La Fuga

Infobox Film
name = La Fuga


image_size =
caption = Theatrical Poster
director = Eduardo Mignogna
producer = José Antonio Félez
Carlos Mentasti
writer = Jorge Goldenberg
Graciela Maglie
Eduardo Mignogna
narrator =
starring = Ricardo Darin
Patricio Contreras
Miguel Angel Sola
Gerardo Romano
Ines Estevez
music = Federico Jusid
cinematography = Marcelo Camorino
editing = Juan Carlos Macías
distributor =
released = May 24 2001
runtime = 117 minutes
country = ARG
language = Spanish
budget =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0281870|

"La Fuga" (English: "The Escape") is an Argentine 2001 film directed by Eduardo Mignogna. [imdb title|id=0281870|title=La Fuga]

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.

Plot

In the summer of 1928, seven inmates from the National Penitentiary in Buenos Aires 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 lays 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 looses 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 whom 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.

External links