Synopsis
Uruguay, October 2004. Alfredo and Jorge are journalists working in the staff of a small, left‐wing weekly newspaper. Jorge is a newcomer in the profession, while Alfredo – an ex political activist himself – is a little more experienced. Their lives are pretty busy already, considering that they are at the height of a tough electoral campaign which could result in the victory, for the first time in the country’s history, of the left coalition Frente Amplio.
One night they are contacted by a mysterious man named Walter, claiming to be an ex agent of the military secret services. He also says that he has very incendiary information about responsibility of Army Forces’ members in human rights violations during the military dictatorship (1973‐1985); crimes that had not been investigated and remained unpunished under the ‘expiration law’ since the return of democracy in Uruguay. Walter also claims to know details of the so‐called ‘Operación Zanahoria’ (Operation Carrot), by which the military regime unburied the corpses of executed political prisoners, whose final destination remains secrecy.
With a big exclusive on the horizon, Jorge and Alfredo embark on a journey of secrets, simulations, furtive encounters and paranoia, while their mysterious informant postpones over and over again the handing of the promised information. However… every time Alfredo and Jorge are about to give Walter an ultimatum, he surprises them with a new revelation, a compelling evidence or commentary that makes them hesitate, keeping the hope that something will appear, revealing information that had been hidden for over 20 years.
As the electoral campaign grows in intensity and the Election Day gets closer, both reporters find themselves in the middle of a journey that they cannot share with anybody else, not even their families, in order to preserve their integrity. Walter could easily be somebody who really knows how the intelligence services work (in dictatorship times as well as in democracy) or a paranoid convinced of his own statements. In any case, the possibility of accessing the promised documents looks every day more sinuous, patience fades and anxiety grows, affecting both Alfredo and Jorge’s professional and personal lives.
However, if only a part of all this is real, could they forgive themselves for not taking the chance of revealing stories that are deeply painful in the Uruguayan recent history? Even at the brink of turning their lives into a nightmare, Alfredo and Jorge are willing to take the risk.
*Based on a true story; some names and events have been changed.