Heroic Losers (2019) - full transcript

According to the dictionary, "fool"

refers to someone stupid,

or someone naive, or not very bright.

Although we already know that working man,

honest person, people that follow the rules,

end up also being synonyms of fool.

But one day the abuse us fools are used to

turns into a real kick in the balls.

Until you say: "Enough".

And you find yourself doing something you never thought you could.

Heroic losers



The methodic

probably.

It's been abandoned for a long time, over ten years.

But we thought,

why don't we call delluca's son?

And make him an offer. You never know.

You want to build a company

like the one that went bankrupt in this very place?

Please explain to me this brilliant idea, I don't get it.

Wait a moment, this is different, it's going to be a cooperative.

It's giving the local farmers, the small producers,

a chance to store their goods, so they don't have to sell...

Antonio Fontana is an anarquist by nature.

He came to this town in 1984. When alfonsin was president.



He came with his family to manage road constructions.

But the money never came through,

and his wife got tired of alsina, and of Fontana, and left with the kids.

He stayed.

But in the 90's the road work stopped and he set up the tire shop.

"It's the perfect job, it lets you think", he confessed.

I'm still not seeing it, lidia.

We have no idea how to run a grain store facility, or do you?

But we can learn, Antonio.

Did fermin's grandfather know anything about farming when he started?

- But he went bankrupt. - That was 30 years later.

Think about it.

Well organized, this could employ around...

How many did we say?

About 20, 30 people.

30 people, are you sure?

At least, think about it.

Operators, administrative staff...

That's no less than 30.

Holy crap.

And do you think this is the right time to do something like this?

This is the best time.

We couldn't be doing worse, what else could happen?

Argentina August 2001

oh please.

Always talking about iron, man.

What are you talking about?

Of sovereignity!

To get rid of the english, that's what the general bought.

Fermin, you used to be a smart lad, explain it to him.

How can you always argue about the same thing?

Don't you have something else to talk about?

I didn't recognize you there. Don't you think you overdid the color?

Rolo belaunde is the best mechanic in this town.

He's the head of the train station,

even though the train doesn't even stop here anymore.

A man from cérdoba, as loyal as any. Stubbornly single.

And he had more "peronism” in him than the 17th of October.

And? Did you talk with DeLuca?

- I talked with him. - Yeah?

Well, the man was pretty surprised someone wanted to buy the methodical.

But apparently he's willing to talk.

Oh, that's a good start.

But you have to go, you're like gardel to him.

Why me? You guys do nothing all day, you go.

Was I a soccer player?

- Was he a soccer player? - Who cares?

He does.

Small town stuff. Who cares that 30 years ago

I was a professional soccer player in a small Buenos Aires club

and scored a last minute goal against chacarita in their stadium?

Everyone in alsina, apparently.

Outside alsina? No one.

Lidia finally convinced me, like always,

and we went to the capital to see if we could still keep our hopes up

with our dream of the cooperative.

So, I'd have to talk with my sister, but I think we can work something out.

Do you have any idea of how much

all of that could be worth?

I don't have any recent estimates, but...

I don't know.

Considering you're from alsina and all...

I don't know, I think 300 thousand could work.

300 thousand ...

Close to what you were thinking?

- Yes. - Yes, yes.

Um, we'd have to talk it over with our associates, but it could be.

- Right? - Right.

I know you came here to talk business

but, I look at him

and all I see is my childhood idol.

I don't know about that.

Did I tell you my dad had the poster, from El grafico, in his office.

Fermin perlassi, number five.

The Pearl of the crown.

I'd go into his office and see you there in the photo.

Amazing.

You're okay with talking about this?

No, not at all, ask him anything, he loves talking about it.

Oh, okay.

Then I'd like to know about that goal.

Eh, you know...

I hit it hard with the tip of my foot, outside the scoring area, and...

It went in, that's it.

It hit a defender first.

Yeah, it hit a defender and went in.

Perlassi.

Do you forgive me for making you talk about your past as a player?

Can't complain, though.

You told some stories about your golden days

and he lowered the price by 30 thousand dollars.

- What? - What are you doing?

- Nothing. - Is this your surprise?

How many times did you see this movie?

- I wasn't expecting this. - No?

- I wasn't ready for this. - Get ready.

Are you sure?

The most important thing you need to form a cooperative

is hardworking, honest, smart people.

That's why we went to see eladio and José Gomez,

who fit our first two conditions,

kind of.

Hello, boys.

How are you?

What's up?

- How are you? - Good, good.

Okay, perlassi here has an idea.

Yes, but...

I'm going to let Antonio tell it to you, he'll explain it better.

Okay, um ...

You've seen the silos over there, they've been abandoned for ages.

When you were kids, that used to work as a granary.

The idea is to form a cooperative.

And what's a cooperative?

A Coop... it's like a cake.

Oh, and what's it made of?

A cake, a chocolate cake.

That chocolate cake belongs to everyone in the cooperative...

The Gomez brothers worked their whole lives

in the metallurgical company in villagran.

They get things done.

So when the plants closed, they weren't disheartened

and tried their hand at the livestock industry.

But the boys didn't show much restraint

and ended up eating half of their investment.

So?

I think it's a good idea.

The other option is the business we thought of.

Oh, you thought of another business?

And...

What is it?

- A video store. - A video store.

It could work.

But a lot of people have left the town, I wouldn't know what to tell you.

Maybe...

It's not the right time?

Probably not.

Luckily the Gomez brothers agreed that the cooperative

sounded better than a video store

and added the 12 thousands they had left from their severance pay.

The next person we went to was safa the turk.

I had to insist, since Fontana said he rubbed him the wrong way,

but eventually I convinced him.

He loved the idea and ended up giving us 11 thousand.

Ms. llanos opened the safe from her nursery

and gave us all her savings: 2500 dollars.

We went to see "skinny" cacheuta at the haberdashery,

and right there he gave us 3000.

One on top of the other, literally.

