Inside the Mind of a Psychopath

An exhausted young man Tila rides a bicycle through a crowded, lower‑income neighborhood in Santiago, his fatigue weighing on every push of the pedals. After a long day, he sits down and is arrested by a squad of Investigations Police officers, and the film shifts to his prison cell where dozens of drawings and newspaper clippings about his case line the walls. His defense attorney Rodrigo Soto comes to visit, and over the course of the movie they have long, unflinching conversations. The narrative moves back and forth between his memories and his present confinement, weaving a portrait of a life that spirals from youth into crime and back into a locked room.

The story moves backward to reveal his difficult beginnings: recurrent abuse at the hands of his mother, a schizophrenic woman, and time spent at Chile’s National Service of Minors, where he shone in artistic social programs. After a release, he pursues an artistic path at a university, only to be denied because he never finished high school. [Tila] leaves for Santiago, where he begins breaking into high‑end homes, stealing from residents, and raping the women at gunpoint, often forcing their husbands to witness. He is eventually caught and sent to prison, where he endures abuse from Gendarmerie workers. Freed again, he returns to the same pattern, but he becomes colder and more detached from the consequences of his actions.

In his new phase, he starts dating a high schooler — Tiare Pino — who frequently comes to his home to have sex and to use cocaine paste. At one point she reveals she was pregnant but underwent a clandestine abortion. [Tila] snaps, kills her by smashing her head with a hammer, and then cannibalizes her remains, eating her uterus in a chilling attempt to “find his son.” He later burns what remains in a desolate area.

Now in prison and under constant surveillance, [Tila] awaits a life sentence. Outside the prison, a truck crashes into an electricity pole, plunging the city of Colina into a blackout. He seizes the moment and hangs himself in the dark using the cable of an electric typewriter he had been using to write poetry and press statements throughout the film. The prison workers and his defense attorney react with fury as they discover his body, effectively letting him evade punishment. The film then shows a time lapse of his tomb: flowers and other decorations left by visitors rot away, leaving only a wooden sign proclaiming “No pagó” (He didn’t pay).

In the final sequence, we return to a prison call where a curious journalist — Daniela Ramírez — questions him about whether he enjoys the notoriety the media grants him. [Tila] offers only a faint, knowing smile.

Last Updated: October 03, 2025 at 06:45