The Mirror (The Twilight Zone)

This is the face of Ramos Clemente, a year ago a beardless, nameless worker of the dirt who plodded behind a mule, furrowing someone else's land. And he looked up at a hot Central American sun and he pledged the impossible. He made a vow that he would lead an avenging army against the tyranny that put the ache in his back and the anguish in his eyes, and now one year later the dream of the impossible has become a fact. In just a moment we will look deep into this mirror and see the aftermath of a rebellion...in the Twilight Zone.

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[edit] Synopsis

A Fidel Castro lookalike, played by Falk, celebrates the victory of the “people’s revolution”, led by himself and his four life-long confidantes. The ambitious Central American farmer faces down the overthrown leader, who warns him that he will soon see his enemies everywhere, including in an ornate mirror on the wall.

When the new leader begins to use methods much like his predecessor, his friends begin to argue with him over the course of the revolution. One by one, he believes he sees each of them try to betray him as he looks in the mirror. One by one, he has them executed, until finally he falls victim to his own paranoia. In the end, he indeed sees that the true enemy in the mirror is himself.

[edit] Closing narration

“

Ramos Clemente, a would-be god in dungarees, strangled by an illusion, that will-o-'the-wisp mirage that dangles from the sky in front of the eyes of all ambitious men, all tyrants--and any resemblance to tyrants living or dead is hardly coincidental, whether it be here or in the Twilight Zone.

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