That they could confiscate your savings was the plot of a horror movie.

By Solange Levinton

Mario Seged, author of “December 2001,” the political thriller inspired by the social fascism that ended the government of Fernando de la Rua to be released in Latin America next year on Star+, asserts that the possibility that “anyone can confiscate your savings is like the enduring plot of a horror movie.” .”

“The crisis of 2001 is a time that crosses me and stops as a storyteller, frantically collecting all that is possible and recycled in terms of a 20-year fictional document, becoming an endless journey that continues,” said the author of television icons such as “Resistiré” and “The Truth Is a Result” .

Based on the book “The Palace and the Street” by journalist Miguel Bonasso, the six-episode series directed by Benjamin Avila (“Secret Childhood”) stars Jean-Pierre Noir (De la Rui), Louis Luc (Chief of Staff, Christian Colombo), Louis Machin. (Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo), Cesar Troncoso (Eduardo Duhalde) and Fernán Meras (Vice President Carlos “Chácho” Alvarez) among others.

“There is neither good nor evil here: in terms of fiction, real history is responsible for demonstrating these arbitrariness,” Seged noted the challenges of a scenario that, in his inventory of conflicts inspired by the facts of public knowledge, includes the resignation of a president, and the deaths of dozens of Argentines due to police repression , and a society robbed of his savings, and the succession of five presidents in a week.

The series was filmed in historic places such as Casa Rosada and the National Congress, but also in other locations such as the Law School where it reconvened on August 30 at Caritas headquarters where he predicted a social outbreak would occur later. , the main political, social and ecclesiastical actors at that moment demanded from the then president the resignation of Minister Domingo Cavallo and a change of socio-economic direction.

On that day, after a hygienic protocol for a quick wipe, change of chin strap, temperature check and statement of oath, the scene was re-created in the University’s Mezzanine Deanship located on Figueroa Alcorta avenue.

“Caritas National,” announced a poster at the entrance to the Council Chamber where a shout of “Action!” They expected horrific versions of Raúl Alfonsín (Manuel Callao), Fernando de la Rua (Noher), and Duhalde (Troncoso) fiddling with old-fashioned cell phones with hats, which in 2001 were a precious asset to some.

When the scene begins, Noher (gray suit, white shirt, burgundy tie, pin on the left lapel with a cocktail, exhausting walk reminiscent of the ex-president) with Javier Catch (a chancellor played by Diego Cremonese) enters the meeting as the correct names of politics at the time Waiting for him gather around a large oval table.

We are days away from the holidays and people want peace of mind that the government can’t give them. The street has been changed,” Duhalde told him while some of the attendees smoked (the ban on doing this indoors would come 10 years later).

One adds: ‘We want him to remove Cavallo,’ and the chief replies: ‘They are suggestions, and I am not indifferent to the indignation, which is the reason for taking notes here. It’s something we keep in mind. I am grateful to receive me, these meetings are necessary, these days the International Monetary Fund comes and will help us ».

In addition to reproducing iconic scenes, the series will also feature unpublished archival material from the tragic day on December 19, 2001 from the cameras of the Argentine Federal Police, as well as audio interviews with real testimonies of the political heroes of the time.

For Segade, the challenge of telling such a local story to a platform with global reach was the project’s most “interesting”: “We tried to ‘paint the village’, the crisis was unique but unknown to the rest of Latin America who Cope with events of this nature.

“A group of people recently tried to seize the Capitol of the United States, the world’s superpower, and we are consuming it; I suppose a fantasy will be made. Exclusivity is the international show, no limits,” added the author of “El Pantero.”

Finally, when asked how that pivotal moment in Argentine history continues after 20 years, he affirmed that for him “the positive experiences of that period resonate, like the fact that our young democracy was able to solve, with successes and errors, a crisis of this magnitude, Which in other historical moments would have meant the collapse of institutions.