La Fortuna (2021) s01e02 Episode Script

1 If it's so big, why can't we see it? Because it's still very far away.
Will we have horses there too? Of course.
- And are there fish? - Well, well.
Where do you think we're going? There are fish and flowers and trees Look, Spain has so many forests that a squirrel can cross the whole country without touching the ground.
How? Jumping from branch to branch.
I can see Spain, father! Spain? Impossible.
There, there! The squirrel.
Tell them I'm not lying, milady.
Marizápalos was a girl and in love with Pedro Martín.
Respected as the priest's niece, the town gala, the April flower.
Commander! Signals from La Medea! They're calling me.
- What's happening? - Probably nothing.
- Is it that serious, General? - It's tropical fever.
But he needs rest.
So we need another captain for this ship.
But I'm captain of La Fortuna, sir.
Look, Diego We still have two more weeks.
If any problem should arise There's no reason it should I want you close to me.
You're now captain of La Medea.
It will be an honor, General, sir.
Land! Land ho! Land ho! Stay here, not all at once.
Stay in the holds, please.
Four sails windward! Four English frigates, General! - Coming straight for us.
- But we're not at war.
Twenty cannons per ship.
Then they're small.
The reason they're faster, General.
Perfect for attacking.
Correct sails on all four ships and form a line of combat.
Yes, sir.
Alert the crew! - Open the main sail! - Yes, sir, Commander! Let's go, get to work.
La Medea, La Fortuna, La Famosa and La Piedad, in line in that order.
- La Fortuna is way behind, sir.
- I said in that order! Espinosa My wife and children are on La Fortuna.
I don't want to lose sight of them.
Yes, sir.
Attention, frigates! Combat line! Battle stations! I want all passengers below deck! Yes, sir, Commander! Gardes-Marines, raise the combat flag! Passengers to the holds! This is a message for the crew and passenger of your ships.
You have nothing to fear! I repeat, you have nothing to fear! Our captain, Branson Stanton, wishes to visit one of your ships to deliver a letter to your captain.
I don't understand a word of it.
They're requesting a parley.
Good morning, gentlemen.
Come in.
I'm Captain Stanton, of the Royal Navy.
My superior, Admiral Moore, asked me to deliver this message.
By the express wishes of our lord King George of England where your ships and the merchandise they contain will pass to the disposal of the British Crown.
What is this? You have no right! Our countries are not at war! That you surrender immediately They're not at war! Or we will be obligated to act by force.
He says to surrender the fleet immediately.
What nerve! What nerve! This is unacceptable! - Do you know what you English are? - Excellency.
Do you? - You're pirates.
- Please, calm down.
- Vulgar pirates.
- Calm down.
Tell this man that the only authority we recognize is God and our king and to go to hell.
The only authority we recognize is that of God and our King.
Have a nice day, gentlemen.
- They don't know, Excellency.
- Yes, they do.
Otherwise they would never risk such an action on the Spanish coastline.
The English know what we're carrying.
Good, then they won't dare to sink us.
We can't use our cannons either, sir - Half are still unarmed.
- Why? We had to make room in the hold for the passengers.
All right, all right! This is a transport fleet.
Theirs is a war fleet.
Then what do we do, surrender? Surrender the four ships and give them the gold? - Out of the question.
- We have to do something Gentlemen, please! There are more than one thousand souls who depend on us.
Men, but also women and children.
Treason! Treason! What's happening? The English fired without previous warning.
They're trying to scare us.
General, those aren't warning shots! Everyone to your posts! Batteries, open fire! - Fire! - Open fire! Fire! Commander, they're surrounding La Fortuna! Commander, take cover! What are they doing? Stop! For God's sake! Stop! No! At that moment, Diego de Alba watched his whole family vanish before his eyes.
After that terrible blow, the Spanish gave up and the English took the booty.
The attack was so dishonorable that Godoy couldn't keep Spain neutral and we ended up at war with England.
The rest, gentlemen, is history.
In Trafalgar we lost the Empire of the Seas forever.
So, in your opinion, La Fortuna is the ship Frank Wild found.
There's no doubt in my mind.
Look, I've gone to a lot of places to investigate.
I even went to Cartagena, to the Museum of Naval History, and look what I found.
The inventory of La Fortuna, personally signed by the Commander himself.
Well, a photocopy.
Doubloons, escudos, bronze ingots Do you get any of this? And what's that right behind you? Spanish doubloons and escudos from the 18th century.
The quality is very poor.
What photo equipment did you use? Me? My trusty old Reflex.
