If you’ve ever worked a day in your life, Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents will pummel you with its stark views on the entrapment that is Life Under Capitalism. At over three hours, the film concerns itself with two men who wish to free themselves from the prison of a daily job, sacrificing some freedoms today for the ultimate freedom in the future. Indeed, the illusive “freedom” is what they yearn for but what they’re actually after is a life free from the burdens of our economic realities. We all require food and shelter, but those are only available with money. We all desire recreational hobbies, but in many instances those are purely a luxury, to be had once our base needs are met. Why has civilization set itself up this way? That we must earn what we want and need by doing what we don’t want or need?
Morán (Daniel Elías) is the treasurer at a bank in Buenos Aires. His existence is a rote repetition of actions involving other people’s money. Every day, he proceeds into a vault with a multi-layered entry that feels like a descent into Hell. He counts bills, confirms amounts, makes the occasional small talk with his co-workers. The predictability of his position means that he’s basically invisible. One day, Morán steals hundreds of thousands of dollars and walks out the door. He knows he can’t get away with it – there’s cameras inside the vault that show him pulling off the crime – so he approaches one of the bank’s tellers, Román (Esteban Bigliardi), with a plan: he will turn himself in and spend three and a half years in prison while Román takes the money and hides it until they can split it evenly upon his release.
The plan seems outrageous to Román, but Morán makes it simple: if Román refuses to play along, Morán will name him as an accomplice. Why subject yourself to prison? Román asks. Morán is willing to spend three years in prison instead of twenty-five years waiting until retirement. So Morán is sent to jail while Román is left with the money and all the anxieties that includes. At the bank, the boss, Del Toro (Germán de Silva), knows that Morán had help but he can’t prove who. An investigator (Laura Paredes) arrives to interrogate and aid Del Toro in making life miserabe for everyone still working there. At home, Román keeps the bag of money a secret from his girlfriend, Flor (Gabriela Saidón), but the weight of hiding the money starts to break his nerve. He must find a place to stash it.
Where the first half of The Delinquents plays like a minor key heist film, the second half becomes an existential meditation on the concept of liberation. In scheming their way out of the construct that is their life, the two men put themselves into confinement of a different kind. For Morán, it’s the harsh reality of life in prison, which has its own hierarchies and class systems; and where disputes are often decided with violence (one of many clever details: the prison’s head honcho is also played by De Silva, the bank boss). For Román, it’s the persistent pressure of holding such a large secret, of being on the cusp of instant retirement, but needing to bide the time. When he meets a woman named Norma (Margarita Molfino), who lives in a provincial home outside of the mountains, he begins to visualize what life after work can be, but her place in the two men’s story is more complicated than you’d expect.
The irony that Morán and Román need money to achieve their economic liberation is the center of everything that Moreno is trying to say. The risk they both take, the traumas they put themselves through, is ultimately for naught as they will only be perpetuating the system that put them there to begin with. Moreno’s script is a deep well, and is made to inspire philosophical debate within the audience. But it’s also just a remarkable film to behold, filled with funny, clever performances, lush cinematography, and a killer soundtrack selection which includes Argentine composer Astor Piazzola and blues guitarist Pappo. Like most of the details throughout the film, the music provides clues about what The Delinquents is ultimately about: Marón and Ramón make a valiant effort to rid themselves of capitalism, and that effort is its own kind of freedom, but one just as illusory as any other fantasy.
Written and Directed by Rodrigo Moreno