we talking?
I don't know.
Could be two days...
Two weeks...
Or never.
What did the jerk say now?
Cigarette?
Pass it! Over here!
After the football, "calimocho".
"Calimocho"? Coke, ice,
and cheap wine. Cold.
Mine, mine!
You deal?
No?
Three goats...
Hey!
Why don't you just let us past?
Hi, Suzy.
Look.
This is the paradise
I've told you so much about.
I really miss you.
Hey!
There's no one here.
Come on, quick!
Hey! Hey!
- Come on, Tocho!!
- Asshole!
- Move it, Tocho!
- You asshole!
Stop! Ely, tell him to stop!
- Stop!
- Come on! Run!
Jean Pierre!
You piece of shit!
We're on our way!
WE MADE IT THIS FAR
Africa!
Here we are!
A lifetime trip.
Freedom!
Freedom...
What a bullshit word.
What the fuck is freedom anyway?
Oh! I'm in Africa! I feel free!
You're not fucking free!
You're just a fucking idiot!
What does the dictionary
say about freedom?
The power to act, speak or think
as one wants,
or doesn't want.
What a crock of shit!
You have to go to Africa for that?
The only freedom we have,
is death.
And dying is very distasteful.
What the fuck was that?
- I don't fucking believe it!
- Please! Water!
There's a black guy here
who speaks Spanish.
What the hell are you doing in there?
I was with the group at the military post.
Well we're headed south.
Europe is north.
I'm going south too.
To Mali.
I've got no money or strength left.
I'm going home.
Not surprising the state Spain's in.
I never made it to Spain.
We'll go back to the military post
and leave him there.
But we're going to the same place.
This isn't a class trip!
If he's not coming, neither am I.
You're exaggerating.
Maybe, but I bet I can annoy you
into changing your minds.
Say what you like.
There isn't enough water for us all.
You don't know me... I said
if he's not coming, then neither am I.
Come here.
Feeling better?
What's your name?
Mamadou.
Come and get in the car with me.
Come with me.
Mamadou?
I don't smoke.
- Have a toke, man!
- Leave him alone!
Ely, Mamadou,
let the air out
of the back wheel.
Ely, get in and start the engine.
Come on, Mamadou.
Ely, you have to get out of
the tire tracks! And what are you doing?
Can't you push it
more than five meters?
I can't...
Shit! Come on!
Come on, Mamadou,
a bit more.
Come on, let's go.
Shit! Not like that!
Don't take your foot
- off the clutch so soon, Ely!
- Screw this!
Mamadou, come on.
Let them move the fucking car!
Where are the flares?
We've only got one
and they've already seen us!
You think they've seen us?
They saw us in Bilbao!
I'm Akly,
from the Iferouane oasis
in the Air mountains.
And this is Ekaley,
my slave.
This is Mamadou, our slave.
Very good, Sir.
And I'm Jean Pierre,
from Bordeaux,
- in the south of France.
- Tocho.
Ely...
We've been stuck for hours.
Could you give us a hand?
My God!
- This is a gem!
- Yes.
Sometimes they let them
fall in the desert,
where nobody will find them.
What are you going to do with it?
Sell it online.
The Americans pay a fortune for these.
Do you want it? Sir...
Do you want it?
I'm a five-star seller on eBay.
Take it now
and you'll save the shipping costs.
It's Black Friday today!
- Black Friday?
- Yes.
- Bilbao...
- Hello!
Hello.
It's a great opportunity, Sir.
- Yes.
- This is your big chance!
I've got no room for it.
- Go on, go!
- Go, go!
- Let's go, let's go.
- That's it! Come on!
Let's go!
Go, go, go!
That's it! Go, go!
We did it!
Thank you!
Thank you so much!
What can we do for you in return?
No, no, Sir.
For us Tuaregs, helping people is normal.
It wasn't a good idea
to shoot the flare.
This territory belongs to
- Said the Scavenger.
- Excuse me!
A Libyan bandit. I don't think
you should spend the night alone.
Understand?
Sir, this is for you.
No, no, it's for you.
It's kif. Good kif.
- It won't hurt you. It's good.
- Don't be so rude.
If you reject it,
the Tuareg's going to be pissed.
Old Trafford is amazing...
You can't believe it
when you see it from inside.
I was sitting right next to
Manchester United's bench!
They let blacks in for free.
