Now & Later

"A sexually repressed society will resort to violence." Wilhelm Reich

What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay inside.

I didn't know you had another job.

I called these guys. One during the day and another one at night.

Let's go.

Lie down as flat as you can.

And if we got to stop, pull that old tarp and cover yourself and don't move.

I'm going to drop in the place of a friend.

It's at night, but at least you have something to eat.

Why are you doing all of this?

Because you're in trouble.

You know you don't owe me anything.

Don't talk like that.

That's no help.

Angela, this is Bill. I told you about him.

I'm going to go to Roberto's to find a place for him to stay for a couple of days.

I should be back in an hour.

Go have a seat.

I'll bring you something to eat.

I don't have any money.

That's OK.

Most people who come here don't have any money.

Luis said he's trying to get you out of here in the next truck.

That's his idea.

Well, if I understood correctly, you are in some kind of trouble.

Yeah ...

You don't look like someone who gets into trouble.

That's 'cause, in a way, I probably still look like a banker.

I jumped bail.

You don't like it?

I'm not very hungry.

Angela, can I pay tomorrow? - No problem.

Bye. - Adios.

That was Luis who called.

His friend, Roberto, has been arrested.

He asked if you could find a place to stay for tonight,

and he can meet you here tomorrow.

Sure ...

Thanks for the food.

Sure.

Do you have a place to go?

Ola. - How are you?

Very good. How are you? Oh, thank you.

You're welcome.

What did she give you?

A quarter.

Why?

I give her some food every night, and she insists on giving me a quarter.

Out of dignity. She will not accept free food.

Even if she can't feed her kids, and she has three jobs.

Three jobs? - Yeah ...

she sells flowers in the evening, as you can see.

She cleans offices at night and during the day she works in a sweatshop ...

with her oldest daughter. -A "sweatshop"?

Yeah... you know ...

the kind where they work twelve hours a day with half an hour break ...

for less than minimum wage.

Her husband left her. She's all alone.

See? Not much dignity there.

Not much luck either. - Do you believe in luck?

I believe more in bad luck.

You?

Yeah... I believe everything in life happens from bad luck...

and will.

Will? You mean like the will of God?

No ... No.

I mean your own will. I stopped believing in God a long time ago.

Really?

Yeah. Too many people who died in His name.

It's here.

Welcome to my living scrapbook.

It's safe.

We're on the roof, so it's a little hot.

That door goes out.

And when one person needs privacy, the other one can go outside.

Listen... I don't have to stay here.

Of course you don't.

Don't worry. I'm used to having people here.

The other good thing about being on the roof, is that from up there you can see the world.

Come out. I'll show you.

What's that?

That is ...

The "L" of "Life."

See?

I also have the "H".

There's no "H" in "Life".

So, it must be the "H" of "Hell".

I take it, you don't believe in Hell either?

Oh, yeah. I believe in Hell. I believe in Hell on Earth.

I see it every day.

It was the old sign from the hotel.

I dragged it in at the beginning.

It still worked. It was my only source of light. I got used to it.

From up here you can hear all the life of the city...

and you can see all layers of society.

on that side only poor people.

Dealers, prostitutes ...

below us is a transient hotel ...

for those who don't have anything anymore but still need to find a way to survive

over here we have middle class people ...

in their condo apartments.

I recommend watching the couple in this apartment, who have sex every night at their window.

And over here, we have the financial district.

with its luxurious hotels and some of the most powerful banks in the world.

I used to work over there.

So, what went wrong for the banker?

Ambition... need for power...

Really?

That's it? - Pretty much.

I made a big hole in the bank.

And? What happened?

And from that point everything collapsed.

Lawsuits, bankruptcy. Mine. Not the bank's of course.

I lost my house; my family rejected me; my wife divorced me.

Everybody deserted me.

That's funny.

Where I come from, the son is in trouble, everybody comes to help.

It's from Peru. A friend of mine brought it back.

Go ahead. It will help you dream at night.

I don't dream anymore. - You do.

You just don't want to remember them.

Maybe.

They always think I should leave this place, but...

I've been here for years without any problems.

I guess you're not really interested in possessions, are you?

If possessions were important in life, rich people would be happy.

You can sleep in the bed with me, if you want.

Don't worry, you don't have to have sex with me.

If you prefer, I have a sleeping bag. I could set it up for you over there.

That would be fine... thank you.

OK... enjoy.

Since it's very hot and there're no walls, ...

if nudity bothers you, you can go outside while I undress.

Or you can stay. It doesn't bother me.

Really? - Really.

Well, I'll just turn towards the wall.

OK. Good night.

Try to remember your dreams.

Oh my ...

Hi.

How are you?

Hey ...

How come you didn't run away?

I guess I needed a chance to be alone.

Away from it all...

solitude for a lonely man.

Beer and burrito for a lonely man?

Sounds great.

You were right, it's...

very, very interesting to watch people from up here.

Did you notice how frantic they all are?

They all run around honking at each other.

as if the few minutes they gain would change anything in their life.

I guess that's kind of the way I've been living - always running.

Running for more.

You American people live in the future.

The future? - What did you do with the first money you earned?...

first big chunk you got?

Bought a house, new car.

Invested the rest in stock.

To make more money later.

And what would you have done with more money?

Bought a bigger house, more stock, probably.

See?

You continue to kill yourself for later, for the future.

Rather than enjoying what you had at the time, you risked everything for the future.

I guess you could look at it that way.

Since we're born without that ...

if God put us here it was because He had a purpose for us...

a destiny that we were supposed to figure out.

Can you see how crazy it is to think that we have a purpose in life?

Well, you don't think your life has a purpose?

No. I don't.

We are here by chance, by accident.

Your father met your mother, fucked her, and you were born.

And you can think of two million good reasons for you father to have met another girl,

and then you wouldn't even be here.

But, who am I to talk?

We need some music here.

I should go meet Luis.

Luis says the next truck doesn't leave for two or three days.

Cops are still looking for you.

You know Luis was my driver?

Yeah ...

Luis is a great guy. Do you know anything about him?

Luis was a farmer ... in Honduras.

He and his wife had a couple of fields of coffee.

They were able to live from it, you know. Not well, but they lived,

until small growers weren't needed any more.

And, little by little, they were not able to survive.

So he had to sell the farm, but his wife didn't want him to.

They moved to Tegucigalpa to find jobs,

and then his wife got sick.

He could not afford any doctors or medicine, so

she died.

That is when he came here.

Can you see the irony?

Immigrant driver gets his banker boss out of trouble.

Look, I don't need him to get me out of trouble, OK.

I'm done.