A Man of Action (Un hombre de acción) is a Spanish crime drama film on Netflix. It is directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera from a screenplay written by Patxi Amezcua. Inspired by the life of Lucio Urtubia, an anarchist targets one of the world’s biggest banks with an ingenious counterfeiting operation.
The cast of the film includes Juan José Ballesta, Liah O’Prey, Luis Callejo, Miki Esparbé, Alex Blazy, Ben Temple, Fred Tatien, Ana Polvorosa, Josean Bengoetxea, Juan Olivares and Mónica Lamberti. It has a runtime of about 1 hour and 51 minutes and is filmed at locations in Vigo (Galicia), Catalonia, and France.
A Man of Action Ending Explained
The film explores the figure of the Spanish anarchist who pulled off a legendary counterfeiting operation in Paris that landed him in the crosshairs of America’s biggest bank when he managed to obtain a huge amount of money by forging traveller’s cheques.
Also Read: A Man of Action Review: Lucio Urtubia and His Idea of Anarchism
Spanning five decades, from the 1940s to the 1980s, in which we follow in Lucio’s footsteps, from his humble beginnings as a bricklayer-turned-bank robber, to taking the lead in bringing down one of the world’s biggest banks.
Soon after when Lucio meets Anne, he devises a plan to print fake dollar notes and exchange them for French currency. He takes the help of his brother-in-law Patrick, who forges the printing plate for him and then he prints the notes. He decides to take it to another level by meeting Che Guevera and including him in his plan to bring down one of the biggest banks.
However, soon after meeting with Che, he is arrested by the police, as someone tipped him off. Months go by in prison and by the time he comes out, Anne has given birth to his daughter and he decides to take care of his family. He resumes the bricklaying and construction work for the next 8 years.
Until, one day when he gets a traveller’s cheque as his salary. At first, he doesn’t understand how to work these cheques, but soon after while shopping, he gets to know that they work just like a currency. This again gives him the idea of taking on the Citi Bank, by forging the cheques again with Patrick’s help.
He prints hundreds of cheques and gives them to other people in the Anarchist community. They plan to go to the bank in different cities and cash out the cheque simultaneously at 12 pm. Their plan works successfully and they decide to do it every month. But the issue is soon caught up by the Citi Bank, who send up Mr Barrow to fix the fake cheque problem in Paris.
Inspector Castello instantly figures out that this is Lucio’s work again and starts keeping a track of his activities. On the other hand, Anne has gotten a work opportunity in Bolivia and wants Lucio to come with her. He is reluctant at first but when he sees how the police are hovering over him, he decides to make the last attempt by striking a deal with an American.
On the day when Anne and his daughter are leaving for Bolivia, he waits for the American to come with the money, so he can catch the plane as well. But it was all a trap as his confidante from prison, who connected him to the American, had tipped off the police on being threatened. And this time Lucio is facing a long prison time along with monetary compensation.
Due to some irregularities in the case, Lucio is able to get bail and think about what to do next. That’s when he comes up with a negotiation plan with Mr Barrow. He tells Barrow that he will give him the printing plate and promise that no fake cheque will ever reach his office. In return, they have to drop the charges and compensate him for all the trouble.
Mr Barrow denies the deal at first, but when Lucio tells him that putting him in prison, won’t stop the fake cheques from coming. He decides to agree to the deal and Lucio walks out with the money that he asked for. When Inspector Castello tells Barrow that he lost to Lucio, he replies that he only gave a tip worth of money and saved the business, which was much more worthwhile.
At the end of the film, we get to know that the true amount of money asked by Lucio is still unknown and when asked he would just say – a lot. His actions however forced other big banks to look for alternatives to cheques, which soon got phased out by credit cards and ATMs. Lucio was seen reuniting with his family in Bolivia.
The real-life Lucio Urtubia published two books under his name – The Revolution on the Roof and My Lived Utopia. He later separated from Anne, but remained good friends until his death on July 18th, 2020.
A Man of Action is currently streaming on Netflix.
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