CAPSULE: The Clan (2015, Dir. Pablo Trapero)

Few true stories offer up as effective a pre-packaged microcosm of the the conflicts in which they are situated as the events surrounding the Argentina's Puccio family. In the early '80s, at the rear end of that country's military dictatorship, the Puccios, headed by patriarch, Arquímedes, kidnapped four wealthy family acquaintances and held them for ransom in their Buenos Aires home. It didn't end well for any of them.

Pablo Trapero's film, The Clan, draws direct parallels between the environment of intimidation, implicit support and willful blindness that existed in the Puccio household and the death throes of the Argentinean junta, which Trapero implies was cognisant of the Puccio's operation. The set-up is certainly intriguing and gives rise to some absolutely chilling moments (the tracking shot through the family's home life ending in the bathroom occupied by their first captive, chained in the bathtub is particularly harrowing) but beyond the conceptual horror evoked by the situation, The Clan has little to offer aside from its Scorsese-lite stylings.

Trapero and his co-writers, Julian Loyola and Esteban, nail the swagger but fall short on psychological depth. Despite solid performances from Guillermo Francella as the ice-cold father and Peter Lanzani as his unwillingly complicit son, Alejandro, they barely scratch the surface of why these people did what they did. Or why those on the sidelines turned so blind an eye. A few fewer minutes spent setting crime montages to '80s tracks would have given everyone involved a some leeway to get under the skin of their characters. Even ironing out the muddling flash-forwards in the film's first act would have given a tad more space to do so.

Wherever they could have found the time, a drill down into what made these people tick would have added much needed dramatic tragedy into these lives and would have made Trapero's damnation of society's propensity to accept control so much more robust.

As it is, The Clan can unabashedly join the Martin Scorsese circle-jerk. It's fun while it lasts but afterwards it is pretty self-evident that you would have gotten more out of something with a little more connection.

★★★

Trailer: