Non Negotiable is a Mexican thriller directed by Juan Taratuto and available to watch on Netflix.
Cast And Characters
- Mauricio Ochmann as Alan Bender: Alan is a hostage negotiator for the police who spend all of his time on his work, leaving no time left for his family.
- Tato Alexander as Victoria: Victoria is a psychiatrist troubled by her husband.
- Gonzalo Vega Jr. as Nico: Nico is Victoria’s trainer.
- Leonardo Ortizgris as Vicente Zambrano: Vicente is a former Special Ops officer whose wife died because of the government’s corruption.
- Enoc Leaño as President Francisco Araiza- Francisco is the present corrupted president of Mexico.
Plot Summary
Alan Bender, the best hostage negotiator, is so committed to his work that he neglects his family and wife. His wife, Victoria, decides to go to a couple’s therapist to work on their issues. But in the middle of the session, Alan gets a call saying that the president of Mexico is kidnapped by someone named Lamb, and he is after some ransom money. While Alan leaves to handle the situation, Lamb takes in two more hostages-Victoria and Nico.
Why Is Victoria Angry with Alan?
Alan, Mexico’s best hostage negotiator, spends little to less time with his family and dedicates all his time to his work. Victoria is irritated with Alan that he does not make time for his family and leaves everything to her. So she decides to go for a session of therapy to sort things out. She blames Alan for not keeping his promise. Alan promised Victoria that he would give up on fieldwork to concentrate on his family more after the birth of their daughter, but he still didn’t give up.
How Was Victoria Kidnapped?
In between a couple of therapy sessions, Victoria confessed that she had slept with her trainer, Nico. After Alan leaves to handle the president’s case, Victoria gets a call from Nico asking her to meet him in Polanco, which is where Lamb has kidnapped and kept the president. Oblivious of everything going on, Victoria goes to meet Nico where Lamb holds a gun to her head and kidnaps her. Nico’s in the room too with his hands tied, and confesses Lamb forced him to call her.
How Was Everyone In The Apartment Evacuated?
One section of the police team was responsible for evacuating the residents of the apartment. The operation of freeing the president is a secret mission and no one, including the media, should know about this because this can create a national emergency and ordinary people could lose trust in police and management. So, they lied about gas leakage and emptied the apartment for the police to carry out their mission.
How Was Lamb Torturing The President? (00:32:21-00:34:00)
Lamb is angry with the president, his corruption and wants to teach him a lesson. He attached the president with a shocking device and played videos of him making promises during the campaign and kept on shocking him with the device for every promise he broke. It seems like the president has not been true to his word to the public and has not kept his promise regarding health care, abolition of corruption, favoritism and two hundred of those.
What Is The Lamb After?
Lamb kidnapped the president for ransom money. First, he asked to pay Jesus Hospital 30 million pesos because he wanted to make a change in public health. After all, the politicians failed to keep their promise. Next, he asked them to donate 30 million pesos to Quetzalcoatl Elementary School. Lamb is trying to do what the politicians didn’t. Alan asks Lamb to let Victoria leave to prove that he is cooperating. But he lets go of one hostage and that is the congress woman, which further angers Alan.
Who Is This Lamb And Nico?
The kidnapper, Lamb, is Vincente Zambrano, an ex-sniper of the Special Operations Police Unit. He used to work with Alan. In one of their missions, a drug trafficker hijacked a bus full of people and took them hostage. Zambrano doesn’t wait for orders and shoots the trafficker thinking Alan is in danger, but the entire bus explodes, killing everyone inside it, and Zambrano is fired from his police duties and has to spend a few years in prison. Zambrano always blamed Alan for not helping him. On the other hand, Zambrano’s medical insurance was canceled by the government after he was fired. The government suspended all public hospitals’ financial support for chemotherapy. Zambrano’s wife was a cancer patient, and she died a few years ago in 2021 at the oncology department of Jesus Hospital. Zambrano has a grievance against the government and wants them to pay for their mistakes.
Nico, on the other hand, acts like Victoria’s personal trainer, but in reality, he is Zambrano’s brother-in-law who is also after his sister’s death’s revenge and helped him execute the kidnapping plan.
How Did Alan Help Out Zambrano?
Zambrano asked for a polygraph, which is also a lie detector machine to record every lie told by the president with the help of Nico. Then he lets Nico go, acting like he is one of the hostages. But Alan was suspicious of Nico, he drugged him and found the SD card. The Secretary of Defense orders him to enter the apartment by force and rescue the president. But Alan is not in support of this decision, and decides to enter the apartment by himself unarmed to convince Zambrano to give in to the police, and he will help in exposing the video he took and help in taking down the president. Both of them lied to the president that Zambrano will delete all the evidence if he agrees not to pay any charges against him, but the SD card is with Victoria.
Non Negotiable Ending Explained
Zambrano surrenders to the police. Four months later, the video is leaked and created a stir in the country and became the most-watched video in the country with 370 million views in five days. This video provoked a series of massive protests nationwide, President Francisco is sent to jail and the Congress had to hold elections for an interim president to lead the country. Zambrano is now a global icon inside and outside the jail. While Zambrano calls Alan to help him take down the corruption of the government.
