Short synopsis

During one of The Immortal´s trips, the Rivera family shows how division, religious manipulation, male chauvinism and poverty are part of what the war left behind in Nicaragua.

Synopsis

Reina was a beautiful 15-year-old when she went to war. She knew what soldiers did to women, she knew that they slept with them and then passed them along to a fellow soldier, and so on until they had passed through the hands of every single soldier in the unit. She had to do it, out of love for her 13-year-old brothers, because although she knew that she could have died, and although she had to leave her newborn daughter behind, without knowing whether she would ever see her again, she was always certain that it was a sister’s duty to look after her brothers.

José Antonio and Juan Antonio are identical twin brothers, who were separated by the war. José Antonio was taken by the Contras, he grew up among the Contra forces. His twin brother was his enemy; he loved him and wanted to look after him, but he hated his uniform and would have killed him.

Juan Antonio was not seized because his mother rescued him, but years later he was conscripted into the national service and became his twin brother’s enemy. He left the army as soon as he could.

María, like 70 percent of the population of Waslala, dedicates her life to God and to the Evangelical Pentecostal Church. She holds conversations with God and with demons. When she was an evil person, before she converted, her pet was the devil’s mastiff. Now the power of the Lord allows her to heal even terminal patients with her bare hands. On one occasion, her mother had passed away, but she was able to bring her back to life.

What they all have in common is that they are brothers and sisters, and that their current lives were decided on the 3rd of April, 1983. At six a.m. that morning, as their mother was making breakfast they heard shots; they were used to hearing gunfire, but this time the shots were a lot closer. Their home was caught in the middle of a skirmish between the Contras and the Sandinistas. Their father told them to hide in their refuge -- a small dugout.

They heard that something was happening next door, at María’s house, and then she staggered toward the refuge, bloodied and in shock, after the Contras had tossed a grenade at her. She had sustained injuries to her head and her abdomen, and she had watched her husband being tortured to death, because the fighters had found a pair of combat boots in the house.

Back in the refuge, the Contras arrived and seized Juan and José, both 13 years old, Emilio -- 14 years old --, and Reina -- 15 --, along with their father. Their mother begged the fighters to leave at least one child, but they refused. The unit had already started to leave with all of them, and Juan fell behind a little. His mother caught up with him and told the troops that if they wanted the child, they would have to kill her. Juan stayed with his mother. The Contras burned the house down.

Emilio was the only member of the family who did not end the war with terrible aftereffects, because he was killed in combat.

It is the story of a family that was torn apart by a war, which split up the brothers and placed them on opposite sides. The end of the armed conflict allowed the family members to return to an impoverished country. As they attempt to overcome the memories of war wounds, of the deaths that burden their recollections, of the guilt and the mutual hatred, they are confronted by a disintegrating social fabric that continues to drive them apart.

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