Chapter 11: La Odisea De Los Giles (Heroic Losers)

The Argentine Corralito is the informal name for the nation’s 2001 currency crisis and subsequent restrictions imposed on the public. The Corralito began in December 2001 when there was a run on the banks and freezing of deposits. The Corralito limited the amount of money Argentines could withdraw. The nation eventually defaulted on its public debt and a recession ensued.

In these lessons, students compare and contrast various depictions of the Argentine Corralito, paying particular attention to how geographic/cultural/national/sociopolitical lenses shape the collective understanding of those events. Students will watch three clips from the movie, La Odisea de los Giles (Borensztein, 2019), and read news sources on the topic from various perspectives. Additionally, students will utilize mathematical tools to understand the scope of the economic breakdown at the micro level (i.e. the characters of the movie) by using the exchange rate at the time to calculate the amount of money citizens were able to withdraw daily and the time it would take them to withdraw their entire deposit. By comparing historical and current exchange rates, students learn about inflation and its impact on cost of living. Students will discuss the impact of The Corralito on the public and how it affected citizens’ mental and physical well-being including deaths.