Santiago, Chile, early September 1973. Captain Jorge Silva, former head of Air Force Intelligence, receives an order that will change his life forever: he is to transform the Air Force Academy, where he currently trains young cadets, into a centre for detention and torture. Convinced that the horror will be short-lived, Silva tries to remain on the sidelines. But the arrival of Colonel Jahn – an old rival returning with unchecked power and unfinished business – forces Silva to confront his deepest convictions. As the military overthrow of Salvador Allende unfolds across the country and trucks begin arriving at the hangar, packed with prisoners, Silva finds himself caught in a moral dilemma.
"My background is closely linked to art school, and many of my references come not only from cinema but from painting and its history. I always imagined the film in an expressionist mode, where the image carries a strong emotional weight. In that sense, black and white – the chiaroscuro, the contrast, the gradation of greys – became a visual metaphor for the moral dilemmas at the centre of the story." (Juan Pablo Sallato)