La Fuga
Encyclopedia
La Fuga is an Argentine
2001
film
directed by Eduardo Mignogna
.
The picture stars Mignogna's friend and frequent collaborator, Ricardo Darin
, as well as Miguel Angel Sola
, Gerardo Romano
, Patricio Contreras
, Ines Estevez, Alejandro Awada
and Norma Aleandro
.
manage to escape by tunneling their way out of prison and into a coal store run by an old couple. The old woman dies of a heart attack and the escapees flee the place. The film narrates the fate of each of these runaways in search of their destiny - tough men with their own ethical codes and ready to do anything not to return to prison - through flashbacks
and separate, sometimes interconnecting, stories:
Laureano Irala (Miguel Angel Sola
): an ex-con and narrator of the story, Irala feels guilty about the death of the old lady, so when the old man mistakes him for his nephew, he decides to stay with him and care for him as he lies low in his store. The old man eventually dies, which prompts Irala to sell the store and walk away with the money.
Domingo "El Pibe" Santaló (Ricardo Darín
): an expert poker
player working for Pedro Escofet, a gambler. Before going to prison for being caught with fake money, Santaló used to play for Escofet and took her mistress, Tabita, as his own. Once escaped, Santaló returns to the gambling business. But a game goes terribly wrong against Víctor Ganz, and loses all the money. Escofet, thinking Santaló and Ganz have made an arrangement, shoots Santaló, and is in turn shot by Tabita, who leaves Santaló to die. It is then revealed that it was Tabita who had made an arrangement with Ganz, who had a twin brother so that he would switch with him whenever he felt tired.
Dr. Julio Bordiola (Gerardo Romano
): Bordiola used to be in the bookie business, but retired when he shot a debtor who he thought was going to kill him - in front of his 10 year-old daughter. Bordiola later on marries Rita Baldini, an underaged who goes on to have an affair with Ramón Cedeyra, a horse-dealer. Bordiola shoots Cedeyra and is sent to prison. After two years he escapes, only to find his wife's suicide note, where it is revealed that she was the 10 year-old girl, and Bordiola had shot her father. After that, she had married him in order to avenge him, but had fallen in love with him. Bordiola's ultimate fate remains unknown.
Tomás Opitti (Alejandro Awada
): A byplane pilot who, after flying a terrorist, is mistaken for his accomplice by detective Eusebio Duval, and his family is in turn killed in a raid. Duval acknowledges his innocence, but sends him to prison anyway. After escaping, a friend of Opitti's is mistaken for him and gunned down by Duval. Opitti goes on to ambush Duval in a whore-house, knocks him unconscious, drags him to an abandoned air-field and ties him to a plane's engine, whereupon he starts it and stands aside as Duval is spun to death. Opitti's ultimate fate is unknown.
Belisario "El Pampa" Zacarías (Oscar Alegre): A homosexual who is incarcerated along his accomplice and lover, "The Turk", for kidnapping and murder. El Pampa insists on building a monument after escaping with his lover, but dies during the escape attempt, crushed by the falling tunnel.
Omar "The Turk" Zajur (Vando Villamil): A homosexual who is incarcerated along his accomplice and lover, "El Pampa", for kidnapping and murder. The Turk subsequently reunites with El Pampa's widow, La Varela (Norma Aleandro
), who despises him for making her husband a homosexual. The Turk goes on to vandalize the obelisk
in memory of his lover, who had wanted "a monument" to celebrate the escape.
Camilo Vallejo (Alberto Jiménez
): A quiet anarchist who after escaping goes on to bomb a government coach. The bomb, however, proves hard to set off, and by the time it has been activated, the coach drives off and Vallejo is left with the ticking bomb on the crowded street. Vallejo starts shouting out warnings until the crowd clears and he is left alone with the bomb. He cried "Long live anarchy!" and covers the explosive with his body before being blasted off.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
2001
2001 in film
The year 2001 in film involved some significant events, including the first of the Harry Potter series and also the first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Eduardo Mignogna
Eduardo Mignogna
Eduardo Mignogna was an Argentinian film director and screenwriter.- Filmography :* 1975 - La Raulito en libertad * 1983 - El Desquite...
.
The picture stars Mignogna's friend and frequent collaborator, Ricardo Darin
Ricardo Darín
Ricardo Darín is an Argentine actor, screenwriter and film director.Darín is one of the biggest movie stars in Argentina. He played a number of parts in TV series for several years where he became popular as a young leading actor...
, as well as Miguel Angel Sola
Miguel Ángel Solá
Miguel Ángel Solá is a prolific Argentine actor who has made over 60 film appearances in film and TV in Argentina since 1973....
, Gerardo Romano
Gerardo Romano
Gerardo Romano is an Argentine actor who has made some 45 appearances in mainstream film and television in Argentina since 1979...
, Patricio Contreras
Patricio Contreras
Patricio Contreras is a well-known Chilean-Argentine film actor.-Life and work:Contreras was born in Santiago, Chile in 1947 and emigrated to neighboring Argentina following the 1973 coup d'état against left-wing President Salvador Allende, of whom Contreras was a vocal supporter...
