''Burnt Money'' ( es, Plata quemada, links=no) is a 2000
action thriller
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...
directed by
Marcelo Piñeyro
Marcelo Piñeyro (born March 5, 1953) is an Argentine award-winning film director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Biography
Born in Buenos Aires, Piñeyro studied cinematography at the University of La Plata's School of Fine Arts. In 1980 ...
and written by Piñeyro and
Marcelo Figueras
Marcelo Figueras (born 1962 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a writer and a screenwriter.
Novels
* ''El muchacho peronista''
* ''El espía del tiempo,'' (2002)
* ''Kamchatka,'' 2003 (published in English in 2010 translated by Frank Wynne)
* ''La b ...
.
Starring
Leonardo Sbaraglia
Leonardo Máximo Sbaraglia (; born 30 June 1970) is an Argentine actor, with extensive credits in both Argentina and Spain. He has also worked in Mexico, and was cast in his first English-language role in '' Red Lights''.
Biography
Sbaraglia was ...
,
Eduardo Noriega,
Pablo Echarri
Pablo Daniel Echarri (born September 21, 1969) is a leading Argentine actor.
Biography
He was born in Sarandí, Avellaneda, Buenos Aires
Career
Pablo Echarri began his career on Argentine television in 1993. He was given his first sig ...
,
Leticia Brédice
Leticia Marcela Brédice (born July 26, 1975) is an Argentine actress and singer.
Career
Brédice won Best New Actress Award from the Argentine Film Critics Association in 1993 for ''Anni Ribelli''. In 1997, she has also won Best Supporting Ac ...
and Ricardo Bartis, it is based on
Ricardo Piglia
Ricardo Piglia (November 24, 1941 in Adrogué, Argentina – January 6, 2017 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine author, critic, and scholar best known for introducing hard-boiled fiction to the Argentine public.
Biography
Born in Adrogué, Pigli ...
's 1997 ''Planeta'' prize-winning novel of the same name.
The novel was inspired by the true story of a notorious 1965
bank robbery
Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...
in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
.
''Plata quemada'' won, among other awards, the
Goya Award for Best Spanish-language Foreign Film in 2001. It was partly funded by
INCAA.
Plot
The setting is Argentina. El Nene (
Leonardo Sbaraglia
Leonardo Máximo Sbaraglia (; born 30 June 1970) is an Argentine actor, with extensive credits in both Argentina and Spain. He has also worked in Mexico, and was cast in his first English-language role in '' Red Lights''.
Biography
Sbaraglia was ...
), a petty thief, and Angel (
Eduardo Noriega), a drifter, meet in the toilets of a Buenos Aires subway station, and from that moment they are inseparable. They become known as "the twins", but their relationship is in fact that of lovers and, soon, as partners in crime. At a point when their relationship is already turning difficult, the plot sets in.
Their love and loyalty to each other is tested when "the twins" join a plan to hold up an armored truck together with a group of seasoned
gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
s: their swaggering cohort Cuervo (
Pablo Echarri
Pablo Daniel Echarri (born September 21, 1969) is a leading Argentine actor.
Biography
He was born in Sarandí, Avellaneda, Buenos Aires
Career
Pablo Echarri began his career on Argentine television in 1993. He was given his first sig ...
), a sedative addict who's been carrying on an affair with the luscious Vivi (
Dolores Fonzi
Dolores María Fonzi (born 19 July 1978) is an Argentine TV, theatre and film actress. Several of her films have received critical acclaim such as '' Burnt Money'', '' Waiting for the Messiah'', '' Bottom of the Sea'' and '' The Aura''. Her brot ...
); a 16-year-old nymphet; the trio's boss Fontana (Ricardo Bartis); and the elderly
lawyer Nando (
Carlos Roffé
Carlos Roffé (1 August 1943 – 31 December 2005) was an Argentine film and television actor active between 1969 and 2005.Carlos R ...
), who is past the days of any professional illusions and helps make connections to find a good team for the crime.
Angel is wounded by police gunfire during the robbery, provoking Nene to kill all of the guards and police in a fit of rage. Two
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
s are among the victims, and so the police of Buenos Aires start a major search for the culprits. They soon find a lead to Vivi's apartment, where the gang had been hiding out, but by this time, all except Vivi have escaped to neighboring
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. The police force Vivi to give away their plans, and the search is broadened to Uruguay.