Have you been to Chelsea's stadium?
Yes, of course.
But it's not the same.
They don't let blacks in?
Yes, but you have to pay.
Now that really is rude!
He's Muslim!
I've got a friend back home
who prays while drinking wine!
I know why there are
no good black goalkeepers.
Why?
I can't take any more of them.
What are you talking about?
About his master.
He says he treats him really bad.
Seriously?
You can't imagine...
The Tuaregs are assholes
who treat blacks like slaves.
Ask him why he doesn't escape.
OK...
She wants to know why
there are no good black goalkeepers.
Goalkeepers only touch the ball
when it's flying
straight at their heads!
It's messed up.
Like us blacks don't already
have enough problems.
He says they've got
his family working for them
in the village.
If he escapes,
they'll make them work
twice as hard or kill them.
Shit.
I'm sorry.
It's a really tricky situation...
Tell him that if he needs help,
he can count on me.
OK.
She says there aren't
any black goalkeepers in Europe,
because no white man
wants a black man behind him.
He says thank you.
Thank you very much.
I was looking up at the sky.
And I was looking at it...
They landed back there.
Who?
The flying saucers.
Ready to invade Africa.
- For Africa.
- Yeah.
You need another dump?
- French fertilizer for the desert.
- Wait here.
- How many were there?
- Forty invisible UFOs.
- How many were left?
- Thirty nine.
Thanks.
Thanks.
- You want some?
- Smoke!
- Look! It appears and disappears.
- Like the UFOs.
They were flying saucers.
I can't smoke any more.
Tocho.
Tocho!
Jean Pierre!
- Wake up! They've robbed us!
- What?
Robbed?
Who?
They've taken all the money!
And my gin! And my tobacco!
Wasn't that asshole a Muslim?
They've taken our passports.
They've taken everything.
Now we're all illegal.
At least they left us some gas, water
and a couple of tins of sardines.
We can make it to the border with that.
The asshole! My backpack!
When I find him I'm going to kill him!
I'm going to rip his head off
and put it on a fucking stick!
Fuck you!
No...
No!
You fucking Tuareg piece of shit!
I'm going to fucking kill you
and stick your turban up your ass!
When I find him he'd better pray,
'cos I'm going to fuck him up!
- Ely! Stop, stop!
- Again?
No, you're right.
I'll just do it in here.
Stop!
For fuck's sake!
You shouldn't have drunk water
from a goat-skin bottle!
What's the soldiers' water
got to do with it?
It was that shit
you made me smoke last night.
If you took more drugs,
this wouldn't happen to you.
I feel terrible.
Shit!
- Shit! The exhaust pipe fell off.
- Fuck the exhaust pipe!
Shit!
We need to pour water on the radiator.
But we've only got two bottles left.
I've lost my gin already today.
I'm not losing my water too.
If we don't pour water on it,
we're not going anywhere.
What are you doing Mamadou?
What are you doing?
This is an African remedy.
You can't piss on the radiator.
Oh, Tocho!
Johnny!
Don't you need a piss?
I told you.
You can't piss on a car radiator.
The problem's not the radiator.
I know it's not,
but I'm saying you can't piss on it.
If it was for pissing on,
they'd have put a toilet there.
And you could really use a toilet!
- Tocho!
- What?
Pass me that stone over there.
- Ely?
- What?
Do you have a hairband?
- Yeah.
- Are you going to listen to a guy
who fixes cars by pissing on them?
Do you have cotton wool,
or something spongey?
I need to stop
this small oil leak.
I've got this. Will this work?
Piss and tampons!
What an engineer!
NASA is missing out!
- Ely, try the engine.
- OK!
We should have left him
at the military post.
All he does is use up food and water.
You're such a dick!
You haven't changed in 30 years.
Jerk!
That guy's an idiot...
It's OK.
He doesn't feel well.
You must be dying to get home.
They had a collection for me
in my village,
to pay for me to get to Europe
and send money back home.
I can't go back with nothing.
I feel like a failure.
Don't worry.
We're all failures.
At least you tried.
How did you get those scars?
Trying to cross over into Spain...
Once by raft
and five times at the fence in Melilla.
The last time
I got stuck on the barbed wire.
That's when I decided to go home.
You can't trust people with scars.
Don't you have any?
Yeah,
but you can't see them.
Take your shoes off.
What?
