The Dancer Upstairs is a 2002 Spanish-American crime thriller film produced and directed by John Malkovich (in his directorial debut), and starring Javier Bardem, Juan Diego Botto and Laura Morante.

Struggling to make ends meet on a police salary, Rejas visits his daughter’s ballet teacher, Yolanda, to pay a long-overdue bill.

While working a security detail at a diplomatic reception, Rejas is recognized by lawyer Tristan Calderon, a shadowy figure with ties to narcotics traffickers and the new presidential administration.

Meanwhile, Rejas and his subordinate Sucre discover a series of dead dogs hanging from lampposts, all affixed with placards referencing Maoist ideology and a “President Ezequiel.” Shortly thereafter, the name Ezequiel is invoked during a suicide bombing in the capital.

Fearing that political instability will invite democratic backsliding, the chief of police promotes Rejas to captain and tasks him with investigating Ezequiel within the bounds of judicial process.

Rejas and his team determine that Ezequiel is the nom de guerre of a Maoist terrorist leader responsible for a series of atrocities committed in the country's mountains, which were overlooked due to a breakdown in central authority toward the end of military rule.

Ezequiel wages a terror campaign in the capital, and after two senior officials are assassinated, Calderon, now the president’s chief adviser, imposes martial law.

[4] Tristan Calderon is based on Vladimiro Montesinos, the de facto head of the Peruvian National Intelligence Service, who had also been an attorney for drug dealers.