Meanwhile, the gang needs to wait for new
passports (to be arranged by a dubious character played by
Héctor Alterio
Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato (born 21 September 1929) is an Argentine theatre, film and television actor, well known both in Argentina and Spain.
Biography
Alterio's theatre debut came in 1948 as the lead in ''Cómo suicidarse en prima ...
) for their escape from Uruguay.
They take refuge in an empty apartment in
Montevideo, but the organisation of the documents takes longer than originally planned. The waiting is especially hard on Nene: Angel—who is described as constantly "hearing voices" and seems to suffer a slight form of schizophrenia—has been rejecting intimate contact with Nene since at least the beginning of the escape, for reasons indirectly connected with his condition.
Nene eventually decides to break curfew and "get some air", and he, Angel, and Cuervo go and enjoy themselves at a fair. That evening outside of the apartment is not their last though, partly because Angel continues to reject any contact and does not even speak to Nene anymore.
On one evening, Nene ends up verbally and sexually abusing another man, but finally he meets the prostitute Giselle (
Leticia Brédice
Leticia Marcela Brédice (born July 26, 1975) is an Argentine actress and singer.
Career
Brédice won Best New Actress Award from the Argentine Film Critics Association in 1993 for ''Anni Ribelli''. In 1997, she has also won Best Supporting Ac ...
) and starts a relationship with her, even mentioning a solo escape with her.
When Nando is caught by the police, the group is forced to abandon their refuge. Fontana goes off on his own, but Nene brings Angel and Cuervo to hide out in Giselle's apartment before they leave the city at night.
Angel had sensed that Nene had been cheating on him, and he soon understands where Giselle fits in. Before it can come to a fight, however, he also hears from Giselle that Nene still cares for him and suffered from his rejection. Giselle tells Nene that she has a cousin who lives near the border and she can arrange passage, but not for three men the police are after. She says that a couple, a man and a woman, will be able to get across easily. When she forces him to choose between her and Angel, he chooses Angel.
Nene tells Giselle that he will find her and kill her if she turns them in. Despite his threats, Giselle goes straight to the police to turn in the gang. Before the group takes to their heels, police have already surrounded the building. At first, the trio believes they will be able to escape, thinking that the police will not endanger the haul (several million dollars) or the lives of a large number of policemen. In high spirits, the three of them set to defend the apartment and their freedom, while Nene and Angel rekindle their relationship and spend some short and erotic moments of mutual happiness. After the first wave of attacks, a contented Angel even says the "voices" he always heard have fallen silent.
The group soon finds out, however, that there is no way out. Cuervo dies in an attempt to sally, and Nene and Angel remain waiting for the next wave of police attacks on the apartment. Seeing that they can save neither their own lives nor the money, they burn the entire haul in a final outburst of ''
joie de vivre
( , ; "joy of living") is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life, an exultation of spirit.
It "can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And ''joie de vivre'' may be ...
.''
Finally, Nene catches a bullet and dies in Angel's arms. Angel still holds Nene and sends intermittent volleys of bullets in the direction of the approaching police. When the screen fades to black, the audience is left with the sound of the final fusillade of police machine gunfire, implying that Angel has committed
suicide by cop.
Cast
Background
Filming locations
Filming took place in both Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
Historical background
The film is based on the true story of a hold-up in Buenos Aires in 1965 and the subsequent flight of the criminals to nearby Montevideo. The film makes several changes about the main characters, usually following Ricardo Piglia's book. El Nene, whose real name was Brignone, was actually the educated son of a judge; in an interview he said that he never knew what would happen with the money. He described Dorda –renamed ''Angel'' in the film– as the most good-natured of the robbers, whereas Malito –''Fontana'' in the film– supposedly evoked fear. From pictures of Malito, he was probably considerably younger than the character in the film. El Cuervo's real name was Mereles.
