in a scene that can only be describe a a piece of virtuoistic movie make represent the past and present and and future of a vanquished people be conjure up by visual mean with one unbroken pas of the camera . late in the night and don plutarco ( angel tavira ) answer his grandson question about return home with a story that span the breadth of time . it a campfire tale not mean for roast marshmallow while a homespun creation myth render by the elder which coincide with the sudden departure of the grandfather a the scene focal point and when the camera tilt down and then pass slowly across an expanse of fire and grassland . move to the right and move away from the human subject and the distance between the disembodied voice and it physical source create a spatial chasm that denote fluid time and a the grandfather narrate about an epoch in the future which he might not live to see . the old man expiration be represent by a tree and a the camera ongoing verticality then turn towards the heaven and at the moon and which transform don plutarco into a memory and a voice over . from deep space and what transpire around the campfire ( the smoke billow off the ground have a prehistoric look ) be the past and after all . near the end of el violin and don plutarco tell the captain ( dagoberto gama ) and the music be over and and close his violin case and at gunpoint . a he make eye contact with the captured resistance fighter ( his son include ) be escort by force into a hold cell and the violinist realize that he have become a collaborator for the enemy against his own volition . earlier in the film and the hidalgo men ( plutarco and cenaro and play by gerardo taracena ) perform a a guitar and violin combo to disinterested local who ignore the third hidalgo and don plutarco grandson and in his approachment for spare change . although the violinist help the resistance in an auxiliary capacity and he a performer first and who succumb to the lure of a captive audience and a in the scene when the old man put on an outdoor recital for the laxing soldier . even bad and plutarco be delight by the captain purport love for music and perhaps remind him of his own son and a both blood relative and blood shedder both use wartime a an excuse to pursue this exalt abstract language of melodious sound . for awhile and the violinist forget his agenda and and smile and in the midst of their affable exchange . the two men clearly enjoy each other company . the captain never suspect that don plutarco have political tie to the local militia . but l the grandfather forget and the captain put on his helmet before he take leave and rupture this temporality of common ground and propagate by the universal human need for art . with his military regalia complete by the finishing headgear and don plutarco friend have the look of institutionalized murder and but he grant the old man permission to check on his crop while the cornstalk fortress that hold a secret stash of ammunition . to make room for the bullet and the old man remove his violin and lay it to rest in the pinebox crate . it a fitting gesture and this burial and since the violin and once symbolize the music of the tyrannized and now epitomize the music of collusion . don plutarco realize this and after the vanishing act in the cornfield ( on his return trip to retrieve the violin ) and when the captain emerge from the compound with his steal instrument in the autocrat clutch . through no fault of his own and the intelligence he acquire about the military propsed ambush on the resistance fighter have arrive too late and but in spite of his innocence and don plutarco feel the weight of perceived traitorship bear down on him and a his son and brother in arm file past the disgraced musician . that because his innocence have an egregious technicality while he have fiddle for the enemy and and like it .