During our usual Friday meeting we agreed on how much we'd invest.

Belaunde put down 6000, Fontana 7000, and lidia and me 15000.

Everything was going good...

Too good.

- You do the talking. - Why?

Because you're the only fool who thinks

that "loco" Medina could be a shareholder in anything.

"Loco" Medina has a fortune.

What are you talking about? Medina?

The county gave him a bunch of money to move.

And he didn't move!

Exactly.

Hello, Antonio!

Hey, how are you?

Easy, we have guests.

- Mr. perlassi. - How do you do, Medina. What was that?

Um, dynamite, for fishing.

What do you mean? Fishing?

It's easier, you don't have to sit around with the fishing rod all day.

My friend Fontana over here gets it for me.

But that's dangerous, you could blow the whole place up.

Not at all, Medina, please tell him.

Soldier atanasio Medina, class of '52,

punto negro, San Nicolas, at your orders.

At ease, soldier.

Medina, I'm going to explain to you why we're here.

Imagine...

A chocolate cake.

But this cake belongs to many people.

- He's going to explain. - It's a cooperative.

- Exactly. - A cooperative.

Atanasio Medina lives at the edge of the lake with his whole family.

Since he lives too close to the water, his house gets flooded often

and the firefighters have to come save him.

Since the county was tired of having to evacuate him every time it rained

they offered him a relocation subsidy.

Medina took the money and signed the papers.

But then he changed his mind.

He bought a second-hand car.

He bought mattresses, blankets, clothes and toys for the kids.

And after his shopping spree he was just left with exactly...

2153, put me down for that, please.

What about the rest of the money they gave you?

You know me, Fontana, I don't know how to manage things.

But put me down for that.

Okay.

I'll round it down to two thousand.

No, round it to 2153.

And since we were never going to get all the money we needed

I went to see the biggest businesswoman in town.

Carmen lorgio.

You're the one who knows about business, Carmen. Not us.

I'm offering this to you because we thought

that maybe you'd be interested in taking part.

Plus, a transport company

is the ideal partner for a granary, understand?

Yes.

And how much have you raised thus far?

58 thousand... Almost 59 thousand dollars.

Hello fermin, how are you?

Hernan, how are you?

Rodrigo?

In la plata, in college.

I haven't seen him in ages.

He'll probably be here for Christmas.

What do you need, son?

The mechanic has the car ready for me.

And we have to pay him.

Well, tell santiesteban, he'll handle it.

Why? Tell him to give me the money and I'll take it.

Hernan, please, go talk with santiesteban, go.

Say hi to Rodrigo for me.

Thanks, see you.

I don't want to take up any more of your time,

you must be very occupied.

No, no. You're not taking up my time and...

Honestly, it makes me happy.

Look, I want to talk to you about my son, because he...

Well, the thing is since his father died,

he doesn't have any role models, and I didn't know how to handle it.

He's not doing anything,

he comes and goes,

doesn't see anything through,

except going out,

drinking, getting into as much trouble as possible.

That's why I think it'd be good if...

Well...

For him to be with you, hardworking people,

decent people.

It's going to help him.

What I mean to say is...

Is there a chance for him to do something in all this?

Of course, Carmen.

Count on it.

Okay, I can give you 100 thousand dollars.

No.

Thank you.

We decided that Carmen would keep negotiating with DeLuca

and she managed to settle on 250 thousand dollars.

And since we already had 158,653,

we decided that the best thing to do was put them somewhere safe.

So we went to villagran,

the largest town in the area.

To do what people do

if they want to rest easy that their money is safe.

How are you, lidia?

- Delighted to see you all. - How are you?

- How is everyone? - Hello.

Shall we?

- Thank you. - Wait here? Okay.

- Fermin! - What?

Alvarado called about the credit.

He says you need to go see him today, without fail.

- That's what he said? - Yes.

Your file is perfect.

But nowadays, given the state of the country,

the bank is looking for other things

when it comes to deciding whether or not to give out a loan.

Do you follow?

And your account

does not have the volume

to be granted the amount you're asking for.

But I thought of a solution.

Let's say that instead of having your money in a safe deposit box,

you had it in your bank account,

the central bank would see

that fermin perlassi

is asking for 100 thousand, but has in his account...

A, 158.653 dollars.

150... perfect.

You see, that makes a difference.

Because you're asking for 60 percent of the money in your account.

So then the credit comes through immediately, I assure you.

I'd have to talk it over with my associates.

It's not all my money, understand?

I understand, I completely understand.

But, today 5 P.M. the central bank

closes the annual balance for credits this year.

And whatever doesn't come in today passes over to march, April,

may, June. Who knows?

Look.

Right now it's 2:50.

If you decide to do the deposit

in half an hour this folder leaves for Buenos Aires.

And I will personally

call the central bank

to tell them to check what you have deposited in your account.

The credit will be approved by Monday.

And Tuesday, or Wednesday,

you will have the money in your account.

I guarantee it.

Knowledge is power.

I don't know who said it but it's true.

The one who knows has the power.

The one who doesn't, after a little hesitation,

listens to the bank manager he's trusted his whole life

and stops being a fool

to automatically turn into a complete moron.

Deposited

A day after

fermin!

The rest of the money in your bank accounts,

or if you have a savings account. Lidia.

How much did he say you could take out per week?

- Lidia. - What?

How much did he say you could take out per week?

250 pesos.

- What's wrong? - Nothing.

- What's wrong, fermin? - No...

Fermin!

Honey, what's wrong!?

Fermin!

No, no, my blood pressure dropped. That's all.

- I'm fine, honey. I'm fine. - Yes?

Fermin, no one is going to think it was your fault.

No?

And who was the idiot

who put all of our money into the account?

Anyone would have done the same, sweetheart.

No one could have imagined this would happen.

I cannot believe it.

God damn it.

I didn't have time to tell anyone.

Everyone must think the money is still in the security deposit box.

I'm going to take care of everyone.

You stay here, relaxed.

