Rex!
Shh, Rex!
MINISTRY OF CULTURE BUILDING A
MINISTRY OF CULTURE BUILDING B
SPAIN
Sorry, that always happens to me.
I'm Alejandro Ventura, I have an appointment with...
ID.
I have a meeting with the Minister's Cabinet Chief.
Can you wait there for a moment?
Sure.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
Do you know how long I'll have to keep waiting?
So you just got out of diplomatic school.
-Yes, I was... -I saw, top of the class...
You'll be consul in no time,
or who knows, maybe ambassador?
Thank you.
Look, Alejandro.
I'll be straight with you. We don't need a "diplo" here.
A what?
A diplomat. But the president's office made us
create the position.
But I took this job
to be the Minister's diplomatic adviser.
Yeah, and I'm the Cabinet Chief and here I'm answering calls.
We haven't recovered yet from the financial crisis.
-Of course. -Look, Alejandro.
What we need here are civil servants.
But real ones,
who fight to promote our culture. Not diplomats in suits.
No offense.
But if you don't like the job,
there's no problem.
Sir, we diplomats are civil servants above all else.
We've sworn to be loyal to our country for life,
for better or worse.
Perfect.
I can see you know your books.
Okay, then. Go out there and prove it.
Bego, I said no more calls.
Who?
Oh, yes, yes.
Yes, yes.
-What? -Then...
when will I see the Minister?
Do you like receiving letters?
Of course.
What about answering them?
"Dear Ambassador..."
No, no, no...
-"Distinguished Ambassador..." -Here are some more.
Alejandro!
To the Minister.
What minister...?
Come on, hurry up!
The Minister wants to see me?
-Me? -Yes.
-Okay... -Go, go, go!
What? And I get stuck holding the bag, as usual?
There's no budget...
Look, there he is.
I understand that English is your second language.
Okay, I need you to translate for the Minister.
-Doesn't he speak English? -Not as well as he'd like.
And this is English with a Korean accent.
-What? -Yes, of course.
Now they dump the Koreans on us.
"Hey, have Culture entertain them..."
I bet not a single other minister will come.
They treat us like crap, damn it.
Minister, this is Ambassador Song Kyung.
Nice to meet you.
...in the name of her government, for the invitation.
Oh, thank you.
Sir, come this way for the official photo, please.
Oh, the photos...
Minister, sir, over here.
Let's see...
-Mazas. -Here, here.
Okay, the photos.
Sir, look over here, please.
Minister, sir, over here!
On your left, please!
Photos and more photos...
She says...
Hey, this kid speaks Korean!
Yes, of course.
Minister...
-Where did that come from? -What?
Studying Korean.
Oh, right. My father was a military attaché in Seoul
and I lived there for four years.
-Shit, you're the diplo! -Yeah, the diplo.
I've always, always admired diplos.
Always. I would have liked to have been one, but I'm not cut out for it.
Many other writers have been great diplomats, you know?
And here I am, Minister of Culture, but they won't let me do anything.
Culture is over. Goodbye!
This country doesn't understand that culture is what matters most.
It's everything!
Lope de Vega, Cervantes, Calderón, Picasso, Dalí...
Velázquez.
Velázquez, damn it! Him!
That's our oil!
The Minister had to go, but I'll give it to him on your behalf.
-Thank you very much. -Thank you.
Of course.
You can count on our ministry for anything.
-Culture is what matters most. -Of course.
It's like...
our oil, right?
A lot of things. Right now I'm handling communications for the Minister.
-Really? -Yeah, we're totally close.
Hey, I gave you my card, right?
This is awesome.
Awesome...
My cell phone...
My cell...
Yes?
-Alejandro Ventura? -Yes, speaking.
I'm calling everyone in the Cabinet
but nobody is answering.
It's two in the morning, ma'am.
Miss. You're the diplomatic adviser, right?
Yes, that's me.
Turn on Euronews, please.
Okay.
-Are you watching? -Hold on a second...
Yes.
Can you tell me what's going on?
The wreckage found by Atlantis could contain a treasure of great value,
judging by the words of its president Frank Wild
at their press conference yesterday afternoon.
I can assure you it's not chump change...
Definitely not chump change.
PIRATES SEARCHING FOR SPANISH TREASURE
Definitely not.
Okay, you'll handle the National Awards in Barcelona,
you'll try to change the Minister's trip to Seville to July...
And you,
Ventura.
-Yes? -If you've had
enough coffee,
because you look pretty thick today...