, Ines Estevez, Alejandro Awada
Alejandro Awada
Alejandro Awada is an Argentine character actor.- Filmography :*Bye Bye Life *Ratón Pérez, El *Suspiros del corazón *El Aura *Tigre escondido, El...
and Norma Aleandro
Norma Aleandro
Norma Aleandro Robledo is an Argentine actress and screenwriter, born in Buenos Aires to Pedro Aleandro and María Luisa Robledo, both actors. Her sister, María Vaner, was a famous actress in Argentina.- Life and career :...
.
Plot
In the summer of 1928, seven inmates from the National Penitentiary in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
manage to escape by tunneling their way out of prison and into a coal store run by an old couple. The old woman dies of a heart attack and the escapees flee the place. The film narrates the fate of each of these runaways in search of their destiny - tough men with their own ethical codes and ready to do anything not to return to prison - through flashbacks
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
and separate, sometimes interconnecting, stories:
Laureano Irala (Miguel Angel Sola
Miguel Ángel Solá
Miguel Ángel Solá is a prolific Argentine actor who has made over 60 film appearances in film and TV in Argentina since 1973....
): an ex-con and narrator of the story, Irala feels guilty about the death of the old lady, so when the old man mistakes him for his nephew, he decides to stay with him and care for him as he lies low in his store. The old man eventually dies, which prompts Irala to sell the store and walk away with the money.
Domingo "El Pibe" Santaló (Ricardo Darín
Ricardo Darín
Ricardo Darín is an Argentine actor, screenwriter and film director.Darín is one of the biggest movie stars in Argentina. He played a number of parts in TV series for several years where he became popular as a young leading actor...
): an expert poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player working for Pedro Escofet, a gambler. Before going to prison for being caught with fake money, Santaló used to play for Escofet and took her mistress, Tabita, as his own. Once escaped, Santaló returns to the gambling business. But a game goes terribly wrong against Víctor Ganz, and loses all the money. Escofet, thinking Santaló and Ganz have made an arrangement, shoots Santaló, and is in turn shot by Tabita, who leaves Santaló to die. It is then revealed that it was Tabita who had made an arrangement with Ganz, who had a twin brother so that he would switch with him whenever he felt tired.
Dr. Julio Bordiola (Gerardo Romano
Gerardo Romano
Gerardo Romano is an Argentine actor who has made some 45 appearances in mainstream film and television in Argentina since 1979...
): Bordiola used to be in the bookie business, but retired when he shot a debtor who he thought was going to kill him - in front of his 10 year-old daughter. Bordiola later on marries Rita Baldini, an underaged who goes on to have an affair with Ramón Cedeyra, a horse-dealer. Bordiola shoots Cedeyra and is sent to prison. After two years he escapes, only to find his wife's suicide note, where it is revealed that she was the 10 year-old girl, and Bordiola had shot her father. After that, she had married him in order to avenge him, but had fallen in love with him. Bordiola's ultimate fate remains unknown.
Tomás Opitti (Alejandro Awada
Alejandro Awada
Alejandro Awada is an Argentine character actor.- Filmography :*Bye Bye Life *Ratón Pérez, El *Suspiros del corazón *El Aura *Tigre escondido, El...
): A byplane pilot who, after flying a terrorist, is mistaken for his accomplice by detective Eusebio Duval, and his family is in turn killed in a raid. Duval acknowledges his innocence, but sends him to prison anyway. After escaping, a friend of Opitti's is mistaken for him and gunned down by Duval. Opitti goes on to ambush Duval in a whore-house, knocks him unconscious, drags him to an abandoned air-field and ties him to a plane's engine, whereupon he starts it and stands aside as Duval is spun to death. Opitti's ultimate fate is unknown.
Belisario "El Pampa" Zacarías (Oscar Alegre): A homosexual who is incarcerated along his accomplice and lover, "The Turk", for kidnapping and murder. El Pampa insists on building a monument after escaping with his lover, but dies during the escape attempt, crushed by the falling tunnel.
Omar "The Turk" Zajur (Vando Villamil): A homosexual who is incarcerated along his accomplice and lover, "El Pampa", for kidnapping and murder. The Turk subsequently reunites with El Pampa's widow, La Varela (Norma Aleandro
Norma Aleandro
Norma Aleandro Robledo is an Argentine actress and screenwriter, born in Buenos Aires to Pedro Aleandro and María Luisa Robledo, both actors. Her sister, María Vaner, was a famous actress in Argentina.- Life and career :...
), who despises him for making her husband a homosexual. The Turk goes on to vandalize the obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
in memory of his lover, who had wanted "a monument" to celebrate the escape.
Camilo Vallejo (Alberto Jiménez
Alberto Jiménez
Alberto Jiménez was a Mexican boxer in the Lightweight division. He is the former WBO Flyweight Champion, making six title defences.-Professional career:...
): A quiet anarchist who after escaping goes on to bomb a government coach. The bomb, however, proves hard to set off, and by the time it has been activated, the coach drives off and Vallejo is left with the ticking bomb on the crowded street. Vallejo starts shouting out warnings until the crowd clears and he is left alone with the bomb. He cried "Long live anarchy!" and covers the explosive with his body before being blasted off.