Plata Quemada

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plata Quemada

Directed by	Marcelo Piñeyro
Produced by	Diana Frey José Sánchez Varela Mario Pergolini
Written by	Marcelo Piñeyro Marcelo Figueras Ricardo Piglia (Novel)
Starring	Eduardo Noriega Leonardo Sbaraglia Pablo Echarri Leticia Bredice Ricardo Bartis Héctor Alterio
Music by	Osvaldo Montes
Cinematography	Alfredo Mayo
Editing by	Juan Carlos Macías
Release date(s)	May 11, 2000
Running time	125 min.
Language	Spanish
IMDb profile

Plata Quemada (international, English title: Burnt Money) is a year 2000 Argentine film directed by Marcelo Piñeyro, starring Eduardo Noriega, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Pablo Echarri, Leticia Bredice, Ricardo Bartis, and Héctor Alterio. Plata Quemada is based on a book by Ricardo Piglia and was inspired by a true story of a famous bank robbery in Buenos Aires in the 1960s. The film is an action thriller of the exploits and red-hot passion of two thugs. Not only unstoppable criminals, the two young men are also passionate gay lovers. The film is a recreation of their now-legendary story. The film premiered at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. The film received 5 award wins & 7 nominations.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Argentina, 1965. Nene (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a petty thief, and Angel (Eduardo Noriega), a drifter, meet in the bathroom 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 gangsters: Their swaggering straight cohort Cuervo (Pablo Echarri)--a sedative addict who's been carrying on an affair with the luscious Vivi (Dolores Fonzi), a 16-year-old nymphet; the trio's boss Fontana (Ricardo Bartis); and the elderly lawyer Nando (Carlos Roffé), who's past the days of any professional illusions and helps to make connections to find a good team for the crime.

During the hold-up, however, Angel is wounded by police gunfire during the robbery, provoking Nene to kill them all in a fit of rage. Two police officers are among the victims, and so the police of Buenos Aires starts a major search for the culprits. They soon find a lead to Vivi's apartment, where the gang had been hiding out, but all except herself have already escaped to neighboring Uruguay. The police force Vivi to give away this escape plan, and the search is then broadened to Uruguay.

Meanwhile the group of the criminals needs to wait for new passports (to be arranged by a dubious character played by Héctor Alterio) to continue their escape out of 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. So Nene eventually decides to break curfew and "get some air", and he, Angel, and Cuervo go and enjoy themselves on a fair. The one evening outside of the apartment does not remain the last one, 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 gay, but finally he meets the prostitute Giselle (Leticia Bredice) 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 want to leave the city at night. Angel had suspected before that Nene was cheating, 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. And when Nene is now made to decide, he kicks Giselle out of her apartment rather than leave Angel.

Despite Nene's threats, Giselle goes straight to the police to denounce the group. Before the group takes to their heels, police has already surrounded the building. At first, the trio still believes in an opportunity 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 find back together and spend some short and erotic moments of mutual happiness. After the first wave of attacks, a contented Angel even tells that the "voices" he always heard have fallen silent.

The group soon finds out, however, that there is no way out. Cuervo dies in the attempt of a sally, and Nene and Angel remain waiting for the next wave of police attacks on the apartment. Seeing that they cannot save neither their own lives nor the money, they burn the entire haul in a last outburst of joie de vivre. Finally, Nene catches a bullet and dies in the arms of Angel. Angel still holds Nene and sends a volley of bullets in the direction of the approaching police every now and again, when the lights fade out and the audience is left with the sound of the final fusillade of the police machine guns.