Arisaka (2021) Movie Script
Mariano.
Mariano.
Did you fall asleep?
No, sir. I'm wide awake.
You look like you're in a daze.
What's on your mind?
You really are a buzzkill, Ramirez.
Give her a break.
Oh, would you believe
what the soldiers went through
during the Death March?
Think about it.
They traveled 100 kilometers on foot,
with almost no food,
no water,
while the Japanese soldiers tortured them.
You know, my grandfather
was a Death March survivor.
You know how he survived?
He pretended to be dead.
And when no one was looking,
he rolled over to the end of the cliff.
He almost died from his wounds.
If my grandfather didn't survive,
I wouldn't be here today.
How about you, Mariano?
Do you think you would survive the march?
That hundred-kilometer journey?
Alpha, obstruction up ahead. Slow down.
Slow down,
Nelson. There's something in the way.
Why did we stop?
Red One, this is Red Two.
What's the situation? Over.
An Aeta man
is blocking the way. All clear now.
Fucking animals, always causing trouble.
No wonder they're being driven away.
Convoy proceeding. Over.
Roger, Red One. Out.
Hello?
Are the press already there?
Tell them not to worry,
I won't just admit
to everything that easily.
If I'm going down,
I'm taking all of them with me.
With all the names on this narco list,
I'm telling you...
What the hell?
Son, why do we keep stopping?
Red One,
what the fuck is happening?
Fuck!
Red One, come in.
What the fuck is happening?
It's not safe here.
Santiago, Mariano, stay alert.
Stand by. Let me talk to this guy.
What's wrong?
Get down, Vice!
Mariano.
Mariano, listen to me...
Mariano!
Vice Mayor! Come out, Vice Mayor!
I'm not gonna make it out alive.
Take this phone.
It has all the evidence.
Mariano!
Hold your fire! I surrender!
Mariano!
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Mariano.
Amarentes.
Count the bodies.
Make sure everything checks out.
We have to clean up this mess
before sunrise.
Sir, what should we do first?
Body count.
Clean up the bullet shells later.
The engine's hit. This won't work anymore.
How will we move this, sir?
Damn it,
I told them to be careful.
Fuck it. Check the body count first.
The fucking engine.
Sir, there's one missing.
Sir, it's Mariano!
Impossible. Check again!
She's not here, sir.
Fucking bitch,
Sonny will kill us. Find her!
Fucking Mariano!
Fucking hell!
Stay alert.
She couldn't have gotten far.
Sir, over here! Mariano's here!
Yang! Fuck!
Where the fuck did that come from?
Find her!
Sir, over here!
Go get her!
That bitch!
We almost had her!
She was shot.
Just let her bleed to death.
The forest will eat her alive.
You explain it to Torejon, then.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Just be sure of what you saw.
Explain it to him properly.
Abay was the one who saw her.
Just me, huh?
We were both there.
Boss Sonny.
What do we do with Yang?
We don't want to leave him,
but we also can't drag him with us.
It might seem suspicious.
What do we do?
You know what needs to be done, right?
Yet you didn't do it.
How are you?
I need to...
What?
What do you need?
Hospital...
Hospital.
Torejon, how long
has he been with us?
Almost two years.
Abay, right?
Yes, boss.
Give me your gun.
Boss?
Give it to me. Now.
You understand why?
No witnesses, boss.
All finished?
Mariano escaped,
but she's not a problem anymore, boss.
Abay and Salome said she's dead.
You saw her body?
She fell from a cliff, boss.
It's impossible...
Did you see it with your own eyes?
You let the one person who can fuck up
this entire operation get away?
- Kong.
- Boss?
Get Sarge on the radio.
Let him clean this mess up
and we'll look for Mariano.
Boss, do you have more of those?
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Are you afraid?
What was his crime?
What if I tell you
that he's a terrorist?
From what organization?
A communist...
Abu Sayyaf,
an activist,
a terrorist,
or even if he's part
of the fucking Taliban, it doesn't matter.
If they want him dead...
it's our job to get it done.
Show us that you belong here,
that you're loyal to your fellow officers.
Especially now,
that even if reporters attack us,
or even if we're dragged
onto that fucking narco list...