Do me a favor
and take your shoes off.
Did you know love for the earth
enters through the soles of our feet?
Raise your hands.
And close your eyes.
Feel the weight of your body
in the soles of your feet.
Can you feel
they're connected to the earth?
What can you feel?
Heat.
What do you mean heat?
I feel heat.
Can't you feel the earth's energy
coming through the soles of your feet?
For that I'd have to smoke
all of Tocho's hash!
Africa! Can't you feel Africa?
You're nuts, Mamadou!
You... Crazy girl!
What the hell are you doing?
I'm so thirsty!
Deal with it like the rest of us!
I'm dying!
I could kill you right now!
Don't tell my wife I died of diarrhea.
Tell her a Tuareg killed me
or that I sacrificed myself for you.
You're not going to fucking die!
How can you be so sure?
It's my fault you're here.
I'd never forgive myself.
- Come on.
- OK.
That's eight for me.
Take that!
Do you regret coming?
No.
I dreamt of this trip.
Since I was little,
Dad told me stories about...
all your trips across the desert.
He always said when I turned 18,
that would be my gift.
I'm not sure I want to see him.
Look at me.
Look at me.
Joseba's the best guy
I've ever laid eyes on.
Yeah...
His heart, and his balls,
are as big as this desert.
Have you got kids?
You're joking, right?
What?
The world's got
enough assholes already.
A wife?
Girlfriend?
Anything?
What are you going to do after this trip?
Old ladies don't make plans
for the future.
They just talk about the past.
Come on! We're leaving!
That's my boy, Mamadou!
Ely,
stop, stop.
Stop!
But we're almost there...
I can't go in there.
You're going in, like it or not!
There's water, gas...
everything we need.
Alain...
No fucking way!
That fucking frog's still here?
The soldier told me.
Who's that?
Some frog...
They say he came here
to escape the law.
He does business with crazy people like us
and he built a hostel
on the ruins of "Oil Drum 5.
In two years he was
the biggest trafficker in the Tanezrouft.
Are you in shit with him?
No.
Yes...
What?
I don't believe this!
My last trip, I was part of a convoy
of five tank trucks
carrying gas.
They were Alain's.
We were supposed
to sell them in Niger.
I took one of the trucks
and went to Mali. I sold it in Bamako.
For fuck's sake, Jean Pierre!
Who in their right mind
steals a truck from Alain?
I wanted to retire.
I wanted to buy a vineyard
and make my own wine.
Why didn't you say before?
When the soldier said
Alain was still alive,
I thought we could go another way
and avoid him, but...
getting robbed screwed up my plan.
So what now?
If we go in there,
the frog might kill him.
Then what?
If we don't,
he's going to die for sure.
I want to die with you.
When we get back,
I'm going to stick your vines
up your fucking ass
'til you shit wine!
What are we going to do?
Find a way out of this,
that's what we're going to do.
Here.
Come on!
Go, go!
- What are you doing?
- Hey!
Works wonders for a fever.
Where are you going?
To get gas,
we can't stay here too long.
What if someone comes?
You punch them
as hard as you can, OK?
OK.
Mamadou, close the door.
Welcome to "Oil Drum 5".
I'm Alain, the owner.
Thank you... Merci beacoup.
Ah, Spanish.
Nice car!
She's a beauty.
Where'd you get her?
From the first Paris-Dakar...
or the second?
First.
She's a beauty alright...
But she's a copy.
Not worth anything.
And that piece of junk?
A satellite...
It was a gift from a Tuareg.
It's seen more of the desert
than it has of space!
Your face...
Have we met before?
No, I don't think so.
I'd remember.
You used to come here with that Spanish
guy who was always fucked up...
and a Frenchman, Jean Pierre.
And your name was...
Tocho.
Tocho!
My God! Tocho. That's it!
And the other guy was...
- His name?
- Joseba?
Joseba! I remember him perfectly!
- He was ugly as sin!
- Yeah!
- He was an ugly fucker, yeah!
- So ugly!
- Yeah.
- Yes.
How's Jean Pierre?
Jean Pierre?
I haven't heard from him in years.
He went back to France,
that's all I know.
I didn't like him.
He wasn't trustworthy.
Strange guy...
- Yeah.
- Always so elegant with his scarf...
- Yeah.
- Where are you headed?
Up? Down?
We're headed south.
Ah, so then...