How are we going to tell them we can't get the money from the bank?

I already told you.

I'll take care of it.

How are you, turk?

- What can I say? - I know, I know.

We're about to head to the bank

- to see what they can tell us. - What are they going to say?

- They'll say they can't give it to you. - Maybe.

- Maybe. - Turns out I gave the money to you.

- 1 didn't give it to the bank. - I know, okay...

So you can't tell me the same thing.

- Okay, but wait. - Wait for what?

I gave you the money for the cooperative, remember?

Now it turns out you stored it in pesos and can't get it out?

Let me explain what happened.

They told me that if I didn't do what I did...

- I don't want you to explain! - Let me speak, let me speak!

I'm not letting you say anything!

I'm sorry! - You're sorry? Stick your sorry up your ass!

Who the hell are you to talk to me like that?

- I'm the dumb-ass you screwed over! - I didn't screw over anyone!

You screwed me! I'm going to kill you!

Safa!

Hit him and I'll kill you!

Get out of the way, honey.

Listen to me you asshole,

they screwed over an entire country and you come pick a fight with my husband?

We invested all of our savings

so this town wouldn't disappear

and you come here acting like an ass?

Fucking hell. As if you were the only victim here?

What the hell are you thinking, safa?

Leave!

Leave because you don't know how badly I want to shoot someone!

It's over, it's over.

A few days after the famous "corralito",

something completely unexpected happened.

Come here.

- What? - Come on, when you hear it

you'll be shocked.

Come in.

Don't you work at the bank?

- What's he doing here? - Calm down, fermin.

- How do you expect me to calm down? - Fernando is my cousin beba's son.

You see what happens? I told you.

Calm down, kid, our problem isn't with you.

I'll tell you because I don't want to be an accomplice to what happened.

But I don't want to lose my job.

Calm down, no one is going to mention you.

- Come on! Talk! Say something. - Okay.

This was the situation.

Last Friday, you left the bank

when it was closing.

Alvarado, the manager, let manzi in.

Who's manzi?

Manzi...

A lawyer from villagran.

A friend of the mayor.

Keep going, Fernando.

Alvarado set up a credit in pesos for manzi right there and then.

And with that credit in pesos, manzi exchanged it into dollars.

Let's say that instead of having your money in a safe deposit box

you had it in your bank account,

the central bank would see

that fermin perlassi has in his account...

A, 158.653 dollars.

And Tuesday,

Wednesday,

you will have the money in your account.

And he took all of the dollars in the bank.

Bear fermin.

Yours and everyone else's. He took a fortune.

He knew what was coming.

That's why they made you take the dollars from the box

and put them in your account.

- Alvarado. - I'm sorry I haven't called,

it's been crazy, but it's going to be fine.

I just have one question.

- How much did you take? - What?

How much did manzi give you to screw over all of us?

- I don't know what you're talking about. - Look at me.

- Look at my face! - Look at him and answer!

- Tell me you didn't know. - I don't know what you're talking about.

It's not my fault.

And you pretend not to know, asshole?

Aren't you ashamed of yourself?

You screwed all of us! We're working class people!

Come here, asshole!

Son of a bitch!

Die, asshole!

What do you do when you realize that it's not only one,

but a whole army of assholes that ruined your life?

What do you do?

Who defends you?

Who do you talk to?

No one.

Suddenly you realize that they took everything from you.

They kept all your savings

and crushed your dream.

And you feel like it's the worst thing that could have happened to you.

Fermin!

But it wasn't.

Mom...

By the time I left the hospital, the country was devastated.

It was February,

and five presidents had come and gone, crazy as it sounds.

People were plunged into poverty.

Or in the best cases, anguished and hopeless.

Rodrigo dropped out of college and stayed with me.

Neither of us would have been able to get over the heartbreak

hadn't we been together.

Carmen,

who wasn't left as penniless as most of us,

hired the Gomez brothers without a word.

She didn't need them, but she knew they had families and no money.

Belaunde patriotically held on as the head of the phantom train station.

On top of it all, to the Medina's dismay, it wouldn't stop raining that summer.

Fontana continued with his job.

With or without a crisis, people still get flat tires.

He was sure that sooner or later

manzi or alvarado would show up at his tire shop,

and he was ready to give them a warm welcome.

Fontana is like that, he never loses hope.

We have to kill them!

Argentina! Argentina!

Do you accept "patacones"?

Patacones, lecop, quebrachos, federales, we accept anything here.

Ayear later

- two, thank you. - Thank you.

- Kid. - What?

Hey, Antonio.

- Is your dad still holed up in there? - Yeah.

Listen to me, you'll be interested

in what we're here to tell you. Come, listen.

Hello, fermin.

- Hello. - Afternoon.

You look good.

Your friend Fontana has been looking into something.

Since when does he do that?

A good anarchist always has to be two steps ahead of the enemy.

You're not going to believe what we have to tell you.

Okay, turn that off and listen to us.

It turns out that José Gomez's wife, Alicia,

is a nurse at villagran's hospital. You know that?

Okay, good.

It turns out, one day someone checks himself into the hospital,

a man called saldana, I don't know if you remember him.

The hermit who lived behind the chicken farm and drank a lot.

That guy, that guy.

- Yes. - He showed up at the hospital,

fucked up,

the doctors couldn't do anything and the man was dying.

So Alicia was taking care of him, talking to him and what not.

And one day,

she enters the room

and there's a man visiting saldana.

She asks him who he is and he says he's not family.

She tells him that in that case he can't be there,

and tells him to leave.

When this guy leaves,

saldana tells her that he's a man who would give him work.

His name is manzi.

When Alicia heard the name manzi,

as quick as she is, you can imagine

she started asking questions.

And this guy told her that the last job he'd done

was at one of this guy's farms.

A huge farm manzi bought from langara.

The story goes that the guy took him out into the middle of the farm

and onto a little hill full of trees.

He gets him in there and tells him

to dig a hole three by three meters wide and two meters deep.

