{"status":"success","siteTitle":"Assisted Lab\nLiving Archive of Assisted Dying","title":"\u2018Transl\u00facido\u2019 by Leonard Zelig","slug":"translucido","url":"https:\/\/assistedlab.ch\/visual\/translucido","body":"

Diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, Rub\u00e9n, an Ecuadorian immigrant living in NYC, decides to forgo palliative treatment. Multiple doctors have confirmed his incurable diagnosis and he wants to die while maintaining his autonomy, before the pain becomes incapacitating. In the film Transl\u00facido<\/em>, we follow Rub\u00e9n\u2019s last day, as he makes amends and says farewell to various friends, in dialogues that are uncannily realistic. Rub\u00e9n (played by Roberto Manrique) is committed to ending his own life by midnight with an overdose of heroin. Three people who visit him throughout the day are also present at the very end: a new neighbour, who works as a nurse and comes by to introduce herself, but ends up exchanging secrets with Rub\u00e9n; an old friend who wants Rub\u00e9n to \u2018fight\u2019 the disease, just as Rub\u00e9n once encouraged him to overcome depression; and a lawyer, Rub\u00e9n\u2019s best friend, who plays games with him during the day and advises the others present at midnight not to touch anything, lest they face legal consequences. Besides these three relations, Rub\u00e9n does a ritual with a healer who advises him to transform the pain, or else he would transmit it. He calls others over Skype, admitting his faults to an ex, and asking a friend in Ecuador to be the godfather to an unborn child (Rub\u00e9n has accepted to be the sperm donor to a friend who wants to be a single mother). Nearing midnight, busy with the preparations for his suicide, he misses a call from his mother. In interviews, the cast has stated that the script was only 8-pages long and all dialogues were improvised. Adding to the realism of the film, we see Rub\u00e9n\u2019s editing a homemade video with scenes from Ecuador, which come from Manrique\u2019s real travels through his home country.<\/p>

Directed by Leonard Zelig, a Venezuelan-born resident of NYC, Transl\u00facido<\/em> was co-produced by Ecuador, Venezuela, and the USA, three countries with different laws regarding assisted dying. In Venezuela, any form of assisted suicide is deemed a crime (2005 Penal Code, Article 412); however, there is a tacit exception for cases of brain death, when the removal of artificial life support systems (sometimes referred to as \u2018orthothanasia\u2019) may be authorized by family members. In the state of New York, USA, where most of the film takes place, euthanasia remains illegal \u2013 which explains the lack of legal assisted dying options for the fictional Rub\u00e9n in the film. In 2025, NY state legislators passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act (A. 136\/S. 138), regulating physician-assisted dying, but the governor is yet to sign that bill into law. Contrastingly, since the film was launched, Ecuador has decriminalized euthanasia following Paula Rold\u00e1n\u2019s successful constitutional appeal (Sentence\u00a0 No. 67-23-IN\/24). Transl\u00facido<\/em> represented Ecuador in the 2018 Goya Awards, being shortlisted for the \u2018Best Ibero-American Film\u2019 category. Initially titled Thin Walls<\/em>, the production started as a collaboration between only Venezuela and the USA; as reported by El Pa\u00eds<\/em>, given the economic crisis in Venezuela, Zelig had little hope of making a profit, so he invited the Ecuadorian star Roberto Manrique to be lead actor \u2013 and the film was allowed to represent Ecuador in international awards once Manrique took on the additional role of co-producer. In an interview with Cineman\u00eda<\/em>, Manrique confesses he disagrees with the character he plays, and that he sees the film, not as an apology for suicide, but as a mandate to live life to its fullest. Nonetheless, in social media, Zelig claims he wanted to reach out to the Derecho a Morir Dignamente<\/em> foundation so they could use the film to promote debate on assisted dying. Moreover, quoting the director, a reviewer for Guayoyo en Letras<\/em> claims Zelig\u2019s intention was to create a film capable of changing legislation. In Ecuador, change did happen; and, even if we cannot attribute it to the film, Transl\u00facido<\/em> forms part of the zeitgeist that led to Rold\u00e1n\u2019s constitutional victory; thus, today, Rub\u00e9n\u2019s character would have the option of pursuing a legal assisted suicide in his birth country.