You didn't take any digital photos? No, no, no No, those get erased by "Big Brother.
" Look.
There's Wild with an ingot.
And there were so many they needed a passenger plane.
My sister saw it, she works at the airport in Gibraltar.
Isn't that right, Pili? Listen, it has to be La Fortuna.
That's why I said this is a State matter.
This pigsty is a State Matter.
Hello.
Look at all this fucking marijuana.
I'm not coming back to clean this dump! And that's why we need to stop the English in their tracks.
Atlantis is an American company.
How are the English involved? The Pioneer has been stopping in Gibraltar for years, they're the ones who gave them the permits.
They're in cahoots, don't you get it? As you can see, my brother is obsessed with England.
And Gibraltar, that's all he talks about.
Because it's Spanish.
Gibraltar is Spanish! Yeah, right, tomorrow.
You should be ashamed to be working for them.
Me? You're the one who sits on your ass all day! What? I live with dignity off my pension, which I got for risking my life for Spain! What? You're nuts.
Your rifle misfired.
I'm a Spanish legionnaire! You can't talk to me like that! - I won't allow it! - Well, I will! Jonas? Hey, what's up Wait, wai, wait, hold on What?! Seven days to identify the wreckage.
But we already have.
The story about La Fortuna fits perfectly, don't you think? You know how many ships have sunk in the Strait? No.
Anyone who feels nostalgic about our "great empire" would love to find La Fortuna, especially a fascist like this guy, but that doesn't mean it's the ship we're looking for.
Why fascist? Alex, please.
"Gibraltar is Spanish!" He was only defending Spain's interests.
You don't have to insult the guy.
What? - Oh, okay.
- What? I can imagine which party you vote for.
Sorry I said fascist, I meant "scatterbrain.
" Lucía, I also can imagine which party you vote for.
- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.
Which? Tomorrow at the meeting with the Navy we'll go over everything he said.
Okay? Okay.
Okay, everybody settle down, please.
Let's try to get along.
Look.
We told the Foreign Office at least 20 times to revoke Atlantis' navigation license.
- Right.
- No, that wasn't so easy.
- Look, I have it right here - And they did nothing.
Atlantis had all their paperwork in order and a contract with the British government.
I want to see that contract, I know the English.
Now you can own up to it, the Andalusian government won't take the fall here.
Take responsibility.
- Hey, this is in English.
- Not right now.
Who cares? We have the Pioneer.
As soon as it leaves Gibraltar, - we grab it and that's that.
- Look, there are things A little late for that.
The Andalusian government will not take the blame! - You already said that.
- Yes, I did.
You already said that.
Good lord As you know, the U.
S.
government isn't paying much attention to us right now.
- Nobody else is either.
- Please! The last time they paid attention to us was when we won the World Cup.
The government How much is this going to cost? Because there isn't a lot of money to throw around right now.
The Treasury Here they go saying there's no money.
Meanwhile, time is running out.
Finally! As you can see, Mr.
Wild focused his activity in this area for months.
And there's a high number of Spanish shipwrecks here.
Excuse me, Captain, but the area I mentioned is on the other side of the Strait.
Correct.
Here.
La Fortuna.
A dream for any treasure hunter like Wild, but there's a problem.
According to our data, the Pioneer was never here.
Are you sure? Because our contact in Algeciras is sure he saw him there.
And where is his navigational data? The man took these notes with the help of a compass.
What is this? I'm afraid this isn't reliable, sir.
What is reliable is the satellite information indicating that Mr.
Wild, like I said, first was I told you.
A scatterbrain.
Hello, everyone.
Finally! Lucía Long time no see.
- I'm, sorry! - That's okay.
This is Jonas Pierce, the world's best expert in Maritime Law.
I'm sorry about the mess.
I made my flight in How do you say it in Spanish? By a hair.
Who is who? - By a hair.
- By a hair.
And I'm sorry I don't speak Spanish.
I hope everyone here understands - English? - Of course.
Oh, fantastic.
Good.
I'll get straight to the point.
Yesterday, as you all know, at twelve noon, Atlantis went to the Atlanta courthouse and registered a claim on the treasure they found in the Strait.
They claim that they don't know the name of the ship, which is a crude maneuver but that gives us seven days to identify that ship and to put foward our claim.
Otherwise that property will be awarded to Mr.
Wild.
So He talks too fast.
What did he say? Lucía Where is the Minister? What I'm trying to say, Mr.
