Pizza, birra, faso

Plot synopsis:
This story takes place in an impoverished district outside Buenos Aires. It tells about a corrupt group of teenage misfits: the not-so-bright Megabom (Alejandro Pous), the asthmatic Pablo (Jorge Sesan), the nerdy Frula (Walter Diaz), and Sandra (Pamela Jordan), the pregnant girlfriend of El Cordobes (Héctor Anglada). All are squatters living together in the same house. The group wanders the city and steal in order to survive. After letting go of their former employer, a crooked taxi driver who paid them a cut of what they could steal from his passengers, Pablo and Cordobes steal from a crippled street vendor, which ultimately leads to Sandra being arrested.
Sandra, because of her pregnancy, starts to think about her future and the life she can make for her expected baby. When she is released from jail after a short time inside, she makes Cordobes promise he'll straighten up and find a decent job instead of stealing again. In the meantime, she stays with her abusive father. Aided by his friends, Cordobés starts looking for more profitable scores, so he can move to Uruguay with Sandra.
Frula arranges a job with his contact, Rubén which involves stealing a fancy restaurant with unreliable guns. Rubén drives them to the spot which turns out to be an ordinary place. The stickup goes sloppily and the alarm goes off, urging the five robbers to escape. Rubén cuts ties with the others after paying Cordobes a misery for his job.
Running out of time, the group decides to rob a local nightclub. Pablo and Cordobes get back in touch with the cab driver, only to beat him up and steal both his money and his guns. However, they grow fond of the passenger, a middle aged woman from Cordoba, and let her arrive to her destination safely. Immediately after being let out of the car, the woman discreetly calls the police, who begins tracking the stolen cab. Back at the nightclub, Pablo, Frula and Cordobes get past the bouncer and proceed to hold the ticket workers at gunpoint while Pablo acts as a diversion, with Megabom as lookout outside the club. The bouncer, however, barely manages to notice Pablo and Megabom switching guns, so he begins acting more suspiciously. While the others start taking the money, Megabom notices a policeman following them, and proceeds to bother him and damage his motorbike in order to create a distraction. When Cordobes gets out of the ticket office, gun in hand, he is shot in the chest by the bouncer, who is then killed by Pablo. Hearing the screams and gunshots inside, the policeman attempts to enter the nightclub, but begins to beat down Megabom after he hits him in the back. When Frula, Cordobes and Pablo get to the cab, Frula catches a glimpse of the bloody and bruised Megabom. Enraged, he draws his gun at the officer, but is quickly shot down. Pablo manages to escape carrying a badly wounded Cordobes and steals another car. He drives him to the docks and gives him the money, so he can leave with Sandra, while staying behind to turn himself in.
Crawling, Cordobes manages to get to the docks, where he realizes he won't make it to the boat. Reunited with Sandra, he is forced to confess he didn't make good on his promise, and tells Sandra she should go alone, for the kid's sake. They kiss farewell, and a dying Cordobes manages to get a final look at Sandra while the boat departs. When the police arrive, they find his dead body and inform the station via radio.

Tags: murder

Review:
One of the best low budget Argentine movies ever. This film illustrates a reality that almost all South American countries are living. The story is about four teenagers that have to steal to live, doing whatever they can to obtain some "pesos" . This film features lots of decadent scenes, that show the way of acting of these boys that can't get out of their sad reality even if they wanted so. Despite some technical problems in the film (due to low budget) this is one of the greatest Argentine titles released in the 90s. There's a curious thing, this film was almost not shown in cinemas due to a money problem that led to release complications. The international film festivals that Pizza, Birra, Faso won and the great numbers it did in the box office showed what an error that would have been. Really good. 8.5/10 .-. Some light in the darkness. Pizza, Birra, Faso is a simple movie about a group of men who are broke and make their money by robbing people on the street. The two leaders of the group, Cordoba and Pablo, soon after the start of the film decide that they need to do bigger jobs with their crew in order to change their lifestyle. The movie as a whole gives off a dark vibe as it displays several situations of people being taken advantage of and suffering because of desperate people. Whilst Argentines can quite easily relate with the story and the events which take place, I believe a movie should try to take people away, at least for a short period of time, from that reality which is around them. The movie does however display a theme o hope to the audience through the actions of Cordoba as he looks out for his girlfriend and future baby. Not only this, but the character of Pablo also is a symbol of a caring and loving friend who will do all that is in his power to look out for his friend and his family.