And when saldana asks him what the room is for

the other guy tells him it's for a mechanical room for the pool filter

for the country house he's going to build.

It's ridiculous, can you imagine?

You can't start with the mechanical room, then the pool and then the house.

You think?

Are you stupid or what?

Don't you realize what's happening?

It's a vault.

He built a vault to hide the money he stole from us.

How do you know where the guy's gonna hide the money?

After the "corralito” he wouldn't put the dollars in the bank.

But maybe a safety deposit box, I don't know.

No way. Everyone's saying that any day now

they're going to open them all.

That's why manzi thought of the vault.

What he didn't think

was that saldana would tell Alicia before kicking the bucket.

And that Alicia would tell José.

And José would tell me.

I would tell this guy.

And now we're telling both of you.

So? What do you think?

That everyone wastes their time differently.

What the hell is wrong with you?

- Come on, please. - Antonio.

When I found out about this I went crazy.

I said, "fuck yeah. Finally a shot in justice's direction".

Look at how we found a way to get this motherfucker back.

But it turns out our friend wants to continue playing victim.

And the truth is he can go to hell.

Because we've done a lot. We've been with him through the grieving process,

as we should be.

But it's been over a year, man.

I'm fed up with it.

- Calm down. - I will not calm down, I've had enough.

I've had enough of him.

God forbid he thinks he's the only one who's lost someone in life.

What if he's right?

What if he has a vault?

You know what I'm thinking?

If it were the other way,

if mom had lived, not you,

and Fontana comes over to tell her everything he just told us.

What do you think she would have said?

Or worse,

what if I'd lost you both and were left alone?

And Fontana comes over to tell me everything.

What do you think I should do now?

Nothing?

The return of the living dead.

Come in.

This is the famous crowbar to bash manzi's head in?

Or alvarado, whoever shows up first.

Alvarado... I've wished him dead more times that I can count.

What's up?

Got a flat tire?

You came to tell me about saldano and...

That maybe manzi made a vault for himself and all that.

Yes. And?

I came to say yes.

Yes what?

That we have to do something.

We were about the same as before.

Safa was missing,

he closed shop and left town convinced that we screwed him over.

And cacheuta, poor man,

the crisis gave him a fatal heart attack.

We told Mrs. llanos not to worry, that'd we'd take care of it.

And lidia, of course.

Lidia was missing.

Gentlemen.

Lady.

Today is a historic day.

Because we're chasing after mikhail bakunin's dream.

The father of anarchism.

This is the individual above the state and the institutions.

The man who takes his destiny into his own hands

which in our case is to take back what belongs to us.

Yes, well...

I think there's no need

to say that

we're about to get ourselves into a problem

much bigger than the one we already have.

So...

If any of you

wants to back down for any reason

or is afraid,

which can happen...

This is the time to say it.

Okay.

So, then...

- Hello? - Hi, honey.

- Hello, honey. - Where are you?

- I'm busy. - At what time will you be home?

- I'll call you later. - Ok, I send you a kiss.

Okay, kisses.

Kisses.

What was that?

A cell phone.

No, I know. Why do you want it?

To talk.

Eladio. You live in a small town

where everything is ten blocks away or less.

Why do you need a phone?

They were cheap.

They?

You have another one?

Yeah, but no one's called me yet.

The other day we got a good deal in villagran.

An exclusive deal for people with their ID

ending on an odd number.

Thank god his is odd.

Mine is even.

And it didn't work.

Boy, half of the world has documentation that ends on an odd number.

And how do you know that, Mr. Fontana?

They're a couple of idiots.

Okay, please, let's get back to the matter at hand.

Yes.

There is a possibility

that this man, manzi,

has a hole, safe, vault,

something like that, in the middle of a field.

If that's true,

it's likely that

all the money is there.

Ours and who knows who else's.

That's why

it's important for us to agree on this right now.

If that's true, and we find it,

we're only going to take what's ours.

Do we all agree?

Excuse me fermin, but if that happens,

we're going to have to act quickly.

We can't stay there counting the money.

- She's right. - Yes, yes.

Well, yes, she's right.

And what do you suggest we do, Carmen?

I say that if it goes well we take everything.

Then, of course, we separate our share

and we can donate the rest to a charitable organization.

Because... it's not his money.

The guy is a criminal.

- Yes. - It's true.

- She's right. - It's true.

You're right Carmen, you're right.

Something else that worries me.

Once we're there...

If the guy shows up what do we do?

We've already got that covered.

Yes?

Yes, I'm from the llanos nursery.

To take care of the plants.

I didn't order anything.

But my boss told me to come here.

No, it's not here.

No, I'm sorry, counselor, I talked with him.

I'm sorry I'm late, had to do some paperwork for my mom.

You deal with it then.

Yes, did you see I left a note for you?

You have a meeting with the mayor today at seven.

Come in.

I'm florencia, Mr. manzi's secretary.

Miguel, pleased to meet you.

You sure there's no charge?

No, no. It's completely free.

The idea is for you to try out the service and if you like it we'll see.

Perfect. Okay.

The plants are these ones, and there's a small garden outside.

Tell me if you need anything.

Thank you.

See what I mean?

The guy made a corral in the middle of a crop field

and put some cows in it.

That's a smokescreen.

It's so that the people that work here

don't go into that hill where he has the money.

- I bet my life on it. - Yes.

Perlassi! We're ready over here.

Keep an eye out.

- Do you have everything? - Yes, yes.

What're you doing, Medina?

So they don't recognize me.

There's no one here.

That's why we came, it's not necessary.

- You never know. - Whatever.

Let's go, let's go.

Guys.

Let's get going.

What are you putting on it?

Fertilizer.

On the leaves? But it goes in the roots.

This is a new product, that's how you apply it.

Build a country house my ass, he thinks we're all morons.

I don't know, in your case it's debatable.

By the way, what could we do with the casuarinas?

Why?

Because the leaves have yellow spots.

Yes.

This is due to overwatering.

But I always forget to water them.

Could also be due to lack of water.

Yes.

It's lack of water in this case.

Aren't you scared?

Of what?

Touching them like that, they're supposed to be really toxic.

No, it's not a big deal.

Holy crap.

We found it.

- I'm going. - Wait.

Let me go in first. In case there's...

- What? - Maybe he put traps.

This is an alert from alarm uk16-ve.

- Did something happen, counselor? - No.

No, an alarm went off.

No.

Everything okay?

Yes, yes.

All good, the only thing is...

I think I forgot my scissors.

I'll go get it, it's in the car.

I'll leave this here for a moment, I'll be right back.

Sure, no problem.

- Hello? - An alarm went off, he's on his way.

- Hello? - An alarm went off, he's on his way.

- Get out of there now! - What?

Son of a bitch.

This is an alert...

He has an alarm, he's on his way!

I can't hear you man, what!?

Alarm!

Alarm!

The boy. He's shouting "alarm"!

- Get out! - Let's go!

- Come on! - Let's go!

Manzi's coming!

- Come on, come on! - God damn it.

Let's go! Let's go!

Let's go, let's go!

Go, go!

Come on, man!

Let's go!

- Come on, José! - Let's go!

Manzi!

Manzi!

Manzi's coming!

- Go through. - Come on, let's get out of here!

Come on, go through.

What? What's wrong? What?

No, no, I can't, I can't.

Relax, relax.

José, the bag!

- The bag! - Go get it!

Relax, lean on me.

Like this, let's go. Hernan!

- Come on, José! - Let's go!

Open it. Careful.

Grab him. Pass your leg.

There you go, other leg.

Guys!

Let's go!

Let's go.

Come on, come on.

- Let's go! - Close it!

How the fuck do we get back?

In about three kilometers it connects with another road.

Parallel to the highway.

- It's in pretty good shape. - Are you sure?

Who was the head of road works in this area, you or me?

- Never mind. - Okay.

Do you want something to drink?

A glass of water?

Some water, sure.

Battery at 100%

power supply

Please, listen to me.

Listen to me, please.

Please, can we talk one at a time so we can hear each other, please.

What florencia?

Okay,

everybody pay attention to me so I don't have to keep repeating myself.

The alarm went off.

Was it loud?

No, Medina. He gets a phone call.

The phone rang and the guy ran off.

So then he didn't call the police.

- Nerd.

What I want to know is how much time passed

between the alarm going off and manzi getting there.

We don't know that, Carmen.

We didn't see him get there, we ran.

But if we prepare,

do we have time to lift the door before manzi gets there?

I don't know, we have no way of knowing.

We don't even know how it was sealed.

The only thing I saw

is a solid steel door

and nothing else, I don't know about you guys.

No, no idea.

I know what we have to do.

Son, let the people who know speak.

No, no, let him speak, Carmen, to be honest, we're all a bit lost.

We have to go through manzi's paperwork.

If he has an alarm it must have a bill.

And if we figure out what we're dealing with

we have the possibility of finding out how to turn it off.

Good idea.

Yes.

Yes.

Can you do it?

See the withered edges there?

There, the edges are kind of withered.

Oh, this one.

Yes.

I'll fix it right away for you.

Yes, I'm leaving now.

Cancel my meeting with quinteros.

Did something happen?

Alvarado died.

From the bank?

What happened?

The chief of police said it was a gas leak.

His wife and him.

Did they have children?

Not that I know of.

It breaks my heart.

It ruins my day.

Poor people.

Did you know him?

Yes. My dad was a client at the bank.

And I went there several times with everything that happened.

The crisis got to you too?

It killed us.

I was going to go study to la plata and had to stay home to help.

That sucks.

Well, luckily I got this job.

I need to go to the bathroom, would you pick up the phone if it rings?

Go, I got it.

Bills

Seoane alarms

Uk16-and

what are you doing to the poinsettia?

You massacred her.

No, it's, um...

Grafting, otherwise this plant is going to die.

I'll take it with me and when I bring it back...

You'll see.

I know some people aren't good with plants...

But this is something else.

Come on, dad. Stop it.

Alvarado just died, it's not because you wished him dead.

But it gets to you.

The guy was an asshole, a son of a bitch. But his wife?

It felt like just a formality to manzi.

Everything means shit to him.

No...

Not everything.

There's something he cares about

a lot.

A lot.

Go, go eat.

Infrared motion sensors.

Pressure sensors.

Mine effect.

And a latency of 120 seconds.

If it's not deactivated

it goes off.

Uk16-and.

Does it go off at the location?

Well, it wouldn't make much sense.

Although if you want it to dissuade intruders

it can go off.

It sends an alert to a phone of your choosing.

What does it run on?

Electricity.

And if the power goes out?

Battery.

For up to 48 hours.

And if the battery

goes below 50 percent

it goes off.

But even then it still has

24 hours of up time

so that your country house is safe.

In any case a power outage isn't going to last two days.

Seems impenetrable.

Doesn't seem like it, it is.

I came to bring you the plant because...

Look at it, it's so nice.

It reminded me of you and I thought I'd bring it.

Oh, you shouldn't have.

Not a problem,

I wanted you to have it, so you'd enjoy it.

How'd you fix it?

You know, with those cuts I did the other time and...

Grafting and all that.

The secret is I put it in my house next to another plant.

And it's kinda magical, it has an energy...

Plants understand each other, they have...

A special...

Connection... can I ask you out?

Huh?

Go out to dinner,

watch a movie, or get some ice cream.

Oh, Miguel.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

No, but I can't, I have a boyfriend.

It's ok, let's go the three of us, I'm not jealous.

Okay, um ...

It's okay, oh.

I'll come by during the week to check up on the girls.

Okay.

Thank you.

Call me if you need anything.

Okay, I need to keep working.

Bye.

- Bye. - See you.

Does anyone have any other idea?

We have to get the alarm code.