If we have each other's backs,
no one gets left behind.
Right, Mariano?
Please, don't.
Have mercy.
Please, don't.
Ma'am!
If you can't do it for us,
do it for your family.
You need money for them to get by, right?
So how hard could it be
to kill someone you don't know?
What's his life compared to your family's?
I'm not doing anything wrong!
I'm not doing anything wrong!
It wasn't me!
She should be around here.
Does it look like she's here?
Hold on, boss.
Are we really going into that forest?
You have a problem with that?
Well?
Boss, that's where the soldiers hid
to escape the Japanese.
That's where the massacres happened.
Their corpses never left this place.
- We might disturb some...
- We might?
When I was 12,
rats plagued our village.
They ate our crops,
they crawled into our walls.
It took three years
before our neighbors had enough of it.
Poisoning the rats might affect the soil,
which might kill the crops
and might make the children sick.
Then, they put that burden on my father...
He had warned them from the start that
something must be done about the rats.
Eventually, my father found a way.
They should be fucking grateful.
Tell me, what do you fear more?
The poison of "what might happen"?
Or the pest that will surely end us?
Prepare yourselves.
Tonight, we hunt for the rat.
This is kakamuchi.
Put this on your wound.
Thank you.
Do you know the way out of this forest?
Maybe you can give me directions to town?
I need to...
Oh! Kong!
Kong!
Fuck!
That bitch. We're fucked.
Boss.
Boss Sonny.
Maybe it's better to just
leave this place for now,
and let the clean-up crew
handle this mess.
We can't let Mariano get away.
If we leave this huge mess,
we'll get busted even without
this whole Mariano situation.
Will you follow his orders or mine?
And you... do we have a problem?
- Surrender!
- Drop your weapon!
- Surrender!
- Drop your weapon!
- Surrender!
- Drop your weapon!
Good thing we found you.
Eat so you can recover faster.
It's delicious.
Maybe later.
A drink should be fine for now.
Drink this so you'll feel better.
This is our life and our home, Nawi.
We are out here
to be far from all the cruelty.
Don't worry about her, she's not going
to die. You know, it's not wrong to help,
but be careful. Just like a snake,
even if you take care of it,
eventually,
it will bite you.
But she helped me too, Father.
She won't hurt us.
You know the consequences of your actions.
I hope that whatever you say remains true.
That relic is older than me.
Take care of it.
Yes, Mother. I will do as I'm told.
You have to understand
why your father is worried about you.
This land that gives us life
was here since the beginning of time.
It was refuge
for the Filipinos during the war
and cradled those that died
in the Death March.
A lot of people
attempted to escape,
but they were still caught
and eventually killed.
Not us, we're still here.
We remain.
We are like water.
We flow through
the tightest of spaces, and persist.
But it would be my great sorrow
if you lost this land to the invaders.
But history will only repeat itself
if we let it.
You will carry this burden
with you, my daughter.
Change what you can, but persist.
Have mercy.
I did not do anything wrong.
It wasn't me.
I will do my job and do what I have to.
I will protect their transactions.
But this,
I won't do.
Torejon.
You're a fucking waste.
Is she well?
Oh, yes, I think she's well.
Let's go.
Let's tell them that she's...
I brought you clean clothes.
Thank you.
There's also a bandage
for your wound.
Sorry, I don't understand you.
Uh...
I wanted to thank you for all your help.
We don't want that.
We just want you to remember
the kindness we have shown you.
What you've gone through in a day,
we as a people have struggled through
for many years.
Remember this kindness and tell them
we are still here, in our land, our home.
Nawi trusts you with all her heart,
and I hope you will honor that.
Come on, let's go.
Take care, my child.
When I was a kid,
I would always catch insects...
and put them in jars.
My mother would always tell me
not to kill the insects.
Instead, she'd free them.
She would always tell me,
"Every living being
in the world has value,
and no one can claim to be the scale
that measures it."
It's the same color
as my sister's bracelet.
Good morning.
That looks delicious.
Good timing, eh?
We're all starving too.
Do you want some?
Oh.
Why did you stop eating?
Come and join me.
You see this?
Your kind did this to me.
A long time ago.
Perhaps a decade.
I caught him stealing apples.
I told him that...
if he returns what he stole,
I'll set him free.
But you know what he did instead?
He grabbed a knife tucked inside his sock
and then he gave me this scar.
Remember, you don't own this land.
I can have you thrown in jail.
Trespassing.
Or better yet tell them,
"Chief,
we encountered rebels!
They shot first,
so we were forced to fight back."
Self-defense.
You are the trespassers! This is our land.
You're scared?
You shouldn't be.
That is, if you're not hiding anything...
Answer me!
Just follow that trail.
You'll get to the town.
That's the way out?
When all this is over,
and when I've finished what I need to do,
I will come back and visit you.
Don't forget about us.
Thank you for everything.
Thank you.
Wait!
I need to show you something.
Where are we going?
It's near.
Be careful, you might step on them.
What if we never find Mariano?
That can't happen.
But what if we really can't?
I know how difficult this is,
our job...
but we have to finish this.
Our lives are on the line here.
I know that.
So, why bother asking?
Just do as I say
and you won't end up like Kong.
Boss,
how did your father
rid your town of the rats?
He found their burrow
underneath our very house.
He burned it.
The fire spread through
the neighbors' houses,
then to the fields, and everywhere.
But at least the rats never returned.
I asked you which is scarier,
the poison or the rats?
Both are wrong.
We must fear the ones that hold the fire.
How long will we stay like this, boss?
Until we're certain that Mariano's dead.
Psst, Abay!
What's taking you so long?
Lend us a hand, will you?
Fuck!
Where the hell did that come from?
Salome!
Son of a bitch! Be quiet!
Holy shit!
Torejon!
Fuck!
Torejon!
Take a look!
You're hard to find.
You're good at playing hard to get.
But I know all your moves, Mariano.
So you better make sure
that one bullet can kill me.
Because if not,
I will slit your throat
before you could even reload.
Die, you bitch!
Fuck!
Just die, bitch!
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Sebran.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Amarentes.
Mariano.
Did you fall asleep?
No, sir. I'm wide awake.
You look like you're in a daze.
What's on your mind?
You really are a buzzkill, Ramirez.
Give her a break.
Oh, would you believe
what the soldiers went through
during the Death March?
Think about it.
They traveled 100 kilometers on foot,
with almost no food,
no water,
while the Japanese soldiers tortured them.
You know, my grandfather
was a Death March survivor.
You know how he survived?
He pretended to be dead.
And when no one was looking,
he rolled over to the end of the cliff.
He almost died from his wounds.
If my grandfather didn't survive,
I wouldn't be here today.
How about you, Mariano?
Do you think you would survive the march?
That hundred-kilometer journey?
Alpha, obstruction up ahead. Slow down.
Slow down,
Nelson. There's something in the way.
Why did we stop?
Red One, this is Red Two.
What's the situation? Over.
An Aeta man
is blocking the way. All clear now.
Fucking animals, always causing trouble.
No wonder they're being driven away.
Convoy proceeding. Over.
Roger, Red One. Out.
Hello?
Are the press already there?
Tell them not to worry,
I won't just admit
to everything that easily.
If I'm going down,
I'm taking all of them with me.
With all the names on this narco list,
I'm telling you...
What the hell?
Son, why do we keep stopping?
Red One,
what the fuck is happening?
Fuck!
Red One, come in.
What the fuck is happening?
It's not safe here.
Santiago, Mariano, stay alert.
Stand by. Let me talk to this guy.
What's wrong?
Get down, Vice!
Mariano.
Mariano, listen to me...
Mariano!
Vice Mayor! Come out, Vice Mayor!
I'm not gonna make it out alive.
Take this phone.
It has all the evidence.
Mariano!
Hold your fire! I surrender!
Mariano!
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Mariano.
Amarentes.
Count the bodies.
Make sure everything checks out.
We have to clean up this mess
before sunrise.
Sir, what should we do first?
Body count.
Clean up the bullet shells later.
The engine's hit. This won't work anymore.
How will we move this, sir?
Damn it,
I told them to be careful.