Pierce, is that maybe I should see my equal in the United States, the Secretary of Culture, don't you think? Sir, in my country you can get to meet the head of the FBI, the CIA and even the President himself but you'll never get to meet the Secretary of the Department of Culture.
Why not? Because he doesn't exist.
Sir, what we need to do now is meet with Atlantis - and negotiate.
- Right.
- I didn't quite get that.
- We can't risk it.
It's better to reach an agreement with Atlantis.
An agreement? What kind of an agreement? Agreement about what? An agreement is reasonable, sir.
Did he say reasonable? Mr.
Pierce, let's not kid ourselves If it weren't for Atlantis, that fabulous treasure would still be at the bottom of the sea.
They found it and in exchange for us not suing them, we ask for a percentage.
Where's the problem? I don't believe I'm hearing this.
It's what other governments have done, in the Caribbean, for example.
And frankly, it seems completely fair to me.
I know you are a very important lawyer and that in your country people are used to suing each other all the time, even for tripping in the middle of the street.
But this is Spain.
Of course.
Like we say here "A bird in your hand is better than one hundred flying.
" Look A thief breaks into your house to rob you.
Do you share a percentage of what he is about to steal, or do you call the police? No civilized country would ever negotiate with a man like Frank Wild! You can't negotiate! Lucía, did you tell them what Atlantis does? Nobody here reads my reports.
Tell them.
Basically, his people vacuum the bottom of the sea.
Literally.
Exactly.
They keep the treasure and destroy everything else.
Atlantis cares only about the money! It was all in the report! But here, sir, what we're talking about is more than just money.
We're talking about a country's cultural heritage.
Every sunken ship Every ship is part of your history.
Your soul.
Gentlemen, this It belongs to you.
"Culture is our oil.
" So, Mr.
Pierce, what you recommend is we identify the ship and go to court.
Go to court in the United States, sir.
We'll lose for sure.
Definitely.
Then there's the financial cost Not to mention the political! There are obviously risks involved.
It's that type of battle "All or nothing.
" And if I may say so those are the only battles worth fighting, right? That depends if we win, because if we lose, it's suicide.
- I don't know, I don't see it.
- Me neither.
Okay.
But if we lose they'll crucify me, you know that? You're doing the right thing.
And you two, find out the name of the fucking ship already.
The real name.
No excuses or bullshit.
Remember, you have seven days! Six days.
No, I still have that meeting in London, I'll be back the day after tomorrow.
Yeah, and have them set up a room at the Archive to work in.
At the Atlanta courthouse.
But not until we get the okay from Madrid, all right? All right, bye.
- Jonas.
- Yeah.
What if we don't find the name of the ship in time? Oh, I trust you.
- You'll find it.
- Okay.
You know, you two make Nice couple.
Yes.
Nice couple? A good team! We were up all night gathering everything.
Fuck! Sorry.
This is what you wanted, right? All the documents and ship's logs from the time.
Yes, yes.
If you need anything, I'll be downstairs with the clerks.
Let's go.
Lucía, Spain is the country with the most shipwrecks in the world.
- You don't say? - What did you expect? A little help from the Administration? It's just you and me to check all of this, damn it.
I don't know why I'm surprised.
Always the same Where are you going? - Hello.
- Good morning.
Bego and Julián, from the Cabinet.
They're going to help us out.
And we get a little break from our boss for a few hours.
Sit down, sit down.
I imagine you've played "Battleship.
" - Yes.
- Okay.
This is kind of the same thing.
We need to mark in this area every Spanish shipwreck since the beginning of the 18th century.
Then we'll cross them out until we find what we're looking for.
Something like this.
Bronze ingots and silver and gold doubloons.
- What's the calendar for? - To cross off the days we have left.
- I'm more old fashioned.
- You're a dinosaur, Alex.
It had to be saints! Get out of here It was the only one they had at the kiosk.
Besides, praying might not be such a bad idea right now.
You go ahead, I'm an atheist.
He went all the way to Madrid to prepare their strategy! I told you: requesting the In Rem would only bring trouble.
All right, all right, all right What are the chances of them actually identifying the ship? SUSAN In only six days? Zero.
- "Zero.
" It's technically impossible, Tony! - Look, all our bases are covered.
- They could find evidence, something we overlooked.
And they have Jonas Fucking Pierce.
Okay.
- I'm going to make them an offer.
- What? No.
No.
Listen.
Listen.
Okay Boss.
If you wait for the deadline to pass, you won't have to offer them anything.
I know.
But I can't risk everything.
Not this time.
Not with Jonas on the prowl.
Okay, whatever you say.
