The Bar

The Bar is a 2017 thriller film directed, produced and co-written by Álex de la Iglesia. Set in Madrid, it has the ensemble cast typical of this director. It was screened out of competition at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. Plot In a cafe in Madrid; two random people are shot dead by an unknown sniper when they leave the bar. The streets are evacuated, and gradually, the rest of the people still alive in the bar come to realize someone in the group is the reason. It becomes clear that it is a government operation and they are covering up the killings under the guise of a fire. Everyone inside the cafe turns against each other. Eventually, a man emerges from the bathroom in a critically diseased condition. He drops to the floor but as the group gathers around to comfort him, he mutters, "Don't touch me!" before dying. It now becomes clear that the group is being quarantined due to the man's disease. Amparo, the shop owner acknowledges the man's last words before dying and keeps five people from the group at bay who made physical contact with the man, including Elena, Nacho, Trini, Sátur, and Israel believing them to be infected. Two others who believe to have made no physical contact with the man including Andrés and Sergio join Amparo and together force the five other people down in the cellar at gunpoint. Deep down in the cellar, the group talks about random things, until Trini, who is apparently claustrophobic, starts panicking in the small dark cellar. In her panic, she runs up the cellar stairs and slips and falls down on a crate of bottles and breaks several of the bottles. Nacho realizes the liquid from the bottle is not pooling on the cellar floor but instead has seeped down somewhere and when they remove several pieces of cardboard, they uncover the grate leading to the sewer. The grate is removed but the opening to the sewer is very small. So the group covers Israel with olive oil from oil bottles to help him slip through but despite all their attempts, Israel is not able to slip through the sewer opening, and instead he is now stuck there. They then hear several gunshots coming upstairs from the bar and deduce the government has stormed in and shot Amparo, Andrés and Sergio dead. They are scared and try to stay quiet so that no one realizes that they are in the cellar. The government then sets the bar on fire to disinfect it or perhaps hide all the evidence. The group start coughing as smoke begins to fill the cellar.