L’ODISEA DE LOS GILES/ HEROIC LOSERS

Argentina, 2019, 116 minutes, Colour.

Ricardo Darin, Luis Brandoni, Veronica Llinas, Chino Darin, Daniel Araoz, Andres Parra.

Directed by Sebastian Borensztein.

Heroic losers seems a fair title for a film about a group of Argentinians who are swindled and robbed and fight to get their money back. But, it is the Argentinian title which is intriguing, the idea of an Odyssey, wandering towards a goal to be recovered – but then the question of los giles might mean. The Wikipedia answer: "Giles" is the plural of "gil". And "gil" is quite a word used in Argentina and Uruguay. It translates "simple person, naive, silly, over-confident”. And, in fact, the voice-over explains that this description covers those involved in this recovery exploit. It is repeated at the end, but that is after we have seen what the heroic losers have achieved.

This is a film about the working class in Argentina, memories of the dictatorship of the generals, the Falklands war, the need for Argentina to get on its feet again – only to have the financial collapse of 2001, the very months in which this film opens.

Service station owner, Fermin Pelassi (played by Argentina’s pre-eminent actor, Ricardo Darin) and his wife, Lydia, decide that they want to start a cooperative, using silos that have been abandoned for some time. The first part of the film introduces quite a range of characters, Ferman and Lydia’s approach to them, she being extremely forthright (and audiences will regret that she vanishes from the film in its middle, but, thankfully, being seen again in some happy flashbacks).

This gives the screenplay the opportunity to present a group of “fools”, several of whom are not the sharpest tools in the kit. But, they all have some money put by, the manager of the local railway station (where trains no longer stop), the shrewd repair shop owner (a self-proclaimed anarchist arguing against the station manager who is convinced Peronist), a squatter with an ever-increasing family who believes in action up front, two happy but dim-witted brothers, a mother who is a wily financier, continually criticising her son but wanting him to join the group.

Not without quite some effort, they get the money! And then, disaster for Argentina and its finances – and, worse, the smooth bank manager persuades Ferman not just to keep the cash in safety deposit box but to invest it in the bank. Instead, he steals it, building a huge underground vault out on a farm, metal, alarms installed, safe-proof.

The second part shows the enterprise for getting the money back – some comic touches,a great deal of naive activity, Ferman planting his son, Roderigo (played by Ricardo Darin’s son, Chino) who has had to stop is university studies, pretending to care for plants but keeping surveillance on the crook, but, fairly lightly, the beginnings of a romance with the secretary in his office.

Naturally, we, the audience, are getting more and more on side, certainly wanting to get the money back, certainly loathing the crooked banker, checking out the details of security on his safe, watching the elaborate plan to get the banker to switch off his alarm battery (learning a technique from Peter O’Toole, seen in the 1966 caper, How to Steal a Million!) By continually setting off the alarm until he acts, frustrated.

And then, of course, there is the big scene, the raid on the vault – and, will they succeed! No surprise, but, by the end, we are all happily complicit and everyone deserves a happy ending.

1. The title? The implications of the original title? The comment on the protagonists as “simple”, “fools”?
2. The Argentinian setting, the provincial town, hard times, service stations, repair shops, businesses, the abandoned silos, the banks? The aftermath of the difficulties of the 1980s, dictatorship, Falklands war? The film as set at the time of the financial collapse in 2001?
3. Ferman and Lydia, their age, experience, the service station? Roderigo away at studies? The plan for the cooperative? The initial explanation to Antonio? Persuaded? His anarchist and Bukanin background? The approach to the various contributors, Rolo and the railway station, no train stopping but his working there? The two brothers, simple-minded? Medina, squatting, his extended family, increasing, the money granted and his spending it? The visit to Carmen? Finance, her disappointment with her son? The visit to the Turk, clashes? Everybody contributing? The building up of the finance? The two brothers and their mobile phones, no one to ring, ringing each other at the end?
4. The visit to the owner, the discussions about Ferman and his reputation as a footballer, his statue in the town? Getting a discount?
5. Going to the bank, the discussions with Manzi, smooth talking, persuading Ferman to move from the safe deposit box to investing in the bank?
6. The financial crisis, people losing their money, the run on the banks? Ferman, blaming himself? The Turk and his hostility, Lydia with the gun? The others accepting the situation and supporting Ferman?
7. The disaster of the car crash, Lydia’s death?
8. The bank employee, his giving the information about Manzi and his colleague, their taking the money? The information about the underground vault?
9. Going to scout the location of the vault, finding it, the alarm? Rodrigo returned from college, working with his father, allegedly the horticulturist, surveillance in Manzi’s office, Florencia and their discussions? Manzi and the alarm and phone call, driving to the site? The phone call, the warning, everybody of the property, Manzi reassured?
10. Roderigo, calling himself Miguel, the discussions with Florencia, his awkwardness with the? Attracted to Florencia, the bouquet, asking her out? Her suspicions, threat to tell Manzi?
11. Ferman and Roderigo going to the makers of the battery (and Rodrigo spying on the account books)? The explanations? The secure vault? Electricity and battery?
12. Furman watching How to Steal a Million, Peter O’ Toole’s technique? Their employing it, with the electricity, on and off, the battery and its going below 50%, Manzi having to hurry so often to the vault site? Exasperated, threatening the manager of the battery, turning it off?
13. Waiting for the storm, dynamite, the plan to cut off the electricity? The lightning, the failure of the plan, the trip, the dynamite, the huge explosion? Blackout? Manzi at the party, his realisation, driving fast? The group, opening the vault, collecting the money, success?
14. Carmen and her son, his taking the money and disappearing, his mother rightly suspicious?
15. Time passing, the establishing of the cooperative, everybody happy?