<\/p>","cover":{"ratio":1.3333333333333332593184650249895639717578887939453125,"url":"https:\/\/assistedlab.ch\/media\/pages\/visual\/translucido\/a43006058d-1754170802\/hectonichus-2009-danaus_plexippus_chrysalis-2410x-q90.jpg","caption":"Hectonichus, \u2018Danaus plexippus Chrysalis\u2019, Wikimedia Commons, 2009"},"toggles":[{"title":"Suggested citation","list":[{"text":"\u2018Transl\u00facido\u2019 by Leo Zelig, Assisted Lab\u2019s Living Archive of Assisted Dying, 3 August 2025 ","link":null,"pathname":null}]},{"title":"Reviews","list":[{"text":"Gerardo M\u00e1rquez, \u2018El Transl\u00facido Zelig\u2019, Tr\u00f3picos On Line XXIV(1), 2019","link":"https:\/\/issuu.com\/spdecaracasdifusionymedios\/docs\/tropicos_2019\/s\/10386688","pathname":"issuu.com"},{"text":"Rafael B., \u2018Transl\u00facido un derecho de decidir por nuestra propia cuenta.\u201d Guayoyo en Letras, 2018","link":"https:\/\/guayoyoenletras.net\/2018\/08\/19\/translucido-derecho-decidir-nuestra-cuenta\/","pathname":"guayoyoenletras.net"},{"text":"Silvia Buend\u00eda, \u2018La invitada del d\u00eda: Transl\u00facido\u2019, Diario Extra, 2016","link":"https:\/\/www.extra.ec\/noticia\/opinion\/la-invitada-del-dia:-translucido-850096.html","pathname":"extra.ec"},{"text":"Carlos Jij\u00f3n, \u2018Cr\u00edtica de Transl\u00facido\u2019, Tumblr, 2016","link":"https:\/\/carlosjijonescribe.tumblr.com\/post\/153096082966\/","pathname":"carlosjijonescribe.tumblr.com"}]},{"title":"Media citations","list":[{"text":"\u2018Marisa Rom\u00e1n: Transl\u00facido es mi abrazo en medio de la dificultad\u2019, El Nacional, 2018","link":"https:\/\/www.elnacional.com\/2018\/05\/marisa-roman-translucido-abrazo-medio-dificultad_235977\/","pathname":"elnacional.com"},{"text":"\u2018Roberto Manrique: Transl\u00facido habla de la vida tratando la muerte\u2019, El Universal, 2018","link":"https:\/\/www.eluniversal.com\/entretenimiento\/7580\/roberto-manrique-\u2018traslucido\u2019-habla-vida-tratando-muerte","pathname":"eluniversal.com"},{"text":"\u2018Roberto Manrique: Ser candidatos al Goya con Transl\u00facido es beneficioso para la industria ecuatoriana\u2019, Cineman\u00eda, 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.20minutos.es\/cinemania\/noticias\/roberto-manrique-entrevista-translucido-goya-2017-95817\/","pathname":"20minutos.es"},{"text":"\u2018Presentaci\u00f3n especial de Transl\u00facido, de Leonard Zelig, candidata por Ecuador a los Goya\u2019, Programa Ibermedia, 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.programaibermedia.com\/presentacion-especial-de-translucido-de-leonard-zelig-candidata-por-ecuador-a-los-premios-goya-2\/","pathname":"programaibermedia.com"},{"text":"\u2018Manrique desea que Transl\u00facido sea nominada\u2019, El Tel\u00e9grafo, 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.eltelegrafo.com.ec\/noticias\/tele-mix\/1\/manrique-desea-que-translucido-sea-nominada","pathname":"eltelegrafo.com.ec"},{"text":"\u2018Transl\u00facido mete toda una vida en el \u00faltimo d\u00eda\u2019 El Pa\u00eds, 2017","link":"https:\/\/elpais.com\/cultura\/2017\/10\/06\/actualidad\/1507255925_876929.html","pathname":"elpais.com"},{"text":"\u2018VIDEO | Transl\u00facido: #NoEsperes\u2019, El Est\u00edmulo, 2016","link":"https:\/\/elestimulo.com\/espectaculos\/2016-04-16\/video-translucido-noesperes\/","pathname":"elestimulo.com"}]},{"title":"Interest Group citations","list":[{"text":"\u2018La idea de hacer una pel\u00edcula donde se toca el delicado tema del derecho a morir\u2026\u2019\u201d Thin Walls, Facebook, 2015","link":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thinwallsmovie\/posts\/la-idea-de-hacer-una-pel%C3%ADcula-donde-se-toca-el-delicado-tema-del-derecho-a-morir\/724786500972573\/","pathname":"facebook.com"}]}]}