Elisa Before the End of the World (1997) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Elisa decides to rob the bank after Gómez, a bank employee, visits her family and explains that if her father cannot repay his debt, the bank will take their car, furniture, and even their apartment. The family has already sold their television and a gun to raise money, but it isn't enough. Facing the loss of their home and possessions, Elisa sees the bank robbery as the only way to save her family from complete financial ruin.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, her father tells her that when the world ends, humans might have to eat cockroaches, establishing the desperate, apocalyptic mindset that drives her to extreme action.

• bank robbery
• Elisa
• financial crisis
• desperation
• family

Elisa's father tells her that when the world ends, humanity might have to survive by eating cockroaches. This grim, apocalyptic remark reflects the family's desperate financial situation and the bleak tone of their lives. It symbolises how poverty strips away dignity and forces people to consider unimaginable sacrifices for survival.

• cockroaches
• father
• apocalypse
• survival
• poverty

After Elisa tells Miguel about her father's comment about eating cockroaches when the world ends, the two children begin collecting cockroaches in a plastic box on their rooftop. The cockroach collection becomes a symbol of their attempt to cope with hunger and financial pressure, representing their survival drive and the dark reality of their situation.

• cockroaches
• Elisa
• Miguel
• collection
• survival
• rooftop

After initially considering robbing a store for quick cash, Elisa changes her plan to rob the bank after another visit from Gómez. The bank employee reinforces the immediate threat: if her father cannot pay the debt, the family will lose everything. The bank itself represents the institution causing their suffering, and Elisa decides to strike at the source of their problem.

Foreshadowing: The family's escalating desperation after Gómez's visits directly fuels her decision to target the bank.

• bank robbery
• store robbery
• Gómez
• plan change
• escalation

Paco is a punk kid who sneaks onto Elisa and Miguel's rooftop to steal chickens from a neighbouring building. He becomes their accomplice and provides the gun his brother used for previous robberies. Paco helps plan the bank robbery and waits outside with Miguel on the day of the heist, though he is shot dead trying to enter the bank during the chaos.

Foreshadowing: Paco's experience with his brother's criminal activities and his access to a gun introduce the possibility of violent crime to the children.

• Paco
• gun
• accomplice
• robbery plan
• death

Paco tells Elisa that the gun has no bullets because he couldn't obtain any ammunition. However, Elisa remembers that while the gun was sold, the bullets might still be hidden somewhere in the house. She searches her parents' closet and discovers the bullet stash, making the planned bank robbery actually feasible.

• bullets
• gun
• Elisa
• parents closet
• discovery

An armed group storms the bank exactly as Elisa is queuing inside, catching everyone off guard. This tragic coincidence derails Elisa's own robbery attempt. The timing is purely coincidental, a different criminal group chose the same moment to strike. Elisa is caught in the crossfire and dies inside the bank, while Paco is shot outside trying to enter.

• bank robbery
• armed group
• crossfire
• coincidence
• deaths

Elisa and Paco die during the bank robbery attempt. As Elisa stands in the queue inside the bank, prepared to use the gun, an unrelated armed group storms the building. In the chaos, Paco is shot dead outside the bank by one of the gang members as he tries to enter. Elisa is caught in the crossfire inside and dies. Both children are killed not by their own plan succeeding, but by violent coincidence.

• Elisa
• Paco
• death
• bank robbery
• crossfire

In the final scene, Miguel stands on the rooftop alone, holding a dead cockroach from Elisa's collection. He places it carefully on the fence edge and mourns his two friends. The rooftop, once a place of childhood adventure and desperate planning, now symbolises lost innocence and crushed dreams. The dead cockroach represents Elisa's survival efforts that ended in tragedy, while Miguel's solitary mourning underscores the devastating cost of poverty on children.

Foreshadowing: The rooftop has been central throughout the film as the children's meeting place, making it the fitting location for their collective loss.

• rooftop
• Miguel
• cockroach
• ending
• mourning
• symbolism

Elisa and Paco rob a toy store and steal two pairs of roller skates as a test of nerve before attempting the bank robbery. This practice run shows how far Elisa is willing to go to raise money for her family. The roller skate theft demonstrates her willingness to threaten an adult and commit a crime, proving she has the courage to go through with the more dangerous bank robbery.

Foreshadowing: The toy store robbery serves as practise for the much riskier bank heist, showing Escalation in her criminal plans.

• roller skates
• toy store
• test
• robbery
• nerve

The film does not explicitly show what happens to Elisa's family after her death. The final scene focuses solely on Miguel mourning on the rooftop. However, given the family's desperate financial situation, facing the loss of their car, furniture, and apartment, their troubles likely continue. Elisa's sacrifice ultimately brings them no relief, adding to the tragedy of her death.

• family
• aftermath
• death
• tragedy
• poverty