Years later. Sofía finds Joaquín again, now a graying exile in the office of a newspaper in Turin. It is 1859. He is writing articles supporting Il Risorgimento —the unification of Italy. He has two young sons: Matteo (idealistic, believes in Garibaldi and the Camisas Rojas ) and Carlo (pragmatic, admires Cavour and the cunning of the Realpolitik ).
Sofía watches as Joaquín joins a secret sindicato . She sees the fear in his eyes when the Ley de Chapman (a reference to anti-union laws) sends his friend to a penal colony in Australia. But she also sees his hope when he reads a smuggled pamphlet by Marx and Engels: “¡Proletarios del mundo, uníos!” Libro Historia Del Mundo Contemporaneo 1 Bachillerato
“The ludditas broke the machines,” he whispers. “They said the iron monster was the enemy. But the monster is just iron. The real enemy is the man who owns the monster and calls me ‘free’ because I can choose to starve or work.” Years later
A dusty archive in Salamanca, Spain. Sofía, a 16-year-old student, is desperately trying to finish a group project for her Historia del Mundo Contemporáneo class. Her topic: “The Failure of the Restoration and the Rise of the Masses.” She’s bored by the textbook. Then, she finds a small, unlabeled tin box. He is writing articles supporting Il Risorgimento —the
The scene shifts. It is now 1848. Sofía is on the streets of Paris, not Manchester. Joaquín is older, harder. He has fled England and now fights alongside French republicans. They are building a barricade.