The film is set during the very real 1994 Venezuelan bank scandal, when the nation's financial institutions were bushwhacked by embezzling officials. The corruption was so widespread that eighteen commercial banks were closed or seized by the government, a fiasco that cost Venezuelan taxpayers $11 billion. (Many of the former bankers remain at large.) Like other middle-class Venezuelans, Horacio, Valmore, Rogelio, and Vicente struggle to keep afloat in a crime-ridden Caracas, where the dollar rules over worthless Venezuelan currency. It's the week before Christmas, and Valmore, a high school history teacher, has hit a new low: His car has been stolen, he has no insurance, and on his salary he won't even be able to afford a bike. The other three men find themselves in similarly dire circumstances.
Horacio, who has been fired from his job at a major bank, comes up with an idea. "Those scumbags from the bank are enjoying other people's money," he tells his friends. "Don't they deserve a little shit from us?" Having discovered that his former employer is the next bank to be taken over by the government, Horacio hatches a plan: The four will pose as inspectors and demand to examine the bank's books; once they have infiltrated the bank's computer system, they will siphon money into an offshore account they have set up.
Not surprisingly the heist goes awry, but it would be a crime to reveal the turn of events in detail here. The upshot is that the men become unwitting whistleblowers on corruption that reaches beyond the banking industry all the way up to the government. The would-be bank robbers are celebrated as heroes by the bank employees and customers they take as hostages, while a crowd of citizens that gathers outside to "denounce the embezzlement of a nation" cheers them on.
Like the salsa song that opens the film, Little Thieves, Big Thieves (in Spanish with English subtitles) moves along snappily, with the players never missing a beat. Fine ensemble acting by the leads (Orlando Urdaneta, Daniel Lugo, Aroldo Betancourt, and Mariano Alvarez) makes real the relationships between the four long-time buddies, and they're aided by a supporting cast that convincingly depicts a slice of Venezuelan life.
Born in Buenos Aires, director Alejandro Saderman has lived in Venezuela since 1977. Commissioned by the United Nations, he made The Time Bomb (1986), a documentary about Latin America's foreign debt. His knowledge of current affairs is evident in Little Thieves, Big Thieves, his second feature, which ultimately comes across as light but hardly lightweight. Its gritty production values and succinct social commentary sometimes recall the biting, dark, early Eighties comedies of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.
This review first appeared in the February 18, 1999, issue.
