Upamanyu Biswas
At the end of ‘Colombiana,’ Cataleya’s revenge mission takes her within inches of Don Luis after years of biding her time in training and anticipation. Even though the young woman’s goal is made more complicated with the FBI on her tail, she continues to forge ahead with an unwavering resolve, hell-bent on avenging her parents no matter what. However, when the consequences of her actions begin stacking up against her in unforeseen ways, the protagonist faces inner doubt for the first time in her life, wondering if a life of violence is worth it. Those decisions become even more integral in the final moments when she has to close the dark chapter of her life and figure out if something better awaits in the future. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Colombiana Plot Synopsis
‘Colombiana’ begins in 1992, in the streets of Bogota, Colombia, where Fabio Restrepo, a prominent gang member of drug lord Don Luis Sandoval’s inner circle, decides to leave the organization. After informing the boss of his exit, Fabio hurries home to escape the country with his wife, Alicia, and his daughter, Cataleya. While preparing to leave, Fabio hands over a memory card with information on Sandoval’s illicit business operations to his daughter, telling her that it will be her passport into the US. He also tells her to seek out his brother, Emilio, in Chicago, Illinois. The family’s plans of escape are cut short by Sandoval’s men arriving at their doorstep, led by Marco, his top enforcer. They gun down Fabio’s security guards and kill both him and Alicia.
In the living room, Marco questions Cataleya about the memory card and asks her to hand it over. The young girl refuses by planting a knife in his hand before making her escape. She flees to the US Embassy, where she finds refuge from Marco. She hands an embassy officer the memory card from her father, which allows her to board a plane to North America. After arriving in the US, Cataleya follows her father’s advice and slips past the government official who is meant to keep an eye on her. She travels straight to Chicago, where she tracks down her uncle, Emilio. They have an emotional reunion. The next day, Cataleya asks Emilio to train her to be an assassin. He accepts her request, admitting her into a school as he prepares her for the rigorous journey ahead of her.
Fifteen years later, Cataleya is an accomplished killer who is running around handling assassination contracts brokered by Emilio. She maintains a dual life outside of work, masquerading as a woman named Jennifer with her new boyfriend, Danny, an artist. Meanwhile, in her downtime, she is murdering people associated with Sandoval, leaving a sign of the Cattleya flower on the victims. Emilio advises her against this tactic, fearful that her desire to seek revenge against Sandoval will hurt him and his mother. Cataleya ignores the warning and forges ahead, learning that Sandoval is being kept hidden by the CIA, who are using him as an informer. Meanwhile, a complication arises when a photo of Cataleya taken by Danny is leaked to the police. The authorities immediately identify her as the serial killer.
Colombiana Ending: Who Kills Emilio and Mama? Why?
After her photo finds its way to the police and, through them, the FBI, Cataleya has to make a hasty exit from her apartment before they arrest her for over twenty high-profile murders. Subsequently, she heads over to Emilio’s house, hoping to find help and refuge for a few days. However, she is devastated to discover his and Mama’s dead bodies in the house, both of them slaughtered in cold blood. She finds Emilio’s body tied to a chair, suggesting that he was tortured and interrogated before he was killed. Cataleya breaks down crying after discovering the tragedy, realizing that Emilio’s desperate warning from earlier has come true horrifyingly. She apologizes for her actions, but it is far too late to bring them back. Sandoval retaliated against her killing spree by murdering two of her loved ones.
In the earlier portions of the narrative, the drug lord is shown to be working in close ties with CIA agent Steve Richard, who informed Sandoval that someone was going around killing people with criminal ties to him. Sandoval immediately suspects that the killer has something to do with Cataleya, especially as he remembers how she managed to escape after Marco killed her parents. Subsequently, he tasks Marco with rectifying his error by finding her and stopping her for good. As such, the enforcer tracks down Cataleya’s closest confidante, Emilio, hoping to find out about her through him. Even though the film never shows it explicitly, it was likely Marco who invaded Emilio’s home and killed him and his mother under the direction of Sandoval.
Does Cataleya Kill Marco? How Does She Kill Don Luis?
Although Cataleya is deeply upset by Emilio’s death, she takes no time to grieve his loss, as Don Luis Sandoval is still alive. She tracks down FBI Special Agent James Ross, the lead investigator into her murders, threatening him to find out Sandoval’s whereabouts from the CIA. Fearing that Cataleya might come for his family, Ross meets with CIA agent Steve Richard, pleading with him to give up Sandoval’s address. When he remains obstinate, Cataleya threatens to kill Richard using a sniper rifle, which finally makes him spill the hiding place where Sandoval is located. Catelaya immediately heads for the location, looking to ambush Sandoval before he can prepare his defenses. However, they are already expecting her entrance, with Marco heading the protection detail.
Catelaya takes out most of Sandoval’s men with ease and engages Marco in a hand-to-hand duel inside the villa’s bathroom. Their fight goes back and forth before the protagonist gains the upper hand and executes him. Meanwhile, Sandoval escapes his hiding place inside the villa and heads for one of the cars parked outside. He drives out of the premises and gloats to Catelaya that she failed to kill him and he will hunt her down eventually. However, Catelaya informs him that she was prepared for his escape and left behind two trained dogs inside the vehicle. After hearing her command, the dogs tear apart Sandoval in a vicious fashion while Catelaya hears his final breath with a feeling of satisfaction. Despite losing important people along the way, she successfully avenges her parents.
Does Cataleya Disappear? What Happens to Her Relationship With Danny?
In the aftermath of Don Luis Sandoval’s death, the investigation into Catelaya stalls as the leads into her whereabouts starts drying up. During the final sequence, Ross brings Danny in for questioning, trying to find out what he knew about Catelaya as a person. The artist answers honestly that he knew very little about Catelaya and that he had learned nothing about her backstory in the time they were together. When Ross exits the room, Danny receives a phone call from Catelaya, who calls him from a phone booth outside a bus station. She talks one last time with Danny, telling him her real name. She also leaves the future of their relationship ambiguous, stating that she might reappear in his life someday, using a metaphor about a bird to emphasize the point.
As their phone call nears its end, Ross rushes into the room to have some words with Catelaya. However, he is too late as she boards the bus and disappears into the wind. Meanwhile, back at the station, Ross tells Danny that he is free to go home and that his interrogation is over. This suggests that Ross no longer wants to catch her, believing that she will no longer cause any more trouble moving forward. Ross empathized with her situation and, despite wanting to catch her, understood the rage that drove her to go after Sandoval. However, with the drug lord finally dead, it is unlikely that Catelaya will reemerge as a threat in the future. Additionally, the protagonist has a strict moral compass, something Ross understands as well, meaning no civilians nor innocents are in danger of being hunted down by her.
In some ways, Cataleya’s escape gives Ross respite from going after someone for the law’s sake without crediting the context surrounding her life and actions. Although it may not have been her intention, she actually ended up doing some good by clearing the streets from Sandoval’s influence and exposing the questionable connections forged by the CIA. Her disappearance also typifies the sort of enigmatic force she is as a person. She is an unstoppable predator when hunting down a target but hard to find when not needed.
Read More: Colombiana: Where Was the 2011 Movie Filmed?
