Elena and Joaquin don’t have an ideal relationship. Elena idolized Joaquin throughout her childhood, but while at college she learned all the horrible things he did during the Spanish Civil War. However, her hate for Joaquin subsides when he opens up to her about why he did what he did. He explains to her that he was a “killer of killers”. He was a psychologist for soldiers who were experiencing PTSD and other mental issues that result from war. Patients that were deemed “incurable” would be killed because they were too violent or too troubled to return to society. Elena compromises and justifies Joaquin killing these men because they themselves were killers. This poses the question, is being the killer of killers better or worse? I believe
