In 24 Hours with Gaspar, a private investigator, with only 24 hours left to live, races against time to uncover the disappearance of his childhood friend. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
After getting involved in a fight, Gaspar, a private investigator, is brought to an underground doctor and learns that the device that keeps his heart functioning has stopped working.
Unlike others, Gaspar has his heart on the right side of the body. Gaspar needs to fix the device, as now he only has 24 hours left to live.
Gaspar has been investigating the disappearance of his childhood friend, Kirana. Growing up, Gaspar had no parents. He was told that he fell from the sky. He was raised by a man he calls Babaji, a storyteller who has traveled half the earth to tell his tales.
Back when Gaspar was a kid, Babaji used to tell him a story about Shri Krishna, Indra, and a black box that grants wishes.
When Gaspar was asked what he would have wished for, he didn’t say parents, but a friend. As a kid, Gaspar found that friend in the form of Kirana.
However, one day, Gaspar went to the hospital with Babaji for a checkup. When he returned home, his friend was gone, leaving him alone and heartbroken.
In the present, Gaspar has learned that Kirana’s father, Wan Ali, sold his daughter. His informant hands Gaspar an address. It takes him to the house of Wan Ali’s sister-in-law, Bu Tati.
Bu Tati lets Gaspar in on the information she can share about Wan Ali, who married her sister—a relationship Bu Tati didn’t accept; she doesn’t know how her sister could love a man like that.
However, when Bu Tati lost her husband, it was her sister and Wan Ali who gave her a place to stay, as Bu Tati’s husband left her a mountain of debt.
Bu Tati has a son named Yadi, who works at Wan Ali’s jewelry store. Bu Tati doesn’t share a great relationship with her son. She deems him ungrateful for everything she has done for him.
Bu Tati has grown older and tends to forget things. Hence, she is not much of a help to Gaspar when it comes to what happened to Kirana, Wan Ali’s daughter.
Gaspar keeps eyeing Wan Ali’s jewelry store and eventually comes face-to-face with him. He seeks to exact revenge and to do that, he forms a team.
A girl named Agnes Von Kurowsky, who likes to go by the name Afif, is after Gaspar because she wants to learn the detective stuff.
She joins the team under the condition that she gets Gaspar’s bike if he dies in the next 24 hours.
Gaspar also heads to recruit Kik, a childhood friend of Kirana, and her boyfriend, Njet, who dreams of a better life for them.
Kik is not at all happy to see Gaspar, who left her and told her to go out with Njet. She expresses no interest in joining Gaspar in this plan.
Kik and Njet eventually realize that it’s smart to join Gaspar. Njet wants to build something real with Kik, and by stealing from Wan Ali, they may have everything they need.
Gaspar and Agnes also recruit Bu Tati by telling her the truth. Bu Tati’s husband, Bachtiar S. Abdillah, didn’t kill himself or leave Bu Tati with any debts.
Wan Ali killed Bachtiar S. Abdillah after learning that he possessed the black box. Legend has it that this box holds all the knowledge of this earth. Some say it brings great fortune and has the power to hold people’s precious treasures.
Wan Ali stole that box from Bachtiar S. Abdillah, his fortune, and killed him. Then he told Tati a fake story and pretended that he was helping her.
After learning the truth, Bu Tati joins the team. Lastly, Gaspar recruits Bu Tati’s son, Yadi, who works for Wan Ali, after showing him that Wan Ali has been sleeping with his wife.
Gaspar gathers his team, which will be raiding Wan Ali’s jewelry shop. While Gaspar will be getting his revenge, the rest will steal Wan Ali’s fortune.
Ending explained:
The botch and possible deaths
Gaspar and his team put their plan to rob the jewelry shop in motion after seeing Wan Ali in another hideout of his.
However, to their surprise, they find Wan Ali with an entire gang at his shop. Being outnumbered, Gaspar and his team find themselves on the run.
In an unfortunate turn of events, Tati, Yadi, Kik, and Njet drive their car into the waters while running from Wan Ali’s gang.
Killing Wan Ali
After losing a number of his teammates, Gaspar blames himself. Agnes reminds him that he needs to finish what he has started.
With a new plan in motion, Agnes pretends to be Gaspar and gets Wan Ali’s gang to follow her into an underground location where the poor reside.
She instructs the people there to attack Wan Ali’s gang, claiming that these people are the ones who make them poor and suffer. Wan Ali’s gang, outnumbered, is beaten.
Meanwhile, Gaspar targets Wan Ali, who is alone at his shop. Gaspar beats Wan Ali up. However, until his very death, Wan Ali refrains from revealing what happened to Kirana.
Gaspar and Kirana’s fate
Looking for Kirana, Gaspar heads to Wan Ali’s other hideout. He brings along a finger of Wan Ali to open the door that needs Wan Ali’s fingerprint.
There, Gaspar discovers little girls held captive, and their organs are in bottles. In a room, Gaspar comes across the black box.
Inside, he sees what he desires to see: little Kirana sitting in a corner. Gaspar frees all the girls and leaves on a bike. As the day comes to an end, it is hinted that he dies. His death looks like a bike accident as people gather to see who it is.
Tati, Yadi, Kik, and Njet all survived their accident. They return to Wan Ali’s jewelry shop, where Agnes is, and celebrate stealing from Wan Ali.
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