Robbery 101 - Long synopsis
A man in a bloody guard’s uniform lies, tied up, in the corner of a
back room of a pawnbroker’s. Another man has a .357 Magnum taped and
pointed directly at his head… Two armed robbers, dressed in full
military gear, camouflage pants and M-16 automatic machine guns are
pacing frantically. The place has been ransacked. One of the armed
gunmen holds the .357 to the second man’s head and orders him to move.
The other gunman has a bag full of money. He stares
psychotically into the camera:
“It’s time to party”
The story recounts the real-life events of a group of three teenage
boys, long-ignored and mistreated by society, who decide to take matters
into their own hands. They decide to strike back by taking revenge on
members of society who they feel have wronged them.
Kyle, 21, is the leader of the gang. He is the armed gunman who had the
bag of money. Kyle and his gang live and train at his family’s ranch
near the Everglades in Southern Florida. Kyle is the older, wiser
brother and organizes his team members as they practice some type of
complex maneuver about the large compound.
Grainger, 19, is as big as an ox. He’s the gunman who held the .357 to
the man’s head. He is very gung-ho, and likes to display a tough
exterior. He is Kyle’s younger brother. Grainger really believes that
they are going to be famous and that the money they are about to steal
will be payback to society for the crap they’ve been forced to endure.
It will allow them to live like kings down in South America.
Carlos, at 23, is the eldest and he loves his two adopted little
brothers. Kyle’s dad took him in when he was 11 years old and Carlos
considers this his new family. Carlos is the getaway driver and is also
the “master appropriator”: anything the gang needs – he gets – for free.
Jackie is the fourth member of the gang and is viewed as the gang’s
adopted big sister. She is 28. Jackie became part of the gang by
seducing Kyle. She has since convinced the gang to chronicle, via a
video documentary, what society has forced them to do. She plans to
capture the robberies live on film claiming that it will be their
message to society: “Be careful who you f*#& with”. Jackie owns and
operates the video camera and generally prefers to stay behind the
camera. She is hugely manipulative and constantly uses the video camera
and her relationship with Kyle and to influence the boys in the gang.
The gang is filmed training on their ranch. They are planning a daring
daylight robbery of a convenience store that Kyle has been casing for
the past two months. Kyle and Carlos have bought into the idea that
filming the events will allow society to understand how it has
mistreated and continues to mistreat “marginalized” youth. Grainger is
not so sure. He has a bee in his bonnet about Jackie and her video
camera and does not trust her.
They ease up across the road to the convenience store. Ski masks on:
guns loaded and hidden. Kyle gives them the signal as he clicks the
stopwatch: 3 minutes and counting. The robbery goes according to plan
until a shot is heard off camera. The manager has apparently been shot
by accident. And when the clerk realizes that Kyle only has a BB-gun,
all hell breaks lose and the clerk pulls out a .357 Magnum. A tense
standoff ensues. But Grainger, armed with a .45, shows his grit and
manages to keep his nerve and placates the situation before anyone else
gets shot. Jackie films the whole ordeal: her running commentary is
tense and on edge.
Back at the ranch, Kyle holds a debrief of the robbery over beers and
ganja. The boys end up reminiscing about their childhood friendships and
recount their frustration at the way things were going. Since the death
of Kyle’s dad, they have been struggling for money. They need a big haul
from the convenience store robbery to pay their debts, buy more guns and
continue to train for their major coup: robbing Ivan the Pawnbroker, who
is known to run a money laundering scheme from his back office.
The robbery begins with military precision. Kyle and Grainger barge into
the pawnbrokers and secure the staff, and then Kyle continues into the
back room containing the safe. Grainger disarms the guards, cleans up
and pulls the manager away from the front of the store. Jackie films the
whole thing then runs after Kyle into the back room.
Through the back of the store, Kyle demands that manager, Ivan, open the
huge safe. Ivan is scared senseless and fumbles the safe combination.
Kyle holds the M-16 to his head and counts down from 10. The safes opens
at “1”. Kyle opens the safe to discover over $3 million in cash as well
as other valuables. Bingo, they have struck it rich.
A deafening gun blast is heard through the front of the pawnbroker’s.
Kyle comes running out of the manager’s office to find the guard
clutching his stomach and blood pouring everywhere. Grainger is standing
over the guard in disbelief. He tells Kyle he thought the guard was
going for his gun. He reacted instinctively and fired instantly.
Grainger is clearly upset and in shock. Kyle finds what in the guard’s
hand: a picture of his two kids.
Kyle, Grainger and Jackie stare at the guard’s writhing body on the
ground. He’s moaning loudly, blood is spewing everywhere and he’s
obviously dying. They can’t believe it: things are going horribly wrong.
To complicate matters they get a distress call over the walky-talky from
Carlos who tells them they need to look outside – the cops have arrived.
They’ve obviously been tipped off. The gang is clearly surrounded with
no apparent escape route.
A shrill blast from the phone wakes the gang out of their daze. It rings
. . . and rings. Kyle is falling apart and basically paralyzed. Finally,
he answers. It’s the Miami-Dade Police Department. They advise the gang
to give up and get out now before someone gets hurt or killed. Kyle
realizes the gravity of the situation and starts to panic. He tells the
cops that he has hostages and will shoot them if they do not acquiesce
to his demands.
Jackie continues to film the events. It’s not clear whether she’s
distressed, panicking, or excited. But it’s clear that she is not nearly
as agitated or overwhelmed as Kyle and Grainger.
The audience realizes that this is not due to Jackie’s age and maturity,
but because Jackie is not who the boys really think she is. Grainger has
always suspected. Now Kyle begins to realize the same thing as he
negotiates with the cops and plans an escape.
Who is Jackie? Why are these events really being filmed? Will the gang
get caught or is there a way out of this mess? Are Kyle, Grainger and
Carlos really three manipulated, marginalized gang members? The story
takes several twists and ultimately reveals the ulterior motives of all
involved.
Nothing is ever quite as it seems.
Robbery 101 attempts to examine some key issues affecting our society
today. First, it tries to answer the question of why some young men lash
out violently against our society. The events at Columbine High School
and other school shootings make us wonder what is happening. Robbery 101
attempts to show the isolation and frustration that usually leads to
this type of behavior. Second, it tries to examine the role the news
media has in promoting violence in our society. In very clear terms, the
presence of the video camera affects the actions of the gang: certainly
it influences and manipulates the gang into continuing their tendencies
for violence.
