Heroic Losers

A heist film set during Argentina's economic crisis of 2001. A group of neighbours outside Buenos Aires decide to start an agricultural cooperative. They pool everything they have sold and put the money in a bank. The same week the government freezes deposits; people's money is locked in the banks. But theirs was never there: the branch manager and a lawyer had moved it into their own safes. The group knows it cannot go to court. So they make a plan to take the money back. All of them are middle-aged, none is a criminal, and most of the plan proceeds by trial and error. The background is real: the restriction on deposits imposed in 2001 caused a large social collapse in Argentina, and it is a subject the country's cinema returns to often. The source is Eduardo Sacheri's novel. Ricardo Darín and his son Chino Darín appear together and are among the producers. Luis Brandoni is also in the cast. Sebastián Borensztein directed. It won Best Ibero-American Film at the Goya Awards. An enjoyable example for anyone who likes heist films and narratives built on solidarity. For a viewer expecting a tense heist, the register is close to comedy and the film laughs at the crew's amateurishness.