What? I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking that Jonas won't negotiate no matter what, right? Well, you know him better than anybody, Frank.
Do you really think he'll do it? With you? I doubt it.
Well We'll see.
It's impossible.
Not a single ship matches and we've combed the whole area.
What are we doing wrong? We can't give up.
Come on.
Bego, Julián, there's still time.
What are we? What are we? Civil servants! La Fortuna? - No, no, no - Why say no to me now? You said no to me first.
And that the guy was a scatterbrain.
Okay, okay, he's half nuts and a fascist, but Not again! But La Fortuna is the only ship whose load matches.
Don't you feel like we're wasting time here? Hi, Paco.
Two beers.
Okay.
Then why is there no trace of the Pioneer in that area? You can't manipulate a GPS signal nowadays.
Not even on a cell phone.
That's where I was going.
What if the Navy's data was somehow faked? - The Navy forging data? No - I'm not saying it was them.
Then who? I don't know.
I don't know.
But like I said, I feel like someone in this fucking country is protecting Atlantis.
Yeah.
The conspiracy theory.
- We have to do something.
- Like what? Talk to the Minister.
I'd love to help you, Frank, but our Minister made it very clear: if his experts manage to identify the ship, there will be no negotiation.
His "experts"? Don't make me laugh.
Look: even if they somehow were able to find out something that even I don't know, what is Spain going to do, sue me? Giving everything I do know? Come on.
You know very well that the magnitude of this situation far exceeds the power of one tiny, cocky, little minister.
No, I don't Do I? Joaquín, Spain and Atlantis have had a mutual interest for a very long time.
Trust me This is the best thing for everybody.
And why do I have to be the liaison? Nobody said anything about this to me.
Sorry for the interruption, gentlemen.
Mr.
Ambassador, you have a phone call waiting in the lobby, sir.
It might be them.
No, just talk to him about La Fortuna.
So he lets us follow that lead, redirect the investigation.
- You want me to tell him? - He won't fucking listen to me, I'm the Ministry hippie.
But you look like like an altar boy.
Ugh, it's raining harder now.
I won't make it to the subway.
- Fuck! - Fuck! Is that what you really think of me? What? - Dinosaur, fascist - I didn't say that.
You said altar boy.
You're being unfair, you know.
Look, Alex.
I'm not going to lie to you.
I only see two kinds of people: conservative or progressive.
The eternal clash of power, okay? And the words speak for themselves.
Conservative: you conserve, you maintain, take shelter, stay in the past.
Progressive: you progress, advance, - look to the future - Right.
So I don't look to the future, is that it? People like you are afraid of change.
That's what it really boils down to.
Fear of the future.
Fear of the future? It's okay, man.
That's what people like me are for, to balance it out.
Good lord.
I'll never get a taxi.
I live nearby.
If you want I can find the Cousteau DVDs to watch until the rain stops.
Cousteau? You're right, I'm a dinosaur.
No, it might be cool, but Some other time, okay? Sure.
Sure.
A taxi.
Need a ride? No, thanks.
- See you later.
- Bye.
Lucía! Lucía! I'll talk to the Minister.
I'll tell him what we said.
We'll let God decide.
- Really? - Yeah.
Great.
I'll stay with the guys at the museum.
- Okay.
- I might even pray.
- Bye.
- See you tomorrow.
Excuse me, sir! - What? - Your car is waiting.
- No - Yes.
Come with me, please.
- But I don't - Yes, don't worry.
I don't have any car waiting Hey, don't - Please, sir, get in.
- Hey! Please.
It's okay, Alejandro.
It's so you don't get wet.
Let's go, Pablo, please.
Alejandro Ventura, born in Valladolid, 25 years old, number one in your class, finished Diplomatic School in January.
And one month later, diplomatic adviser to the Minister of Culture.
Not bad! What is this? Please, I want out! - Let me out! - Listen carefully.
Your search will lead nowhere.
Do you know why? Because the sunken ship is not Spanish.
If the State files that claim, it will be a laughingstock and we can't let that happen.
- You speak for the State? - That doesn't matter right now.
I'm nobody, I don't exist.
Call me "Z" if you want.
But take what I say very seriously.
You have a big responsibility.
What do you want me to do? I don't make the decisions! Tomorrow the Ministry will receive an offer from Atlantis.
We'd like you to do everything in your power to steer the Minister's decision in the right direction.
This is where you moved recently, right? Alejandro.
You have a brilliant career ahead of you.
It's up to you.
HAVE YOU TALKED TO THE MINISTER? Ventura! - What happened? - Come with me.
Bullshit.
That's what this is, Mazas.
Total bullshit! That's not the way to look at it, sir.
Our ambassador says the offer Why is Joaquín talking to that bastard? He says it's serious.
We could spin it as a victory.
We got Wild to back down.
No, Mazas, I'm not fucking stupid.
20 million dollars is small change to that guy.
Well, sir, I don't know about small change Will you listen to me? - If we don't win - Now it's totally clear that the ship is ours.
Otherwise, why would they want to negotiate? Alejandro.
What's true, sir, is we only have two days left and we still haven't found the ship, so I don't know.
Fuck! What a troupe I put together! With people like you we would have never discovered America.
Do you all think the same? Come on, someone take a stand.
Marisa.
Better to withdraw in time.
I'm sorry but I agree.
Bird in hand, sir.
Bird in hand.
So you all put me up to this and now you're abandoning ship.
You can suck up to that pirate on your own.
I'm not cut out for it.
And you can all go fuck yourselves.
I was coming to get you.
How did it go? - Have you got a cigarette? - You don't smoke.
That's right.
Never mind.
Where are you going? Alex! We're dropping the lawsuit.
We're going to negotiate.
- What? - Lucía, it's the sensible move.
- Sensible? - We can't prove anything.
We'll crash.
They We decided it's suicide.
This is already suicide! Giving up now, before we even got started! Shit, what a bummer.
Lucía Like my father says, "a timely retreat" Please stop talking like your fucking father! You know what my mother used to say? "Lucía, fight for what you believe in.
" "You can't win without risk.
" That's easy for you to say, you have nothing to lose.
- And you do? - Yes.
What have you got to lose, Alex? Lucía Believe it or not, my career might be at stake here.
- You see? - See what? How scared you are.
Of the future.
Goodbye, Alex.
Mr.
Ventura? What are you doing here? I need to see the Minister.
- Do you know what time it is? - Yes, it's urgent.
Very urgent.
Okay, hold on.
I have Mr.
Ventura here.
From the Cabinet Office.
- He needs to see the Minister.
- Tell him it's about the ship.
Alejandro, are you okay? What the fuck is going on? I have something important to tell you, sir.
It's about Atlantis.
What happened? It's private.
Oh, okay.
Let's walk.
Go ahead.
And stop calling me sir.
Come on, kid, spit it out.
I'm sorry, sir.
I should have told you sooner, but I guess that woman managed to intimidate me.
I'm really sorry.
No.
You don't know what it was like to be young in this country in the sixties.
Everything was gray, small, claustrophobic And the best way to escape it all back home was going to the cinema.
There you go, the dictatorship turned a lot of us into movie buffs.
But go figure, all this time has passed and the same people are out there, trying to scare us.
Thank you, Alex.
So those bastards, whoever they are, want us to back off.
To hell with them.
Call Mazas and tell him not to negotiate with Atlantis.
We're going to trial.
We'll announce it today.
Today? But sir, we still have no proof that it's La Fortuna! What if it's the wrong ship? I know, damn it, but we have no choice.
We need to bluff.
Call Jonas Pierce in Washington and green light the lawsuit, but tell him to hurry, I mean right now.
If we lose, well kid, fuck it.
They can fire me.
I'm better off writing.
Good evening.
Thank you all for coming.
I'm here to inform you that at this moment, under instructions from the Ministry of Culture, our legal representative in the United States, Mr.
Jonas Pierce, is at the Atlanta Courthouse filing a lawsuit denouncing archaeological plunder against the company Atlantis Underwater Searching.
In our lawsuit we demand the immediate return of all artifacts, coins or objects that were extracted from the Spanish wreckage La Fortuna, Interesting.
Sunken in 1804 in the waters of the Atlantic.
Our team of qualified experts has obtained the relevant proof of identification which will be presented in court in due time.
Okay You're a fucking stud.
La Fortuna was transporting to Spain an extraordinary load of silver and gold.
We believe it's the largest submarine treasure ever found.
Therefore we are ready to undertake a long and tortuous journey to recover it.
The legal battle will be all or nothing Do you know who that woman is? - Who? - The woman by the door.
Because what's really at stake is nothing less than our dignity as a nation.
As Minister of Culture and a lover of cinema, I assure you that in this movie the pirates cannot, must not, will not win.
- Good morning.
- Good morning, sir.
Can I help you? Yes, I'm here to claim a treasure.
Excuse me? I am here to claim a treasure in the name of the Kingdom of Spain.