You're not alone?
Who are you with?
A black kid from Mali we found
on the way, and Joseba's daughter.
- Joseba's daughter?
- Yes.
She's not as ugly as her old man!
I'd love to meet her!
- OK.
- OK.
Alain?
- Alain.
- Alain.
Alain.
Tocho!
Good morning!
What the fuck was that?
I did what you told me to!
- Alain's here.
- What?
- Fuck!
- What did he say?
The asshole was all charm.
He asked about Jean Pierre.
Does he know he's here?
No, he hasn't seen him.
Is he any better?
No.
Better than if Alain sees him.
It's OK.
I'm going to buy gas
and get you out of here.
- I love you!
- Fuck!
He's delirious.
Hey, Mr. Tocho.
Want a beer?
- I'm in a hurry.
- Nice and cold.
Sit down, it's on me. Sit down.
So...
Perhaps your friends would like a beer?
It's on me.
Thanks but they're resting.
Cheers.
I would've liked
to meet Joseba's daughter.
What a great guy!
He always drank
all the beer, the bastard!
Beer goes down a treat here.
The other one's here, isn't here?
The one who's always sick.
Did you forget to mention him?
I told you one of us was sick,
that's why I'm in a rush.
Do you know Martial?
You saw him.
The black guy who was with me.
Martial's speciality
is pissing
on people's necks
as they bleed to death.
So, I wonder...
Do you think
he feels like pissing now?
I don't know.
Has he drunk a lot of beer?
Don't fuck with me,
or I'll send Martial
to deal with Jean Pierre
and I'll take care of you myself.
Understood?
I just want to know
why you, my friend,
didn't tell me
Jean Pierre was with you.
He told us about the tank truck.
And what do you think?
- Terrible.
- Extremely.
I fucking told him! I said:
"Jean Pierre, you can't do that
to a great guy like Alain?"
He really regrets it.
And how can we fix it?
How much are we talking?
Fifty thousand.
That's a lot of money.
- The car then.
- The car's Joseba's.
Keep the satellite.
I heard it's worth a fortune.
There is one more option...
You stay here and never leave.
For fuck's sake!
He's getting worse.
He needs a doctor.
I don't fucking believe this!
What is it?
He wants 50 grand...
Or the car.
No fucking way!
That car's my dad's!
- Keep your voice down!
- We brought the car here for him.
We're not giving him the car.
Jean Pierre.
Jean Pierre!
How much money have you got?
Get me out of here, please.
I need to know
how much money you've got.
I don't know...
Fifty grand?
- I've never had that much.
- Whatever you've got then.
I'm not giving that asshole any money!
The car then.
Not a chance!
Fuck, Jean Pierre!
We have to give him something!
Give him...
the satellite.
Give him the satellite.
What the fuck's he doing here?
Who is it?
The guy who's going to
get us out of this dump.
If it isn't my favorite Bedouins!
- Who'd have thought?
- I don't believe it!
Hey! Was that really necessary?
- I need your help.
- Oh, sure.
You're fucking joking!
I'm not lifting a finger for that asshole.
Then do it for me.
You abandoned me, Tocho, like a rat.
That's hard to forget.
Tocho. Get me out of here.
I need you to set up a party.
- What the hell?
- Is this enough?
Well...
If it's with this fucker's money,
I'll organize a fucking parade!
That's what I'm talking about, man!
OK, guys! Who do we have to push
through the window?
It's like they say on Mars,
- I went to buy a guitar.
- Give us a kiss!
- Dude!
- Give me a hand.
- Give me a kiss.
- Fucking give me a hand!
You really think Tutankhamen
- is going to fit through the window?
- Stop fucking about! Help us!
Come on!
- I want some of what he's had!
- Let's go!
Fuck, Soriano, come on!
- Son of a...
- Shit!
Watch his head!
Stop! He's going to fall! Stop!
Let me go.
Well, that hurt!
Come on, push!
Start the engine!
Foot on the clutch
and second gear!
Let go of the clutch!
Dude... I really owe you one!
Yup... I think I'm a little bit wasted.
Just a little bit.
In 20 kilometers
there's a trafficker's route.
If we go that way,
Alain won't find us.
Fuck me!
- My stomach hurts.
- Deal with it!
Come on!
We have to get out of here
before that bastard finds us.
Don't worry.
We're far enough away
from the main road.