[according to private entries to a discussion forum on the film ''Plata quemada'', namely the entries ''Plata quemada (28)'' (9 December 2003) and ''Plata quemada (36)'' (4 November 2005) on]
''Foro de discusión'' on ''www.cineismo.com''
(Spanish; retrieved 7 April 2007)
The film has been said to be more authentic than Ricardo Piglia's book on which it was based.
The dates indicated at the end of the film (28 September to 4 November 1965), however, are not entirely accurate as the final attack on the fugitives' hiding place in Montevideo took place on Saturday, 6 November 1965. Three days earlier, the fugitives had stolen a car to exchange it for the stolen one they had, and thereby had provoked a shooting with the Uruguayan police; the shooting had taken place next to the TV channel ''canal 8'' from Montevideo, which would later be the only channel with live coverage of the siege.
In the siege, both El Nene and Dorda/Angel died; according to a police officer who was interviewed for a documentary about the events and the release of Piñeyro's film, the bodies of the two were found holding hands; they were, however, separated before the official police photographs were taken from the location. Both were half-naked and in underwear, in a pool of blood, as shown in the film. In contrast to the movie, El Cuervo/Mereles was mortally wounded, but did not die during the siege. Spat on, hit, kicked and insulted by the police, he was relocated to a public hospital, where he died a few hours later. The three were anonymously buried in the Northern Cemetery of Montevideo at 8am on Wednesday, 10 November 1965. Only El Nene's body was reclaimed by his family and transferred back to Argentina. In February 1966, Malito/Fontana was seen in Flores, a Buenos Aires neighborhood, and there shot by the police.
Distribution
The film opened wide in Argentina on May 11, 2000. In the United States it opened on October 4, 2002, on a limited basis.
The film was shown at various film festivals, including: the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
, Canada; the
Palm Springs International Film Festival
Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...
, United States; the
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...
, Germany; and others.
Release dates
* Argentina: May 11, 2000
* Uruguay: June 2, 2000
* Spain: September 1, 2000
* France: February 14, 2001
Awards
Wins
*
Havana Film Festival
The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as ''Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana,'' and in English as International Festiva ...
: Best Cinematography, Alfredo F. Mayo; Best Sound, Carlos Abbate and José Luis Díaz; 2001.
*
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain.
The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sci ...
: Goya; Best Spanish Language Foreign Film, Marcelo Piñeyro, Argentina; 2002.
*
Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor; Best Adapted Screenplay, Marcelo Piñeyro and Marcelo Figueras; 2001.
* Glitter Awards: Glitter Award; Best Feature voted by the U.S. Gay Film Festivals, Marcelo Piñeyro; 2002.
Nominations
* Argentine Film Critics Association Awards: Silver Condor, Best Actor, Leonardo Sbaraglia; Best Cinematography, Alfredo F. Mayo; Best Director, Marcelo Piñeyro; Best Editing, Juan Carlos Macías; Best Music, Osvaldo Montes; Best New Actress, Dolores Fonzi; 2001.
* Fotogramas de Plata, Spain: Fotogramas de Plata, Best Movie Actor, Eduardo Noriega; 2001.
* MTV Movie Awards, Latin America: MTV Movie Award, MTV South Feed (mostly Argentina) – Favorite Film, Marcelo Piñeyro; 2001.
See also
*
List of Argentine films of 2000
*
List of Spanish films of 2000
A list of Spanish-produced and co-produced feature films released in Spain in 2000. When applicable, the domestic theatrical release date is favoured.
Films
, -
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References
External links
*
''Plata quemada''at the
cinenacional.com
Cinenacional.com is a web portal and World Wide Web, web-based database about Cinema of Argentina, Argentine cinema. It is the most comprehensive site for information about the Argentine film industry, with a vast array of information on films, tel ...
*
*
{{Authority control
2000 films
2000 crime thriller films
2000 LGBT-related films
Argentine LGBT-related films
Films shot in Uruguay
Films set in Montevideo
French LGBT-related films
Argentine independent films
2000s Spanish-language films
Spanish LGBT-related films
Uruguayan LGBT-related films
French independent films
Spanish independent films
Films shot in Buenos Aires
Films shot in Montevideo
Films set in Buenos Aires
Gay-related films
2000s French films
2000s Argentine films
2000s Spanish films
Films based on Argentine novels