HEROIC LOSERS (La Odisea de Los Giles). Starring: Ricardo Darin, Luciano Cazaux, Andres Parra, Veronica Llinas, and Luis Brandoni. Also, Chino Darin. Directed by Sebastian Borensztein. Rated M (Coarse language). 116 min.
The comedy-drama is based on the novel, “The Night of the Heroic Losers” by Eduardo Sacheri, published in 2016. The film features a talented ensemble cast, and was Argentina’s official submission for “Best International Feature Film” at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. The movie won a Goya Award for Best Latin American Film in 2020.
In the film, retired soccer star Fermin Perlassi (Ricardo Darin) runs a service station in the provincial town of Villa Alsina, just out of Buenos Aries. It is depressed times for all. Fermin, his wife, Lidia (Llinas), and close friend, Antonio Fontana (Brandoni), talk their fellow townspeople into establishing an agricultural cooperative to provide funds to convert an abandoned grain silo into a much-needed storage facility. Such action is intended to avoid the vagaries of market pricing, and Fermin dreams of giving his struggling hometown the prosperity he feels it deserves.
A corrupt bank manager, Alvarado (Cazaux), and an unscrupulous lawyer, Fortunato (“Lucky”) Manzi (Parra) sweet-talk Fermin and his group into placing their money in a safe deposit box in a neighbouring town bank – ostensibly, to keep their money safe. As soon as the group’s money gets deposited, however, Fermin is talked into transferring all of it into a special savings account. The country’s economy collapses, and all savings account funds are frozen, but just before the national lockdown, the group’s savings are withdrawn by Manzi and Alvarado, who have prior knowledge of what is about to happen. The last-minute transfer ensures them that the money will come under their personal control. Some time after the government takes action, Manzi buries the stolen money in a secret, underground vault. Made aware of what has occurred, the townspeople are outraged, and meet to take back what is rightfully theirs.
Much of the film deals with the robbery plans of the townspeople, where everything goes wrong in bumbling fashion. The actual robbery is chaotic. Eventually, Manzi emerges as the chief villain of the piece, and when the group breaks into his vault, it contains millions of dollars which Manzi has embezzled from others as well. After betrayal within Fermin’s own group by one of their own, the film ends wittily with Manzi getting what he deserves. The movie carries the strong message that the underclass needs special defences against the criminal behaviour of wealthy elites.
The film is derivative of Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and borrows from How to Steal a Million (1966), and largely entertains by depicting robbery capers. It is hard not to empathise with the townspeople “done in” by Alvarado and Fortunato Manzi, and this is a warm-hearted movie that is difficult to dislike. The narrative plot holds surprises, and everyone in Fermin’s group lives up to the film’s description of them as a group of “heroic losers”. Suspense builds as the film develops pace. The film combines a sombre tone with comic twists, and conveys its charm gently by offering its social commentary with a light touch. The acting is uniformly good, especially Ricardo Darin as Fermin, who believes unreservedly in taking from the greedy to help the needy. And the cinematography of the film is clever in the way it uses vivid colours and facial close-ups.
This is a film with a formulaic plot-line that is developed in “Robin Hood” style. There is a George Clooney touch to Ricardo Darin in the movie’s escapist appeal to the downtrodden, and the film entertainingly explores the kind of corruption that can accompany institutional failures and class division. It firmly lines up with the “underdog” in hard times, but does so in an easy-going way.
Palace Films
Released 10 June 2021
Peter W Sheehan is an Associate of Jesuit Media