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Así Habló el Cambista

The Moneychanger

Uruguay / Argentina / Germany 2019
produced by
Diego Robino, Santiago López Rodríguez for Oriental Features, Rizoma Films
directed by Federico Veiroj
starring Daniel Hendler, Dolores Fonzi, Germán de Silva, Benjamín Vicuña, Luis Machín, Gabriel Perez, David Roizner Selanikio
written by Arauco Hernández Holz, Martín Mauregui, Federico Veiroj, music by Hernan Segret

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina, the two South American "superpowers", litte Uruguay had over the years become a financial hub for these two countries, in other words, a place where you could "park" money to hide it from the taxman.

In the 1950s, Humberto Brause (Daniel Hendler) starts to work at Sr. Schweinsteiger's (Luis Machín) financial institute, with his job at first being smuggling large sums of money out of the country to Europe. Humberto's good at his job and soon rises in the ranks, and not only that, he also marries Schweinsteiger's daughter Gudrun (Dolores Fonzi). Now Schweinsteiger is a man of some principles, meaning he tries to maintain a certain level of respecatbility by not laundering money for politicians - Humberto's much less so, when he learns of the possibility, he only sees the money to be made, seizes the opportunity - and lands in jail. But once he's out, more and more politicians want to do business with him, so eventually he starts his own institute, and ... business is booming through the rest of the decade and all through the 1960s.

Eventually, Humberto receives a visit from an obvious gangster, Harry, who has a huge deposit to make - and Humberto knows there's something fishy and he shouldn't do it ... but then again, it's more money than even he could have imagined, so he wills in.

It's the 1970s, and economy in the big neighbours isn't doing too great anymore, and by the by, Humberto loses clients. Stressed, Humberto has his first heart attack, but bounces back. Seeing his business in decline though, he decides to use the money entrusted to him by Harry to support his company - after all, he hasn't heard from Harry in years, and he's more likely than not dead by now. So things are on the up again - until he receives a visit from a Mr. Bopland (Benjamín Vicuña), who claims to be Harry's associate and who wants the money back. Humberto turns him down, only to learn who Bopland really is: Harry's rival who tortured the whereabouts of the money out of Harry, and he won't shy away from torturing the money out of Humberto, too, should he not give it up willingly. Now Humberto knows he's in a fix, as he can't very well go to the police, as the money's hot property, he knows Bopland's not joking, and he knows if he gives up Harry's money, his whole life will collapse. He fakes a second heart attack to buy himself some time - but he knows, he doesn't have forever, and Bopland is a very persistant man ...

 

Now in narration, The Money Changer very much resembles Martin Scorcese's gangster epics like GoodFellas or Casino, meaning comprising a story spanning decades and sprinkled in crime into a compact and stringent tale that never lingers but is always on the move. Visually though, director Federico Veiroj totally goes his own way, opting for South American lightness, and in tone, the film is much more openly comedic - and actually pretty hilarious, thanks to a clever screenplay that finds the humour in something as dry as money laundering, and a first class cast manages to bring this across while playing it straight.

Fun for sure, and well worth a look.

 

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review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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written by
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