Following the 1988 national plebiscite and the arrival of democracy in Chile, the president declares a general amnesty for all prisoners who were convicted of non-violent crimes.
Among these released prisoners are the young Ángel Santiago and the veteran Vergara Grey, a notorious thief. The two have different aspirations: while Vergara Grey only wishes to reunite with his family and start anew, Ángel dreams of seeking revenge against the prison warden and carrying out a major heist with Grey. However, Ángel's plans change when he meets the young Victoria, a ballet dancer who hasn't spoken since losing her parents as a child during the Chilean dictatorship.
The lives of all three characters are irreversibly transformed as they face a new future.
Adapting the Antonio Skármeta's novel El baile de la Victoria, Fernando Trueba, Jonás Trueba and Skármeta himself collaborated in the writing of the screenplay.[1] The film was produced by Fernando Trueba P.C.[2] Shooting started in Chile in July 2008.[3]
Trueba said of the film:
“I am proud of how I have portrayed [Santiago], I believe it is very interesting visually. This is above all a romantic film, but with elements of comedy and film noir. It’s film-noir and it is western, it’s realist and very romantic. Definitively Latin American.”[4]
Release
Distributed by Notro Films,[2] the film was theatrically released in Spain on 27 November 2009.
The film was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards,[5] but it was not nominated.