The Clan 2016

In a tense, meticulously observed portrait set in Buenos Aires during the 1980s, the Puccio family drama unfolds around a seemingly ordinary middle‑class household that spirals into crime. At the center of the story is Arquímedes Puccio, the family patriarch, whose past work with state intelligence casts a long shadow over every choice he makes. His wife, Epifanía Puccio, stands beside him as their children grow and witness a household that balances respectability with an increasingly dangerous hunger for stability and status. The couple’s eldest son, Alejandro, is celebrated as a star rugby player, admired by friends and peers, while Daniel “Maguila” Puccio, the middle child, has drifted away from home for years. The daughters, Silvia, a schoolteacher, and Adriana, still in middle school, complete a family that outwardly seems conventional. The youngest son, Guillermo, is still in high school, hovering between innocence and the call of something darker.

When the Falklands War ends in 1982, the household’s routine abruptly shifts. Arquímedes, who had previously worked on covert operations for the state, pivots from earning a legal living to manipulating people for money. He purchases a small deli as a front, and with a growing sense of financial pressure and ambition, he drags the family into a chilling scheme: kidnapping wealthy individuals for ransom. Alejandro becomes his conspirator and partner in crime, leveraging his popularity to help identify potential hostages without drawing suspicion. The plan quickly spirals out of control.

The first victim is Ricardo Manoukian, a friend and teammate of Alejandro. The kidnapping succeeds, but Arquímedes, fearing exposure, shoots Ricardo to silence him. The cold outcome unsettles Alejandro, who experiences a moment of conscience, only to be reassured by his father, who argues that leaving Ricardo alive would only have guaranteed the family’s arrest. This justification cements a troubling pattern: money flows in, the family grows bolder, and the line between crime and family protection becomes hopelessly blurred.

As the loot from early kidnappings piles up, the Puccios move from the deli to a storefront selling sporting equipment, signaling a shift from secrecy to ostentation. Alejandro’s personal life begins to intertwine with this new reality; he meets Mónica, a girl he dates after joining the family business, and their relationship blossoms within the shadow of the crimes. But the thrill of the catch attracts new opportunities and new targets. A longtime associate of Arquímedes, Gustavo Contenpomi, feels betrayed in a separate business deal with entrepreneur Florencio Aulet and suggests a plan that would involve kidnapping Aulet’s own family. Yet the family’s appetite for wealth leads them to a softer target: Aulet’s son, Eduardo. Eduardo is eventually lured into the trap, and although ransom is paid, the teenager’s body is found buried on an empty construction site, marking a brutal escalation that cannot be ignored by anyone involved.

The political climate shifts again in December 1983, when Argentina returns to democracy. Arquímedes seeks legitimacy and guidance from a former military officer, Aníbal Gordon, who had participated with the Puccios in a 1970s kidnapping. Gordon warns Arquímedes to lie low, fearing that the new political environment will expose them and remove the protection they once enjoyed. Arquímedes, however, refuses to change course, confident that his calculated risk will continue paying off.

As the years pass, cracks widen within the family’s dynamic. Alejandro accompanies his youngest brother, Guillermo, to the airport when Guillermo heads abroad for a sports trip. At the gate, Guillermo reveals that he knows what his father and brother have done and swears he will not return if the family’s crimes are found out. He begs Alejandro to abandon the life they’ve chosen. The plea resonates with Alejandro, who resolves not to participate in the next planned kidnapping of another businessman linked to the family, Emilio Naum. The failure to abduct Naum infuriates Arquímedes, who returns home and lashes out at Alejandro, blaming him for the botched operation and accusing him of ingratitude for the lifestyle he has secured for the family.

Seeking reconciliation, Alejandro travels abroad to persuade his other brother, Maguila, to come back to Argentina and rejoin the clan’s operations. The family’s activities continue into 1985, when they abduct a businesswoman, Nélida Bollini de Prado, and imprison her in the basement of their own home. The plan, however, begins to unravel as ransom negotiations falter. The screams from the basement reach Adriana, who realizes the horrifying truth of what their family has become. Around the same time, Arquímedes receives a warning call from former military superiors that his actions have drawn too much public attention, leaving him without their political protection.

In August 1985, the plan to extract money is attempted at a service station, but thePuccio household is raided by police. The kidnapped victim is freed, and the family is arrested, with Adriana remaining untouched by the authorities. The case becomes a national sensation, and the press christens them the “Puccio Clan,” a moniker that cements their infamy.

During the ensuing trial, the prosecutor offers a stark choice: Arquímedes could confess as the mastermind in exchange for his family avoiding indictment as accomplices. Arquímedes refuses, insisting that his military superiors forced him to commit the crimes and that he cannot sacrifice himself for his kin. Within the jail, the strain proves unbearable for Alejandro, who longs for a different life. After a bitter, public confrontation with his father—an argument in which Arquímedes goads him into striking him so he can later claim guards abused him—Alejandro teeters on the edge of despair and attempts to end his life by leaping from the fifth floor of the building as he is transported to testify.

The movie closes by laying out a stark epilogue: a sequence of texts reveals the fates of the Puccio family, leaving viewers with a lingering reflection on how ambition, loyalty, fear, and political upheaval can intertwine to pull a family into an abyss from which there is no easy return.