Off Course (Perdiendo el norte)

My name is Hugo.

I'm 27, with a degree in Business Management,

another in Marketing.

And a Master's in Business Administration.

Braulio has a degree in Chemical Sciences

and a Master in Cellular and Molecular Biology.

We belong to the best prepared generation in history,

the one that was to make Spain a champion in world economy,

that was to live better than their parents

but ended up like their grandparents,

emigrating and picking up the leftovers in Europe.

Now we're called “the lost generation...

But I know where I am.

Working ten hours a day in a Turkish restaurant in Berlin,

leaving at night stinking of falafel and wondering

how the hell we ended up like this?

UNEMPLOYMENT

TAX! VAT!

CUTS!

CORRUPTION

DEBT

EMIGRATION

OFF COURSE

One year earlier...

How do I look for my first day? Everything OK?

Is the tie too daring?

Shit, a thread!

Hugo, stand still!

People get nervous if they don't have a job, not if they do.

I've been going to interviews for two years.

I've heard “We'll call you" so often it's like my surname.

"Hugo Wellcallyou".

My father keeps offering you jobs.

Your father?

He keeps handing me the keys of his car so I can park it.

Darling, try to understand.

For his princess, he thinks every man is a frog.

He's wrong about me, Nadia.

I'm worth more than he thinks.

Why else would a prestigious firm hire me?

Move! Hands where I can see them!

Switch off the shredder!

Four years' investigation depend on this culture.

This is a microscopic step for the scientist,

but a huge... - Braulio!

We're over here.

This is a microscopic step for the scientist,

but a... - Look at the damn thing!

It's stable. Stable!

Suck on that, "Science Review"!

They'll have to publish me!

We did it! We did it!

Sir! We did it!

Get your tuxedo, we're going to Stockholm.

The Nobel is ours!

Look, I did all I could,

but everything's being cut

and research grants are no different.

What?!

Excuse me, what's going on?

I'm the new financial director,

Get out while you still can.

Drop that!

There must be a mistake.

Mr. Guillén hired me on Friday.

Can I speak to him?

It'll be difficult.

That isn't my writing in those ledgers!

Tell that to the judge...

No, no, that's not acceptable.

I demand an explanation!

Were we investigating above our means?

- Calm down, you'll have a fit. - I won't calm down!

You've lost your medical cover.

I'm sorry, guys-

What are you doing?

Are you giving up after all our efforts?

Not sleeping, not eating,

not seeing anyone!

I couldn't even get a girlfriend!

Maybe that wasn't because of the work.

Whatever it was for!

We have to do something.

What if we demonstrate?

Just let it go.

- We could start a petition! - Yeah...

What if we call a Bardem?

Crayfish too?

Isn't that a bit much?

Prospe, if we think middle-class we'll always be middle-class.

And this is a dinner for a financial director.

That's true.

We had to make sacrifices,

but he's firmly installed in the working world!

Out on the fucking street!

- On the street? - What?

What happened, love?

According to the boss, a mix-up.

According to the law

embezzlement and tax evasion.

And no holiday pay...

You poor thing.

I'll pray to St. Isidro the Worker.

He knows about these things.

Mom, there are 5 million people praying in the dole line.

You think God has enough miracles?

- Love... - Let him go.

If we wrap this up, maybe we can return it.

To where? The sea?

Tomorrow, with this, I'll invite

the girls to a “brus...

To a what?

To a “brun che"...

To a “brunch"!

We'll see who's a hick!

We worked like crazy for two years.

And now, overnight, they kick us in the ass!

Lots of big talk, and now there's no money for science.

The only ones investigating in Spain are the judges.

But we're all highly qualified.

This country has invested in us.

Are they so stupid as to dump us?

You tell him.

I'm going to Mercadona. They're looking for shelf stackers.

So long.

All right, leave.

Go on.

That's how we'll fix things!

In Spain, I had no job, no house and no future.

I could either kill myself or emigrate.

But blood makes me queasy, so here I am, in Berlin.

Why did you choose Germany?

For the food and the climate.

No, seriously,

Spain is great, but there are more opportunities here.

Yeah?

The TV, put on...

What? Slow down.

The TV?

Wait, I'll switch it on.

We're a real bargain for the Germans.

They get qualified labor paid for by our taxes.

I'm a specialist in environmental waste management.

You're not going back?

Look,

would you, when a week's wage here is a month's wage in Spain?

I'm not moving from here, even if there's another Holocaust.

Eh?

It was a joke, I've got lots of Jewish friends.

You see that?

It's like he was talking to us.

I'll say! All the jobs are there.

Yes! And they want qualified workers.

Who's more qualified than us?

It's not just work, they're investing in talent.

And it shows. The Germans invented printing,

the jet engine, the aspirin...

What has Spain given to the world?

The mop.

That's why they're running Europe.

Why work for the middle men

if we can do it for the top guys?

In a few years, we'll be encouraging people to come.

You said it, Braulio.

Welcome to the German miracle!

Shit, it's cold!

There's no crisis here

and no global warming either.

We're not here to sunbathe, we're here to work.

That's true.

I'll see where our landlord's place is.

Good day!

Ma'am... Please.

Ca...

Can you...

___l1elP--'

IIlllhEIPenll?

We are Spanish.

Spanish?

Poor thing!

She gave me a hand-out!

What has Merkel been saying about us?

Well, we're here to change their opinion

so they'll stop walking over us.

Fuck!

You son of a bitch!

I am the bitch.

You're Spanish.

Spanish and rude.

She parks her bike in my ass and still hasn't apologized.

Apologize?

You were in the middle of the bike lane!

And they couldn't have made it more obvious for you!

The gears are broken.

Why do guys always screw me around?

HEY, I just got here.

If you aren't happy with Germans

don't take it out on me, OK?

You're a moron!

And you're a fuckwit!