Heroic Losers (La odisea de los giles)

According to the dictionary, "fool"

refers to someone stupid,

or someone naive, or not very bright.

Although we already know that working man,

honest person, people that follow the rules,

end up also being synonyms of fool.

But one day the abuse us fools are used to

turns into a real kick in the balls.

Until you say: "Enough".

And you find yourself doing something you never thought you could.

Heroic losers

The methodic

probably.

It's been abandoned for a long time, over ten years.

But we thought,

why don't we call delluca's son?

And make him an offer. You never know.

You want to build a company

like the one that went bankrupt in this very place?

Please explain to me this brilliant idea, I don't get it.

Wait a moment, this is different, it's going to be a cooperative.

It's giving the local farmers, the small producers,

a chance to store their goods, so they don't have to sell...

Antonio Fontana is an anarquist by nature.

He came to this town in 1984. When alfonsin was president.

He came with his family to manage road constructions.

But the money never came through,

and his wife got tired of alsina, and of Fontana, and left with the kids.

He stayed.

But in the 90's the road work stopped and he set up the tire shop.

"It's the perfect job, it lets you think", he confessed.

I'm still not seeing it, lidia.

We have no idea how to run a grain store facility, or do you?

But we can learn, Antonio.

Did fermin's grandfather know anything about farming when he started?

- But he went bankrupt. - That was 30 years later.

Think about it.

Well organized, this could employ around...

How many did we say?

About 20, 30 people.

30 people, are you sure?

At least, think about it.

Operators, administrative staff...

That's no less than 30.

Holy crap.

And do you think this is the right time to do something like this?

This is the best time.

We couldn't be doing worse, what else could happen?

Argentina August 2001

oh please.

Always talking about iron, man.

What are you talking about?

Of sovereignity!

To get rid of the english, that's what the general bought.

Fermin, you used to be a smart lad, explain it to him.

How can you always argue about the same thing?

Don't you have something else to talk about?

I didn't recognize you there. Don't you think you overdid the color?

Rolo belaunde is the best mechanic in this town.

He's the head of the train station,

even though the train doesn't even stop here anymore.

A man from cérdoba, as loyal as any. Stubbornly single.

And he had more "peronism” in him than the 17th of October.

And? Did you talk with DeLuca?

- I talked with him. - Yeah?

Well, the man was pretty surprised someone wanted to buy the methodical.

But apparently he's willing to talk.

Oh, that's a good start.

But you have to go, you're like gardel to him.

Why me? You guys do nothing all day, you go.

Was I a soccer player?

- Was he a soccer player? - Who cares?

He does.

Small town stuff. Who cares that 30 years ago

I was a professional soccer player in a small Buenos Aires club

and scored a last minute goal against chacarita in their stadium?

Everyone in alsina, apparently.

Outside alsina? No one.

Lidia finally convinced me, like always,

and we went to the capital to see if we could still keep our hopes up

with our dream of the cooperative.

So, I'd have to talk with my sister, but I think we can work something out.

Do you have any idea of how much

all of that could be worth?

I don't have any recent estimates, but...

I don't know.

Considering you're from alsina and all...

I don't know, I think 300 thousand could work.

300 thousand...

Close to what you were thinking?

- Yes. - Yes, yes.

Um, we'd have to talk it over with our associates, but it could be.

- Right? - Right.

I know you came here to talk business

but, I look at him

and all I see is my childhood idol.

I don't know about that.

Did I tell you my dad had the poster, from El grafico, in his office.

Fermin perlassi, number five.

The Pearl of the crown.

I'd go into his office and see you there in the photo.

Amazing.

You're okay with talking about this?

No, not at all, ask him anything, he loves talking about it.

Oh, okay.

Then I'd like to know about that goal.

Eh, you know...

I hit it hard with the tip of my foot, outside the scoring area, and...

It went in, that's it.

It hit a defender first.

Yeah, it hit a defender and went in.

Perlassi.

Do you forgive me for making you talk about your past as a player?

Can't complain, though.

You told some stories about your golden days

and he lowered the price by 30 thousand dollars.

- What? - What are you doing?

- Nothing. - Is this your surprise?

How many times did you see this movie?

- I wasn't expecting this. - No?

- I wasn't ready for this. - Get ready.

Are you sure?

The most important thing you need to form a cooperative

is hardworking, honest, smart people.

That's why we went to see eladio and José Gomez,

who fit our first two conditions,

kind of.

Hello, boys.

How are you?

What's up?

- How are you? - Good, good.

Okay, perlassi here has an idea.

Yes, but...

I'm going to let Antonio tell it to you, he'll explain it better.

Okay, um...

You've seen the silos over there, they've been abandoned for ages.

When you were kids, that used to work as a granary.

The idea is to form a cooperative.

And what's a cooperative?

A Coop... it's like a cake.

Oh, and what's it made of?

A cake, a chocolate cake.

That chocolate cake belongs to everyone in the cooperative...

The Gomez brothers worked their whole lives

in the metallurgical company in villagran.

They get things done.

So when the plants closed, they weren't disheartened

and tried their hand at the livestock industry.

But the boys didn't show much restraint

and ended up eating half of their investment.

So?

I think it's a good idea.

The other option is the business we thought of.

Oh, you thought of another business?

And...

What is it?

- A video store. - A video store.

It could work.

But a lot of people have left the town, I wouldn't know what to tell you.

Maybe...

It's not the right time?

Probably not.

Luckily the Gomez brothers agreed that the cooperative

sounded better than a video store

and added the 12 thousands they had left from their severance pay.

The next person we went to was safa the turk.

I had to insist, since Fontana said he rubbed him the wrong way,

but eventually I convinced him.

He loved the idea and ended up giving us 11 thousand.

Ms. llanos opened the safe from her nursery

and gave us all her savings: 2500 dollars.

We went to see "skinny" cacheuta at the haberdashery,

and right there he gave us 3000.

One on top of the other, literally.

During our usual Friday meeting we agreed on how much we'd invest.

Belaunde put down 6000, Fontana 7000, and lidia and me 15000.

Everything was going good...

Too good.

- You do the talking. - Why?

Because you're the only fool who thinks

that "loco" Medina could be a shareholder in anything.

"Loco" Medina has a fortune.

What are you talking about? Medina?

The county gave him a bunch of money to move.

And he didn't move!

Exactly.

Hello, Antonio!

Hey, how are you?

Easy, we have guests.

- Mr. perlassi. - How do you do, Medina. What was that?

Um, dynamite, for fishing.

What do you mean? Fishing?

It's easier, you don't have to sit around with the fishing rod all day.

My friend Fontana over here gets it for me.

But that's dangerous, you could blow the whole place up.

Not at all, Medina, please tell him.

Soldier atanasio Medina, class of '52,

punto negro, San Nicolas, at your orders.

At ease, soldier.

Medina, I'm going to explain to you why we're here.