“It’s a fun film with a good heart which did great business in Argentina two years ago. It’s a shame it’s taken so long to get here. With a quality cast like this you’ll be in many safe pairs of hands.“
Con Nats
3.5 /5 pesos
Heist movies have always been a favourite. The cleverness of the theft, the pressure of the process, the challenge to your morals and the satisfaction of sticking it to the man, who is usually a bad guy. We cheer the thieves for their daring and even make heroes of them.
It’s a twisted kind of morality, but when we ‘the common people’ are the victims of a corrupt government, we accept it and our status as powerless losers. It’s what happened in Argentina in the early 2000’s when the government put a clamp on bank deposits and devalued the peso, and it’s to these victims this story gives power to.
Movies like Oceans 11 used this format to bring together a bunch of friends with the idea of having fun. The ever reliable Ricardo Darin has teamed up with the writer Eduardo Sucheri (The Secrets in their Eyes) to co-produce and star in this film with his son Chino. The cast is an ensemble of Argentina’s top acting talents but they take this seriously.
Unlike the Oceans movies, these aren’t slick crims: they’re the heroic working class of a town who want to start a co-op to regenerate an old factory and start selling grain. They pool their US dollars and put them in a safe deposit box. At the bank manager’s urging they move it into a bank account – which converts their money to pesos – just before the government brings in restrictions and devalues the peso. A lawyer friend of the manager, exchanged all his pesos for their US dollars after being tipped off. Lawyers and bankers are the villains in this tale. The working class lose everything and more.
Then one day, they receive a tip-off about where all the cash might be hidden… but can these ageing, depressed ‘losers’ do anything about it?
Well, of course they do.
The plot is a tad long and winding as it wants to treat every character with respect, and give each actor their scene, and this is adapted from a novel. It does intertwine its story with the political backdrop and takes aim at the corrupt players, and takes the side of the working class who suffered from their excesses.
My only criticism is that one of the main plot twists is taken from an old movie – but it doesn’t try to hide it. It celebrates it and it’s quite innocent. Usually these issues are resolved with dark men in dark suits and guns, but they’re ‘peaceful people’. The only gun is brandished by the villain and the ending is explosive.
It’s a fun film with a good heart which did great business in Argentina two years ago. It’s a shame it’s taken so long to get here. With a quality cast like this you’ll be in many safe pairs of hands.
Con Nats, On The Screen
