Eye for an Eye 2019

Kike Enric Auquer opens the film on a gritty fishing platform, where a prisoner with his hands bound is dragged and dumped into a large underwater cage. In a parallel thread, a semi-retired drug lord named Padín [Xan Cejudo] sits in prison facing a grueling battery of tests that reveal his mobility is deteriorating due to an unnamed illness. Padín’s release from prison comes not as a celebration but as a grim turn of fate, and he is picked up by his son Toño [Ismael Martínez], who insists he is taking him home. Yet the tense old man seems more burdened by the future than the past, and his first encounter with Kike’s crew makes his stance clear: he has no intention of returning home.

I fucking feel like it.

Back at the center of care, Mario [Luis Tosar], the skilled head nurse at the local assisted living facility, balances dignity with discipline as he guides a stubborn patient through a meal, earning a quiet trust. When Padín arrives to stay, the facility’s routine suddenly becomes a chessboard where old loyalties, debts, and betrayals begin to surface. Ana [María Luisa Mayol] breaks the news that Padín will be living there, and Mario immediately recognizes the notorious name behind the arrival. The old man’s dwindling strength is paired with a growing fragility in his entourage, and a difficult power dynamic forms between Kike’s group and those who care for Padín.

Padín [Xan Cejudo] proves stubborn and wary, pushing back against insults while Mario works with him to maintain a semblance of normalcy. As Mario tends to Padín—shaving, dressing, feeding—the old man’s condition worsens, and the boundary between care and complicity begins to blur. That night, Mario slips away from the nursing home to obtain heroin for Padín, a dangerous practice he performs in secret at the hospital, explaining to the nurse on duty that it’s not something he’d give in ordinary circumstances but that Padín’s pain demands unusual measures. The ritual is intimate and haunting, a reminder of Mario’s own troubled past.

Meanwhile, Toño presses the Chinese contact about a crucial deal and pushes for urgency. He and Kike return to the nursing home to push Padín toward a decision, only to reveal their deception to the other residents, exposing Padín to family members who feel betrayed. The senior’s health declines rapidly, and Mario’s daily routine becomes a lifeline for him as the drug injections—delivered each night between Padín’s toes—continue to shape his body and mind. A medical ultrasound confirms that Julia and Mario’s baby will be a boy, and Mario experiences a jarring flashback to a younger version of himself in a drug den, injecting a stranger in a memory that haunts him.

The web of crime tightens as Toño orchestrates a dangerous ploy. A phone-based operation centered at a packing plant becomes a cover for a drug run, and a separate truck’s delivery is met with violence by Chinese operatives. Police move in on Toño, arresting Kike, while Toño narrowly escapes. Back at the nursing home, staff debate Padín’s deteriorating condition as news of Kike’s arrest hits the airwaves, and Padín injures himself while trying to reach the remote.

As the pressure builds, Toño seeks to force Padín’s compliance by leveraging a legal angle. He visits the nurse–notary alliance, and a notary named Sánchez [César Valdés]—the man who holds Padín’s legal fate in his hands—reveals the terms of Padín’s will. In a tense exchange, the notary presents Mario and Kike with Padín’s final testament: the entire estate will pass to Mario’s firstborn son, a twist that narrows the field of potential heirs and hands Mario unexpected leverage.

Xepas [Daniel Currás] arrives with a camo truck to deliver a brutal reminder: he will compel Padín to return home by forcing Mario to make a choice. He roughs up Mario, warning him that he used to buy “horse” (heroin) from the same bar where Padín did business. Mario’s personal history and his professional facade converge in a moment where he must decide whether to protect Padín or protect his own family. Julia, who has just learned more about Padín’s true identity, returns home to a tense house and an impending sense of danger.

As the story escalates, Mario unveils a devastating truth to Padín: Sergio, Mario’s brother, died of an overdose while dealing for Padín, and Mario has been feeding Padín heroin while withholding his usual medication, even going so far as to give him something lethal to hasten his decline. This confession marks a turning point that exposes the depths of Mario’s moral compromise. Toño’s grip tightens as a hostage situation inside the nursing home spirals out of control, culminating in a deadly struggle that results in the death of Andrés [Xosé Manuel Esperante], a staff member who becomes collateral damage in a bid to force Padín’s insanity declaration.

The tension reaches a fever pitch when Julia goes into labor. As the baby’s arrival nears, Mario confronts Padín in a dangerous game of nerves and power. He contemplates violence to silence Padín for good, but before he can act, a car crash involving a flower truck buys him escape time and he returns to the hospital with the birth imminent. The dramatic confrontation ends with Mario evading the worst of Padín’s fate by injecting him one final time, a choice that seals Padín’s death and paves the way for a grim future.

Padín’s death is followed by the funeral, where Kike is present under heavy guard. The notary shares the will with Mario and Kike, issuing a formal transfer of Padín’s wealth to Mario’s firstborn. The revelation sets a new course for the family, and Xepas—having learned of the plan—heads toward Julia to confront the newborn and his mother. In a fatal moment, he is intercepted by Colombian attackers in the prison yard and killed, removing a major obstacle to Mario’s future.

Back at home, the ultimate tragedy unfolds: Julia dies, leaving the newborn Sergio to be cared for by Mario and the household. The baby, still alive, nurses at his mother’s breast as the film closes on a stark note, with Mario stepping into a role shaped by fear, loyalty, and a hard-won, morally ambiguous success.