Fuck it. Check the body count first.
The fucking engine.
Sir, there's one missing.
Sir, it's Mariano!
Impossible. Check again!
She's not here, sir.
Fucking bitch,
Sonny will kill us. Find her!
Fucking Mariano!
Fucking hell!
Stay alert.
She couldn't have gotten far.
Sir, over here! Mariano's here!
Yang! Fuck!
Where the fuck did that come from?
Find her!
Sir, over here!
Go get her!
That bitch!
We almost had her!
She was shot.
Just let her bleed to death.
The forest will eat her alive.
You explain it to Torejon, then.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Just be sure of what you saw.
Explain it to him properly.
Abay was the one who saw her.
Just me, huh?
We were both there.
Boss Sonny.
What do we do with Yang?
We don't want to leave him,
but we also can't drag him with us.
It might seem suspicious.
What do we do?
You know what needs to be done, right?
Yet you didn't do it.
How are you?
I need to...
What?
What do you need?
Hospital...
Hospital.
Torejon, how long
has he been with us?
Almost two years.
Abay, right?
Yes, boss.
Give me your gun.
Boss?
Give it to me. Now.
You understand why?
No witnesses, boss.
All finished?
Mariano escaped,
but she's not a problem anymore, boss.
Abay and Salome said she's dead.
You saw her body?
She fell from a cliff, boss.
It's impossible...
Did you see it with your own eyes?
You let the one person who can fuck up
this entire operation get away?
- Kong.
- Boss?
Get Sarge on the radio.
Let him clean this mess up
and we'll look for Mariano.
Boss, do you have more of those?
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Are you afraid?
What was his crime?
What if I tell you
that he's a terrorist?
From what organization?
A communist...
Abu Sayyaf,
an activist,
a terrorist,
or even if he's part
of the fucking Taliban, it doesn't matter.
If they want him dead...
it's our job to get it done.
Show us that you belong here,
that you're loyal to your fellow officers.
Especially now,
that even if reporters attack us,
or even if we're dragged
onto that fucking narco list...
If we have each other's backs,
no one gets left behind.
Right, Mariano?
Please, don't.
Have mercy.
Please, don't.
Ma'am!
If you can't do it for us,
do it for your family.
You need money for them to get by, right?
So how hard could it be
to kill someone you don't know?
What's his life compared to your family's?
I'm not doing anything wrong!
I'm not doing anything wrong!
It wasn't me!
She should be around here.
Does it look like she's here?
Hold on, boss.
Are we really going into that forest?
You have a problem with that?
Well?
Boss, that's where the soldiers hid
to escape the Japanese.
That's where the massacres happened.
Their corpses never left this place.
- We might disturb some...
- We might?
When I was 12,
rats plagued our village.
They ate our crops,
they crawled into our walls.
It took three years
before our neighbors had enough of it.
Poisoning the rats might affect the soil,
which might kill the crops
and might make the children sick.
Then, they put that burden on my father...
He had warned them from the start that
something must be done about the rats.
Eventually, my father found a way.
They should be fucking grateful.
Tell me, what do you fear more?
The poison of "what might happen"?
Or the pest that will surely end us?
Prepare yourselves.
Tonight, we hunt for the rat.
This is kakamuchi.
Put this on your wound.
Thank you.
Do you know the way out of this forest?
Maybe you can give me directions to town?
I need to...
Oh! Kong!
Kong!
Fuck!
That bitch. We're fucked.
Boss.
Boss Sonny.
Maybe it's better to just
leave this place for now,
and let the clean-up crew
handle this mess.
We can't let Mariano get away.
If we leave this huge mess,
we'll get busted even without
this whole Mariano situation.
Will you follow his orders or mine?
And you... do we have a problem?
- Surrender!
- Drop your weapon!
- Surrender!
- Drop your weapon!
- Surrender!
- Drop your weapon!
Good thing we found you.
Eat so you can recover faster.
It's delicious.
Maybe later.
A drink should be fine for now.
Drink this so you'll feel better.
This is our life and our home, Nawi.
We are out here
to be far from all the cruelty.