If nobody comes tomorrow,
we'll have to find help
on the traffickers' route.
Yeah, but Jean can't move.
I'll go alone.
No.
You're not going anywhere.
We have enough water
for two days.
This is what happens in the desert.
Something happens
at the last minute
and you get another chance.
You know what?
What?
You were right.
Right about what?
I can feel it now.
What can you feel?
Africa.
I can feel Africa.
Where's Mamadou?
Isn't he with you?
Mamadou!
Mamadou!
He's not here.
- He's not here!
- What do you mean?
Where could he have gone?
To get help.
He told me last night.
He's going to die.
Mamadou!
No...
Ely!
Ely!
What are you doing?
Fuck!
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Fuck!
No! No! No!
It's OK.
It's OK.
Drink.
Jean Pierre?
Jean Pierre?
Drink some water.
Come on.
What are we going to do?
- What do you suggest?
- I don't know.
Something...
You're the experts.
We've got no more water.
We have to wait.
What are you doing?
You can't set light to a tire.
Why not?
Alain...
If Alain doesn't kill us, the desert will.
Don't do it.
I told you the tire wouldn't work.
Hi! Yakimoto! Yakimoto.
We've broken down.
Kaput.
Kaput.
Yes, yes. English, English.
Do you see black man walking solo
in the desert?
- OK.
- The car!
Tell him about the car!
These pieces of shit French cars!
Crossing the Sahara
in this heap of junk!
If they had a Toyota Land Cruiser,
I wouldn't be here
getting my hands dirty.
Who put this there?
You got the wrong hole!
I strongly admire your culture.
My first watch was a Casio Digital
with two buttons.
My sarong.
My sarong!
Mamadou...
Mamadou. Water.
Water!
Hey!
Hey, wake up.
Come on.
No, no, no!
Wake up.
No!
No!
Tocho?
Maimouna.
I'm Jean Pierre.
Jean Pierre?
Did we make it on time?
More or less.
- Come in.
- Excuse me.
You're...
Look, Ely.
Me and your dad in our neighborhood.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Did he know we were coming?
No, I didn't tell him.
I didn't know if you'd received my letter,
or if you'd come.
Joseba.
Joseba...
Joseba...
- What is it?
- Look who's here.
No way!
Tocho!
Joseba!
Tocho! I'll be damned!
Looking good, asshole!
As if I'd believe that!
I'm a liar too!
- Jean Pierre.
- Joseba.
Jean Pierre.
Joseba.
Your nose got bigger.
Still an asshole!
God damn!
You're beautiful!
Forgive me!
Forgive me!
- It's OK.
- No, it's not. We have to talk.
Look... Look what I brought you.
The diary.
It's the only thing
I left you, isn't it?
I'm going to call the embassy.
The embassy? What for?
They're obliged to help us.
We can get him out of here tomorrow.
In two days he'll be
in Spain having treatment.
Or we could take him to Paris.
I know a private clinic.
Didn't you hear what he said?
What did you expect?
He's too fucking proud.
He said he didn't have any money
to go back to Spain with.
He said he didn't want to die
in a hospital in Madrid,
far away from his wife.
His wife could come to.
Joseba wants to die here.
Joseba doesn't want to die.
He's not going to die.
Joseba doesn't want to die.
No one wants to die.
But we have to respect his decision.
Wow!
You're like fucking Fitzcarraldo!
All you need is the gramophone,
the Indians, the children and the opera.
It hasn't moved for a year.
You think it could
still be a good business?
Don't doubt it.
It's the only one
on the river that can carry
five times as much weight
as the others.
How much would it cost
to get it running again?
Around 25,000 euros, but...
the problem is that it's hard work,
and I don't have the strength anymore.
But I do.
You want to take the boat?
No,
I want to stay here with you
and fix it up together.
I want to stay too.
And I can finance the repairs.
Jean Pierre, Tocho, come here.
People love the desert,
and I'm not saying it's a bad place,
but if you analyze it objectively,
it's basically a pain in the ass.
Your shoes are always full of sand,
and it's hotter than Hell.
I doubt Saint-Exupry and all those guys
have been here in their fucking lives!
I don't know
where they got their information from,
but I think they were very wrong.
And hey, let's not kid ourselves,
the desert is like a beach,
but without girls in bikinis
or beach bars.
And the water
a fucking million miles away...