The one with the numbers, you know? That one.

With that code we can enter the vault and deactivate the alarm.

- I have an idea. - Go ahead, Medina.

With all due respect, ma'am...

Oh, go ahead, Medina.

Erm, okay... we beat him up.

Why don't we beat him up real good until he gives us the passcode

and we stop messing around with that son of a bitch, god damn it.

Medina, the problem is...

We're peaceful people.

And we want to keep living peacefully here in alsina. Understand?

I was saying we could do it at night, so he can't see us.

No, we got that, Medina.

We got it.

So?

We have to think.

I have to think.

It's psychological warfare.

With that!

His sound.

- What? What is it? - I've got it.

- I've got it. - What?

I have an idea.

How to beat manzi. Come.

They have to steal the statue,

but the security system is really complicated.

And they make it go off again and again, and it's such a pain in the ass

that even the president of France calls to tell them to deactivate it.

And he deactivates it.

But it's just an old movie, are you kidding me?

Forget about the movie.

It's the idea!

Call the guys, tell them to come.

At this hour?

Yes, now.

So then your idea is

to make him deactivate the alarm himself?

No, the battery.

The battery.

We have to get manzi to disconnect the battery.

We have to convince him that the battery is faulty.

So he disconnects it

and leaves the vault only connected to the power line.

So then, when the time comes

that time

we cut the power.

And when the power goes out

the alarm goes off.

Yes.

But we don't just cut the power to the vault.

If it's a general blackout

manzi won't think the power outage is related to the vault.

It's just a general blackout.

He's going to see it.

And how do we know when there's going to be a blackout?

Because we're going to cause it.

He wants to blow up a transformer at the power plant.

You're crazy.

No.

Antonio, think about it.

How many times have we had blackouts because of a storm?

A thousand times.

But that's because a lightning bolt hits a transformer.

But I'm telling you everyone's going to think that's what happened,

including manzi.

But do you plan on leaving the whole town in the dark?

Yes.

You're crazier than bakunin.

Yes.

The first thing we have to do

is to find out

where the electricity that goes to the vault comes from.

And how do we do that?

We have to look at every utility pole, one by one.

Until we find one that has a box

with a cable that goes down.

And goes into the ground.

I honestly...

Forgive me, but I don't understand.

It's not that complicated, mom.

Okay, but please let them explain it to me.

It's like this.

We have to get him

to disconnect the battery.

Which is the only thing we can't do.

For that, we need to make him think

that the alarm works, but the battery doesn't.

That's why we need to cut and restore, cut and restore. Understand?

That's why we need to know where the cable goes.

But, excuse me,

hadn't the Gomez found the pole?

Yes, but we shouldn't cut the wires at the base of the pole.

It's like hernan says.

When we cut the power

manzi is going to check where the cable goes underground.

And if we dig a hole at the base of the pole he'll notice.

- We need to see where that cable goes. - Please, hernan.

I think we need to try to remain calm.

Listen to each other.

It's important, maybe somebody has something to contribute.

Okay?

This is a metal detector.

Like the ones you use in the beach to look for stuff in the sand.

Since the cable is so long,

it has to be thick due to the fall in voltage it'll suffer.

We have to walk from the pole and Mark its path on the map.

Extraordinary.

You should listen to me every once in a while.

Excuse me.

- Hey. - What?

- The signal's stronger here. - Yeah?

Yeah, quite a bit, the cable must be closer.

- Look, look. - And why don't we do it here?

Let's do it here then, why do we need to keep going?

We'll go into manzi's fields.

It's safer here.

You know what bugs me?

What?

That if we pull this off...

This son of a bitch, manzi,

isn't going to know that it's an act of justice.

He's going to think that it's another son of a bitch like him.

And why do you care?

What do you have to prove?

Huh?

A son of a bitch

doesn't feel like a son of a bitch, Antonio.

They don't get up, look themselves in the mirror, and think:

"Look at the piece of shit I am". No, they don't feel any guilt.

That's for fools like us.

- Okay, this is ready. - Okay.

Do I cut it?

Well, yes, I think so.

- Mark the time. - Careful, rolo

said it's the blue one.

- Not the black one. - Yes, yes, I know.

- Let's see. - Mark the time.

- I'm gonna do it, okay? - Ready.

Power line

battery

battery at 100%

battery at 99%

it's transformer number three,

the line that goes from alsina to villagran.

But which one is it?

The one in front of the door, the middle one.

The voltage on these things is crazy high.

You need to be crazy to go in there.

So what do we do then?

We'll think of something.

24 hours later

join them.

Join them, the battery passed its limit.

The alarm should've gone off. Need help?

Nah.

God fucking damn...

He's calling someone.

What do we do?

Let's wait for him to leave, or he could see us.

Roll.

Rolo! Come here.

Look.

He called seoane, from the alarm company.

What a beautiful moment.

- What a moment. - Yeah.

Seeing this son of a bitch full of questions.

The circuit works fine.

You're saying the battery

was half full?

Again, with this?

I already told you, yes.

It said 40-something percent, this time.

Because the first time it went off the battery was full.

I don't know, the power line might've gone out.

No, the power line didn't fucking go out.

The line comes from villagran.

And it didn't go out there.

I don't know what to tell you, everything works fine here.

If you want we can check the cable.

I do, of course I do.

Okay, I'll go up and let you set the alarm.

Anyways what could happen out here in the middle of nowhere?

What did you say?

I mean, I'm just saying it's far away.

And what the fuck do you care if it's in the middle of nowhere?

Why the fuck would you say that it's in the middle of nowhere?

Excuse me”?

Only one person knows about this alarm apart from me.

No, you can't mean that, manzi.

You're going after my money.

No, how could I do that?

It's you, you son of a bitch.

- No! No! - Are you fucking with me, you asshole?

He's going to kill him, man.

Tell me the truth or I'll shoot you, motherfucker!

No! I swear! I didn't do anything.

This is my job, this is...