Don't worry about her, she's not going
to die. You know, it's not wrong to help,
but be careful. Just like a snake,
even if you take care of it,
eventually,
it will bite you.
But she helped me too, Father.
She won't hurt us.
You know the consequences of your actions.
I hope that whatever you say remains true.
That relic is older than me.
Take care of it.
Yes, Mother. I will do as I'm told.
You have to understand
why your father is worried about you.
This land that gives us life
was here since the beginning of time.
It was refuge
for the Filipinos during the war
and cradled those that died
in the Death March.
A lot of people
attempted to escape,
but they were still caught
and eventually killed.
Not us, we're still here.
We remain.
We are like water.
We flow through
the tightest of spaces, and persist.
But it would be my great sorrow
if you lost this land to the invaders.
But history will only repeat itself
if we let it.
You will carry this burden
with you, my daughter.
Change what you can, but persist.
Have mercy.
I did not do anything wrong.
It wasn't me.
I will do my job and do what I have to.
I will protect their transactions.
But this,
I won't do.
Torejon.
You're a fucking waste.
Is she well?
Oh, yes, I think she's well.
Let's go.
Let's tell them that she's...
I brought you clean clothes.
Thank you.
There's also a bandage
for your wound.
Sorry, I don't understand you.
Uh...
I wanted to thank you for all your help.
We don't want that.
We just want you to remember
the kindness we have shown you.
What you've gone through in a day,
we as a people have struggled through
for many years.
Remember this kindness and tell them
we are still here, in our land, our home.
Nawi trusts you with all her heart,
and I hope you will honor that.
Come on, let's go.
Take care, my child.
When I was a kid,
I would always catch insects...
and put them in jars.
My mother would always tell me
not to kill the insects.
Instead, she'd free them.
She would always tell me,
"Every living being
in the world has value,
and no one can claim to be the scale
that measures it."
It's the same color
as my sister's bracelet.
Good morning.
That looks delicious.
Good timing, eh?
We're all starving too.
Do you want some?
Oh.
Why did you stop eating?
Come and join me.
You see this?
Your kind did this to me.
A long time ago.
Perhaps a decade.
I caught him stealing apples.
I told him that...
if he returns what he stole,
I'll set him free.
But you know what he did instead?
He grabbed a knife tucked inside his sock
and then he gave me this scar.
Remember, you don't own this land.
I can have you thrown in jail.
Trespassing.
Or better yet tell them,
"Chief,
we encountered rebels!
They shot first,
so we were forced to fight back."
Self-defense.
You are the trespassers! This is our land.
You're scared?
You shouldn't be.
That is, if you're not hiding anything...
Answer me!
Just follow that trail.
You'll get to the town.
That's the way out?
When all this is over,
and when I've finished what I need to do,
I will come back and visit you.
Don't forget about us.
Thank you for everything.
Thank you.
Wait!
I need to show you something.
Where are we going?
It's near.
Be careful, you might step on them.
What if we never find Mariano?
That can't happen.
But what if we really can't?
I know how difficult this is,
our job...
but we have to finish this.
Our lives are on the line here.
I know that.
So, why bother asking?
Just do as I say
and you won't end up like Kong.
Boss,
how did your father
rid your town of the rats?
He found their burrow
underneath our very house.
He burned it.
The fire spread through
the neighbors' houses,
then to the fields, and everywhere.
But at least the rats never returned.
I asked you which is scarier,
the poison or the rats?
Both are wrong.
We must fear the ones that hold the fire.
How long will we stay like this, boss?
Until we're certain that Mariano's dead.
Psst, Abay!
What's taking you so long?
Lend us a hand, will you?
Fuck!
Where the hell did that come from?
Salome!
Son of a bitch! Be quiet!
Holy shit!
Torejon!
Fuck!
Torejon!
Take a look!
You're hard to find.
You're good at playing hard to get.
But I know all your moves, Mariano.
So you better make sure
that one bullet can kill me.
Because if not,
I will slit your throat
before you could even reload.
Die, you bitch!
Fuck!
Just die, bitch!
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Amarentes.
Cabreso.
Nazareno.
Sebran.
Amarentes.
Sebran.
Montana.
Nazareno.
Amarentes.