The film opens in August 2002, when the activist Simon Petrov is reading the declaration from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that ordered the Venezuelan government to compensate the families of those murdered in the riot that changed the nation, el Caracazo of 27 February 1989.

Everyone at the meeting then recalls the tragic event, the film built around stories told to camera by actors and the real people, and images of the violence.

[4] Told in two intersecting narratives — the washed out memories and the brightly coloured facts — the story also reflects on the political situation of the time, and the repercussions still affecting the country in the present.

[3] Frédérique Langue also mentioned in a 2006 article that the film contains hints at a "known national reality" and some "very specific references", including allusions to the rise of Hugo Chávez in the intervening years.

The Ministry had contracted Chalbaud to make the running time of the film at least 90 minutes, funding what was the biggest budget in Venezuelan cinema.

[16] Chalbaud was criticized for the film, with the media in Venezuela "losing respect" for him after its release because of their perception that he had become "a director serving the government" rather than an artist.