grantss The true story of the Puccio family of Buenos Aires, Argentina. During the height of the Galtieri regime of the early-to-mid 1980s the Puccio family, lead by senior government official Arquimedes Puccio, kidnapped and held for ransom several individuals. On more than one occasion they murdered their victims. This is their story.Decent, though not compelling, docudrama. Details well the events involved and these make for interesting following. However, not overly compelling viewing. Is pretty much a blow-by-blow account and feels quite dry at times.Not a must-see, but not a total waste of time either.

Tom Dooley After the fall of General Galtieri in 1980's Argentina; some of the old guard did not accept that democracy and law and order were here to stay. They wanted the old ways back and the money that went hand in hand with corruption. The Puccio family was ahead of the pack, the patriarch was one Arquimedes Puccio played by the ever reliable Guillermo Francella ('The Secret in their eyes') and he led his whole family and a gang in kidnap torture and extortion. His middle son was Alex who was a rising star in Rugby Union and his eldest brother had already done the same but had side stepped the family and escaped to New Zealand. However many hands do make light work and so Arquimedes went out of his way to ensure as many of the Clan as possible were 'hands on'.Now this is based on a real story and it is quite amazing that a modern country could allow such atrocities to take place – but that is the way of the World with criminals everywhere. The film itself is Argentina's biggest earner ever and you can see why. The acting is all great as is the period detail. It jumps around from past to present etc but that is easy to follow. There are some upsetting scenes but the nasty stuff is mostly played down. This is a film that you may get more from on a second viewing but either way it is most certainly worth seeing at least once.

ehurst-3 I am flummoxed as to why people liked this film. I found it sickening and alienating. The upbeat music seemed totally inappropriate for the horrifying scenes unfolding before us and trivialised what was real suffering, violence and death that happened to real people. And I was particularly revolted by the juxtaposition of a sex scene interleaved with a violent kidnapping, overlaid with frantic music.The movie was confusing, too. I had hoped to be given some context of the political scene in Argentina in which this crime arose, but we were plunged right into the thick of things via a series of flashbacks and disconnected scenes which we were expected to piece together (while madly reading subtitles, for those of us who don't speak Spanish). Only near the end do we discover, casually, that Puccio was connected to the Intelligence services, and his history with them is never fully explained.I felt relieved when the movie drew to a close and the perpetrators were caught. It was at this point that Puccio revealed his truly revolting narcissism and manipulativeness. I had felt repelled by him throughout, but by the end I just felt glad to be shot of him and his whole morally dubious family.

David Ferguson Greetings again from the darkness. It seems inherent within human nature for kids to want to make their parents happy and proud. Most of the time the reverse is also true: the majority of parents want to be good role models for their kids. However, when the latter is not true, things can get pretty ugly … even frightening. Such is the case with the real life story of the Puccio family in Argentina.Acclaimed Argentinean director Pablo Trapero (Carancho, 2010) gives us a look at the Puccio crime family, and in the process draws parallels between the political turmoil and re-structuring of Argentina as it returned to a democracy in the early 1980's.The façade of the happy family makes for perfect public cover as horrendous crimes are perpetuated … often in the basement of the family home. Arquimedes (Guillermo Francella, The Secret in Their Eyes 2009) is the father who often seizes on the celebrity of his rugby star son Alex/Alejandro (Peter Lanzani) to catch their victims off-guard. The family Modus Operandi is pretty simple: kidnap-collect ransom- kill. Arquimedes was known for his hospitality, often offering home-cooked meals to the victims as they were chained in the family basement. Quite a contrast to the brutality involved in the crimes.The film raises many questions, and makes us wonder where the line of guilt is drawn between committing a crime, and simply looking the other way. It's presented as if Alex felt compelled to support his father's endeavors even though it caused major internal struggles for him. Certainly the mother/wife (an excellent Lili Popovich) made the conscious decision to do what was necessary. It's especially unsettling to see Arquimedes helping his daughter with her school work, while the most recent victim is shackled in the cellar.As Argentina's Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language film, it didn't make the final cut, but it's absolutely at the level of the five nominated films. Fans of Scorcese and Coppola crime films will see the influences, and the film rates with such crime gems as A Prophet (2009) and Animal Kingdom (2010).