What was so urgent that you needed to tell us?
All I know is what they told me at National Heritage.
-Wow, Lucía Vallarta. -Yes.
That the ship
the Americans found might be ours. -Yeah, she sent me
three emails this morning and I already told her:
How could it possibly be our ship
if not even the Americans know which it is?
Well,
they don't know, or they won't say.
They didn't offer any navigational data at the press conference.
And she said they've been operating in the Strait
for months now. That's kind of suspicious, right?
For Lucía Vallarta, everything's suspicious.
Enough of this nonsense.
Regina...
Mr. Mazas...
Honestly, I think the Minister should be informed right away.
Sure.
Why don't you inform him,
since you two are "totally close"?
His office is right there.
Go in and tell him. But remember:
tell him about the mystery ship, the treasure...
He's only busy approving the next budget.
You may be the only one he won't tell
to go fuck yourself.
-It's not fair. -I know.
I said no to a job in Brussels to be here. Brussels!
-To be treated like a dog. -Tell me about it.
-It's not fair. -And we're stuck here.
We're civil servants! Hold on...
Yes, what is it?
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Hello?
Is anyone here?
Hello?
Is anyone here?
Looking for something?
Thank God. I thought I'd never find my way out of here.
Yeah, it happens all the time.
People get lost forever and end up starving to death.
Right.
I'm from the Minister's office. I'm looking for Lucía Vallarta.
Fuck me. Finally!
-Fuck...? Excuse me? -I talked to you last night, right?
So what's the office going to do? We can't just say nothing.
No.
No, no. Well, I don't know.
We don't have a clear position yet.
What do you think?
Okay, so they blew you off.
Come upstairs with me, I have to feed him.
Atlantis is one of the biggest treasure hunting companies in the world.
This guy has so much money he can operate
at depths others can only dream about.
Interesting guy. He goes around finding treasure...
Plundering, make no mistake.
What Frank Wild does is stealing.
The guy is a fucking pirate!
He's been after something big for a while now
and I'm afraid this time he found it.
What do you mean?
Two years ago Atlantis requested a permit
to search for an English ship in the Strait. The Surrey.
Okay.
But with their history, the Andalusian government rejected them and so did we.
But then all of a sudden the State Department gives them the permit.
Why?
They messed up, as usual. This is Spain.
Anyway...
We demanded Atlantis keep us informed of their movements, but no.
No navigational data, they wouldn't let our technicians go with them...
We got more and more pissed off, until what had to happen did.
-They found the Surrey. -No, no.
The ship is Spanish, I told you.
Alejandro.
Alex.
You have to get me in to see the Minister.
Your boss is a fucking wall, he always
blows me off. -That's not so easy.
To do that I would need some proof.
-Proof that... -Jonas Pierce.
What?
Who?
The world's best Maritime Law attorney.
He won two important cases for us three years ago.
Before your time.
-Right. -We stayed in touch.
Yeah, I remember him.
And?
He called me last week to tell me that Atlantis
tried to sign his firm as legal counsel.
It's obvious.
What Lucía means is that, if they had signed,
Jonas Pierce wouldn't be allowed to represent us this time.
Conflict of interest.
Which means the ship they found is ours.
We just have to identify it, prove it was Spanish,
take Atlantis to court
and get back what they fucking stole from us!
Sorry.
That's all?
Okay, look.
If this ministry wanted to look into this "discreetly"
where would we start?
Algeciras.
Why Algeciras?
Because Atlantis' boat, the Pioneer, was sailing the Strait.
We should go there and find out
all we can. For example, its routes.
And where do I find investigators?
This isn't the CIA.
Oh, Mazas.
I know the red tape over there
better than anyone. I know exactly where to look.
Excuse me... Lucía.
I'm handling the case
for the Cabinet... -Sure. And?
So maybe I should go with you, right?
Why, in case I get lost?
Take my advice, kid. Mrs. Vallarta here...
Miss.
better not annoy her.
What I mean is, like you said, you know the subject matter.
For me it would be an honor to learn from you.
From your experience.
Thank you.
Excuse me, sir, but several media outlets are asking
for your statement.
My statement?
We've gotten calls from EFE, Europa Press, the TV stations...
What statement are you talking about?
On the wreckage. They want to know if it's Spanish, our position...
Our position? How should I know? Who spilled the beans?
Goddamn...!
Here we go with the leaks again, Mazas!
The media smells a story and they won't stop.
This is going to snowball.
