Argentina's most talked-about bank robbery gets the caper treatment in The Heist of the Century, a 2020 comedy-crime drama from director Ariel Winograd, with Guillermo Francella and Diego Peretti at the head of the crew.
What is The Heist of the Century about?
The year is 2006. A group of thieves sets its sights on the Banco Río branch in Acassuso and puts together a plan so clever that the job is still counted among the smartest and most famous bank robberies in Argentine history. The film is their story, told from their side of the vault door: how the idea took shape, how they got in, and how they meant to get out. Yet the robbery is only half of it. What happened afterwards turns out to be every bit as surprising as the method, and the film gives that aftermath its due. Winograd keeps the tone light, treating the thieves as people worth spending time with instead of names in a police file.
About the cast
Guillermo Francella and Diego Peretti lead the cast list, followed by Luis Luque, Pablo Rago, Rafael Ferro, Mariano Argento, Juan Alari and Fabián Arenillas. A heist story depends on the chemistry of its crew, and this one is built as an ensemble piece, relying on a group of performers more than on a single star turn. Ariel Winograd directs.
Context & significance
The Heist of the Century is an Argentine production about an Argentine case, and it sits across three genres at once: comedy, crime and drama. That mix is the point. Many heist films have to choose between tension and laughter; this one draws on a real robbery, so its interest lies less in whether the plan will work than in how anyone thought of it and what sort of people would try. The running time is 107 minutes, long enough to cover both the job and its consequences. Audiences have received the film well, and the pleasure of watching a carefully planned robbery unfold needs very little translation outside Argentina.
Watching The Heist of the Century on Ktime
The Heist of the Century is on K-Time with a Persian dub, so it can be followed entirely in Farsi. Reading this page is free; playing the film requires logging in to a K-Time account. K-Time is made for Persian-speaking viewers in the diaspora, and the whole interface is available in Farsi.