This is what I do for a living, alarms, security!

- You fucking with me? - No, no, no.

Please relax, I beg of you.

Look, if you want, I'll look at the whole installation for free.

No cost, I'll pay for it, okay?

God fucking damn it!

He's crazy, man.

This guy's crazy.

Forgive me.

I've had some stressful days.

- Forgive me. - Yes, yes.

I assure you the alarms are good.

I've installed more than 100 of those alarms and they work.

If you want we can go to the utility pole.

And we can check the cable.

Okay?

Yes.

Good.

Forgive me.

Forgive me.

No, the box is fine.

The device has a complex circuit.

And here in this area

the electricity isn't very stable.

Maybe with some voltage variance

the battery sensor resets and makes the alarm go off.

I'd have to take the device back to Buenos Aires

for the technicians to take a look at it.

But...

You'd be without an alarm for two weeks.

No, that won't happen.

Well...

The other option is...

To disconnect the battery.

And if the problem is the battery sensor

it won't go off anymore.

Maybe it's a bug?

A machine touched the cable?

No, if that were the case it wouldn't restore itself.

I think it's a problem with the electricity.

Okay.

I'll call again if I need to.

Okay.

He was this close to shooting seoane's head off.

Yeah.

But he was worried

or he wouldn't have called him right there.

Do you think manzi has a flip phone?

What are you talking about?

Of course he does, he's rolling in money.

- Wouldn't you have one? - Of course, they're my favorite.

Guys, guys, this is serious.

This guy is dangerous, he's hardcore.

Well, I'm used to dealing with hardcore men and it doesn't scare me.

What about you, guys?

I'm in.

Let's continue?

- Yes. - Yes.

Okay, so then

we need to get him to disconnect the battery,

and for that, we gotta make him go crazy.

But completely crazy.

Battery at 50%

battery at 49%

Power line battery

battery at 50%

battery at 49%

this is an alert from alarm uk...

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Battery power line

Battery at 72%

battery at 49%

this is an alert from alarm uk16-ve.

This is an alert from alarm uk16-ve.

This is an alert from alarm... This is an alert...

Battery at 72%

This is an alert from alarm...

This is an alert from alarm...

This is an alert from alarm...

Battery disconnected

- This is still state property? - Yes.

Then why do you have a key?

The less you know the better.

- Do you miss it? - Miss what?

Running the national roadway camp?

Waking up each morning proud of the work we're doing without stealing a dime?

Having a happy family?

You know what? I don't.

I don't miss any of that.

Come on.

There it is.

Are you kidding me?

We're not.

Come on, fermin. Let me show you, come on.

The cherry on top of the cake.

Ninety kilos of dynamite.

- Well? - Forget about it, I can't do this.

You have to, do you want that son of a bitch to catch us red handed?

- I understand, but do you? - I understand, but we need it.

- It's ancient. - So is peronismo, but it still lives on.

We'll leave you two alone, you understand each other. Let's go.

You're the best.

Don't forget it.

I'm going to the bathroom, be right back.

Okay.

Tell me what's going on.

What's going on with what?

Do you think I'm stupid?

Ever since you showed up here my boss has been running around because of an alarm.

And I know more about plants than you.

So tell me what's going on.

You can either tell me now or I can tell all of this to my boss.

Hello?

It's your call.

- Counselor? I have to talk to you. - Not now.

- No, counselor... - No!

He's on his way.

Fortunato steers,

your boss,

is a monster.

A son of a bitch.

Manzi had a deal with alvarado,

who knew the crisis was coming and gave your boss a loan

with all of the dollars at the bank the Friday before everything went to shit.

All of the dollars.

Hundreds of thousands.

My family's, your family's.

An entire group we'd gotten together to make a cooperative. Everyone's!

And you want to steal it.

We don't want to steal anything.

We're not thieves.

Hey.

We want to get back what's ours.

And your family's too, if you want.

No. I don't want to.

I don't want to know anything. Please leave.

Wait, listen to me for a second.

We lost everything.

I lost my mom.

In an accident.

Because of these assholes.

They ruined all of our lives.

I want the cooperative to happen.

Because that was my mom's dream.

That's all I want.

And my name isn't Miguel,

my name is Rodrigo.

What happened?

Nothing, a medium voltage transformer broke but we're fixing it.

And the power is out everywhere?

No, no, the problem is here.

Villagran, alsina, that whole area has power.

The problem is from here and out.

- From here and out. - But...

It should be fixed soon.

How are you doing over there?

We're almost, almost ready.

Okay, yeah.

Yeah, it'll be ready soon, doc.

Do you know me?

No, why?

How do you know I have a doctorate?

Oh no, the thing is

someone with a car like this has to at least be a doctor...

Okay.

- Thank you. - Bye, and sorry for the inconvenience.

- Hello. - Hello.

Connect everything and get out of there because he's on his way.

We got him.

- We got him. - A hug, comrade.

Comrade my ass.

- Is it dangerous for manzi to go there? - No, on the contrary, it's much better.

He has to find everything in perfect shape and working.

We already know he disconnected the battery.

I couldn't do anything else, I'm sorry.

She confronted me and I didn't know how to act.

You didn't have a choice, son. That's it.

- What do we do now? - Nothing.

Nothing, stop messing around and call it quits.

Fermin.

We got him to disconnect the battery.

All we have to do is wait for the storm, we're almost there.

Almost where, Antonio? Think.

At ending up worse off?

The girl knows everything!

She probably told manzi everything by now.

What does she know?

What is she going to tell him?

That there's a guy named Rodrigo

who wants to get back what they stole from him.

Nothing else!

- Nothing else? - So what if she tells manzi?

What is he going to do, call the police?

Worst case, he takes the money out of the vault.

She heard me, dad.

I know she heard me.

I could go back and try to figure out if she said anything.

You're never stepping foot in there again! We've talked about this already, Rodrigo.

Don't you understand?

It's over!

I lost my wife.

I'm not going to lose my son.