We have to tell them something. Don't we? Now.
Mazas!
Okay, shit, sir, yes!
The investigation committee
will consist of representatives, obviously, from the Ministry of Culture,
the Foreign Office,
the Treasury, the Andalusian government,
the Navy,
the Civil Guard...
and all of our institutions, of course.
The Administration will either do nothing or goof up.
Like setting up that committee.
This country is fucking unbelievable.
What made you pick this line of work?
-National Heritage? -Yeah.
I mean, it must be frustrating feeling like nobody appreciates what you do.
Long story. I'll tell you some other time.
Okay.
What about you?
No, no, wait.
Let me guess.
You became a diplomat to travel the world,
meet important people and do important things.
To serve my country.
But so far you've only seen the four walls of your office.
I don't have an office.
You were inspired by Salgari's novels, Tintin comics
and you're crazy about opera.
How do you know all that?
Just by looking at you.
-What do you mean? -No, I'm kidding.
Your Facebook account.
You've been snooping around there?
I need to know who I'm working with, especially if it's a guy.
Well, you forgot one thing.
What really inspired me as a kid were the Jacques Cousteau documentaries.
Remember them?
Sure I do, my parents used to watch them.
The crew, with those red hats,
crossing the ocean...
What expeditions!
But you're only 25 years old, how did you get to see them?
I saw reruns.
-You blow me away. -Why?
Cousteau is from my day, kid.
Your day? How old are you?
-Don't ask. -Why not?
Because I'm quite a bit older than you, kid.
Really? I thought you were my age, maybe even younger.
Younger? What are you talking about? Are you pulling my leg?
Not at all. You have this energy, like...
Like what? Let's hear this bullshit.
Hey, I'm being serious.
Alex, spare me your diplomacy. Knock it off.
Okay.
Like I said, the Pioneer always left port from Gibraltar.
They granted the permit, not us.
Yeah, but what I don't understand
is why you didn't monitor their routes in Spanish waters.
My department has been warning you about this for years.
Look, Mrs...
Miss.
I only take orders from upstairs.
And they asked you to intervene.
No. We asked to intervene. Us!
But someone always stops us with some red tape.
A signature, a permit...
Get it?
Look, I'm...
I'm sick of you people passing the buck!
Meanwhile Atlantis is laughing at us,
plundering our heritage right under our fucking noses!
-Okay, take it easy... -Hell, no!
I won't fucking take it easy!
This is a disgrace.
Don't get so upset, we almost ended up in the brig.
Are you one of those people who get scared when they see a uniform?
I think he was straightforward. It was typical red tape, even you said so.
No, Alex. There's more to this.
Somebody is protecting Atlantis, and for a while now.
A conspiracy?
Excuse me!
Talk to Horacio Valverde.
Who?
A legionnaire who lives here.
He'll make your head spin, but do it.
Thank you!
Horacio... Valverde.
Who is it?
We'd like to talk to Horacio Valverde. We're from Maritime Heritage.
Hello?
Come in, come in.
He doesn't do anything. Shut up, Rex!
Come in, come in.
Lucía Vallarta.
Alejandro Ventura.
Pleasure.
Shut up, Rex!
Come in.
But... you're civilians.
I asked to speak to the Army. This is a State matter.
-No, like I said... -Oh, you're from Intelligence.
But you're not...
And sir, you look too young.
Are you an intern?
How could they send an intern? This is a State matter, damn it!
Sir, the Civil Guard Command said you could help us.
-They did? -Yes.
I've been in there a dozen times to file complaints and not a chance!
Rex, will you shut up? Proof, they say.
Proof. What more proof do they want?
Come here.
I have photos of everything. There.
I suspected them ever since I saw them lurking in the Strait.
Listen.
Godoy orders the Navy Minister to prepare four warships, okay?
Wait. Manuel de Godoy?
Of course. Charles IV's favorite, damn it.
Who did you say you were again?
SOMEWHERE IN THE USA
Godoy sensed war was coming... War with England, right?
So in 1804 he ordered
a mission to gather all the riches available in America.
Do you know what that means,
what those four ships were bringing to Spain?
Of course I do.
Two million silver and gold coins.
Silver and gold brought from all over America.
I did the math.
Here it is.
In the ship alone that sank there would be, in today's numbers, the equivalent
of 500 million dollars.
Commander, the cargo is loaded.
Officer, prepare to set sail.
500 million?
-But that would be... -That is...
the biggest underwater treasure of all time.
And now it's theirs.