Love and Betrayal in Solitude

Burnt Money "tells the true story of Angel and Sam, two gay lovers who turn to bank robbery and murder holding Argentina and Uruguay in suspense as they lead the authorities on a two month long manhunt." But the tale is something more than a gay-hispano Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Although the movie has lite moments (as well as a couple of transitional rough spots), it is almost unremitting in its claustrophobic depiction of estrangement and existential isolation.

Sam and Angel meet in a public restroom. Angel warns Sam that he hears voices but Sam takes him home anyway. The two become inseparable and, in the underworld in which they live, are know as "The Twins". The pair are brought in on an inside job involving millions of pesos, but as the heist involves higher ups and officials it quickly turns into a saga of betrayal, distrust and and multiple levels of solitude.


As the thieves band of five makes it over into Uruguay, Angel becomes more withdrawn and estranged from Sam who in turn becomes increasingly devoted to caring for Angel who mutters that he is saving Sam from himself. Their solitudes are not a question of not loving. Each is driven to his own distraction as Sam prouls restrooms while Angel haunts pews. Sam takes up with a whore who, as it turns out, has access to a safe-house on the Brazilian border while Angel, mutters through a Spanish-English dictionary as if it were a prayer book, explaining that he and Sam must speak English flawlessly in order to pass undetected when they make it to New York.

Meanwhile, the more the whole world looks for them, the more the group is cut off from the world. The crime boss who facilitated the their escape from Argentina advises the band's nominal leader that it will be impossible to do more given the international media and police focus on the case. He tells him that in Africa they catch monkeys by enticing them with a banana inside a box, so that to get free, all the monkey has to do is let go of the banana. One is left to think of the parable, Where your hand is, so there is your treasure.

But Sam and Angel are nothing if not professionals. As the police close in, the possibilities of escape become narrower, making greater demands on Sam and Angel's collaborative cunning and prowess until, in the end, they reclaim their bananas.

The cinematograpy is competent albeit prosaic. The acting is good. There is one scene-change in particular that is not only abrupt but a non-sequitur, leaving one to film-in the blanks and pick up where we are.... The movie's main defect is its failure to fully explain Angle's alienation and, with that, to inter-connect (or distinguish) the various levels of solitude that are going on.

.