It's over.

There's nothing else to discuss.

You saw the storm that's rolling in, right?

I don't know what you want for dinner,

but there's some left over roast beef. I can make some fries, a salad...

Hey. Florencia isn't going to say anything.

How do you know?

- Manzi already knows everything. He does. - No, no, listen to me.

I was there.

When I told her everything I got the feeling she understood.

She's not going to rat us out, dad. I saw it in her eyes.

What are you talking about?

You don't know her. How long have you known her?

What did you see in her eyes? Explain it to me!

Manzi knows everything!

He probably already emptied the vault.

Think! It makes no sense.

It's a miracle they didn't recognize you!

What are you doing here?

You should be in la plata studying with your friends, give it a break!

Look at me.

Forget about all of this.

Listen to me.

Want me to fill the tank?

Fermin...

Antonio, we've talked about it. Case closed.

Fermin.

We understand. Don't come and it's fine,

- but we're doing it anyways. - Do whatever you want, don't count us in.

Count me in.

I'm going.

I'm not backing out.

I'm in it until the end.

Let's go.

Let's give a warm welcome

to Maria Gabriela and Juan Carlos!

With this applause we tell you how much we care about you,

how much we love you.

On this unforgettable night,

which we will all treasure forever

in our hearts.

Didn't your dad say the blowtorch was enough?

We agreed to take everything.

He said we should travel light because of the mud.

We're taking everything.

Why are we taking everything? Weren't two sticks enough?

Perlassi says we should dump the leftovers in the lake so there's no evidence.

Let the engine run!

And don't touch the pedal.

The peronista men!

Come on, guys!

It's my dad...

It's my dad!

Perlassi, yes man!

You said you were going to see it through.

I'm with you.

- That guy's awesome. - Listen, listen to me.

- He knows what's up. - Please, please listen to me.

Wait for my call,

if for some reason

we can't talk, the phones don't work or whatever,

send up the flare, that's the sign for us to go in.

- Understood? - Understood.

- Do we all know what we have to do? - Yes! Yes! Yes!

Okay, let's go! Let's go!

Come on, Medina!

Leave a long fuse so we can get out of here, okay?

Yeah! Calm down man, fuck.

- Ready! - No way we're getting stuck with this.

Guys!

- Let's unload everything. - Okay.

We're ready over here.

Okay, okay.

I'm going to wait for Fontana's warning.

Wait for me!

Don't fuck around! What are you doing?

I'm testing it! Which one is number three?

It's the one in the middle, that one!

Hello?

Antonio?

Hello? Hello? Hello?

My part is done!

Bye!

Rolo? Do it.

- Let's go, Medina! - Let's go, let's go!

Send it to the middle one!

Down the middle! Down the fucking middle!

No, no! It does whatever it wants! I can't!

- Control the damn thing! - It does whatever it wants!

No no no!

God fucking damn it!

The electricity from the machinery is interfering with it!

- It didn't work, let's go! - No!

It has to be now.

And what are we going to do?

We're going to do things seriously, Medina.

Turn it on, Medina!

Ready!

Run, Medina!

Run!

No answer, no flare. What the hell is going on?

1 don't know, I don't know.

- Holy shit! - What is that?

- The flare? - There's no way that's the flare.

What happened?

Something bad happened. Something bad happened!

What do we do?

This is an alert from alarm uk16-ve.

Did something happen, honey?

No, no. Everything's fine.

What are we going to do?

We go in anyways.

- Let's go. - Let's go! Let's go!

Come on! Let's go!

Do you know what happened?

They're already calling the electric company.

It must have been a lightning strike. It happens all the time.

What's going on?

He says it's a lightning strike.

They're saying there's a blackout in rufino too.

- What do you mean in rufino? - Yes.

Well then this can't be because of a lightning strike.

- Hello? - Vazquez, it's manzi.

How are you, counselor?

I'm fine, the power is out.

What happened? A lightning strike?

No, what lightning strike? This was intentional.

They blew everything up.

I've never seen anything like it, the whole station's destroyed.

Where are you going?

Holy shit.

The amount of people this asshole screwed over.

- Come on, perlassi! - Let's go!

The other one.

- The other one. - Come on, let's go!

- One minute! - Come on! Let's go, perlassi!

Almost done!

God damn it!

Take it.

Help me!

Come on! Let's go!

Careful!

Let's go!

Come on, man! Let's go!

Manzi.

It's manzi. Manzi's coming!

Manzi!

Let's go!

Motherfuckers!

We did it!

I can't believe it!

You're alive!

How did it go?

- We did it. We did it. - We did it!

Hey! Hey! Hey!

Calm down, calm down.

Let's not lose time.

Let's split up, just in case. Okay?

We'll take a bag.

- Hernan, take the other one to your mom. - Got it, got it.

- Who's coming with me? - Gomez, take Medina.

- Rolo, you're coming with us. - Let's go, let's go!

Move! Come on!

Be careful, don't waste time. Let's go.

Take this one.

We did it!

Good job kid, good job.

No!

No! Motherfuckers!

Motherfuckers!

No!

No!

No!

No!

Motherfuckers!

No!

How much did he take?

We're not sure, but...

There were about two million dollars in that bag.

Carmen.

I don't know, maybe...

He'll think it through and...

He'll come back.

He's not coming back.

Carmen was right.

Hernan never came back.

The methodical reopened its doors on September 14 of 2003,

the day of lidia's birthday,

and gave jobs to 57 people.

We donated the rest, like we'd agreed.

Our dreams came true.

The big ones,

and the others.

Hello?

Hey...

- Hello, José? - How are you, eladio?

The truth is, this story changed all of our lives.

Forever.

Now, I think being a fool isn't so bad.

Because what no one tells you,

not even the dictionary,

is that fools are people who learned to get back up

over and over again.

To never give up.

Never.

Heroic losers

- Kid. - What do you need?

- Fix my tire, please. - Yes.

Care for some "mate"?

Thank you.