By Lupe Torres

La Nación

It was 2009 and Eduardo “Coco” Oderigo was comfortable. He had a quiet life. Coming from a family related to the Justice system, he worked as a criminal lawyer and coached rugby at the San Isidro Club. One day - more by anecdote than by desire - he set foot in Unit 48 of the San Martín prison without imagining that his life was about to change. Something in his head began to take shape.

“I entered the prison without any prejudice, unconsciously. I had no idea what I was going to find,” he recalls with a smile. That “unconsciousness” detached from labels, prompted him to think beyond and “do something.” Against everyone’s advice, Oderigo came up with the idea of ​​teaching the inmates to play rugby.

“You want to bring a violent sport to a violent place,” They told him, but, tenacious, the lawyer managed to convince the prison director to do a training. That was the first step of what would become a great project. In 2016, with the support of volunteers, donors and companies, the Espartanos Foundation was created, which allowed the consolidation of a comprehensive social reintegration program that helped reduce recidivism rates from 65% to 5%. Now Spartans takes the form of a series and promises new realities to discover.

Composed of eight 35-minute episodes, the fiction based on the real project will reach the screen of Disney + This February 19th and has as its main protagonist Oderigo (represented by the actor Guillermo Pfening). Spartans, a true story It also has two former players in its cast. The Pumas, the Argentine national rugby team: Juan Leguizamon (Tattoo) and Javier Ortega Desio (Baby).

THE NATION spoke with Coco Oderigo and Guillermo Pfening, the two main characters of this story in real life and in fiction

—What prejudices did you have to overcome to approach the world of prison?

Coco Oderigo: —I don't know if I had prejudices, I was more unconscious, if not, maybe I wouldn't have started. It was another world and I went out to get to know it. I went to prison without knowing anything at all, thinking that I was going to take rugby and that it would work like it does in my club. If I had known more things beforehand I would have been afraid, or maybe I would have decided not to do it, but the first time I went to prison with the idea of ​​rugby, I was dispossessed.

William Pfening: —Filming this series transformed me as a person and made me a better actor. It was a great challenge. I didn't play rugby, I played tennis. I had certain prejudices about the sport, I thought it was "rough" and I was able to come to terms with that. I even had a double prepared to tackle, but I got so into the role that I wanted to do it myself. There was a coach who taught us how to train, protect ourselves and maintain team spirit. I knew Espartanos very well, from having seen Coco [Oderigo] in an interview. I don't know if I had prejudices about prison, but the filming was a bath in that world. We experienced many situations because we filmed there for a long time. There is tension because it is a completely different world from ours. As one gets to know the space, it loosens up. It's not that I came with prejudices, but I do feel that I had to make a kind of adaptation to the codes of the place.

—There is an imaginary about what life is like in prison. How did you build a bond with the prisoners when you first arrived at the prison with your rugby ball?

CO: —There were prejudices in all environments: the inmates, the prisoners, the officials, my friends, my acquaintances who asked me “What are you doing there?”. Everyone. From the beginning of the series, you can see the unconditional support of my wife, Male. The scriptwriter knew how to read her role very well and gave her a different role: subtle and at the same time very profound. There was a lot in listening and proposing from her which had a lot to do with the connection with the prisoners and with the project. She was very important and the scriptwriter perceived this in all the interviews we had. The director, Sebastián Pivoto, was kind enough to provide a lot of detail in this regard.

—What is it that bothers you? Spartans?

CO: —It's a series that makes you uncomfortable because it seems like it asks uncomfortable questions. There are many "whys" that the series works on in a very profound way. For me, there are scenes that are decisive, in which you think: "Where are we going to find the flaw in this idea?" The series broadens your perspective, it makes you uncomfortable in a good way.

GP: —It is precisely this thing of giving an opportunity to people who did not have one that is uncomfortable. Many of the people who end up in prison lacked opportunities. And very rarely can they recover. What Coco comes to do is to to remedy a shortcoming of the prison system. He was also aware of that: He tried to build something luminous in the midst of the rotten, the ugly. Coco gave them the opportunity to have a brighter life both inside and outside. However, it must be acknowledged that Penitentiary 48 is not what one imagines of a prison, everyone does activities, such as carpentry.

—When you played the main character in this fictional story, were you able to meet the real Spartans?

GP: —The truth is that you can't talk much with people who are deprived of their freedom, there is a security system to comply with, there is even a way you have to dress: to enter you can't go in dark clothes because they might mistake you for a guard, for example. Although there was permission to film, it wasn't a permission to establish contact.

CO: —Previously, Guille [Pfening] came to some training sessions where the real Spartans were, beyond the rules of filming, we looked for a way for him to experience it firsthand.

—After getting involved with Spartans, do you believe that goodness and evil are inherent to people, or are circumstances what lead us to act in one way or another?

GP: —I think we are cultural beings and it is circumstances that lead us to that. If you are born in the mud, it will be much more difficult for you to get out of there. It is all part of a system and everything also has its consequences. No one is born bad, how can a baby be born bad? He is a person who is formed according to where he falls.

CO: —One of the Spartan volunteers was talking about a train track: What did you do and what did the other do to be born on one side and the other side of the track? Why was I crying at 18 because I didn't know how to take the subway and you were in a maximum security prison? Considering that path: who am I to judge you?

—The series reflects very well the integration of very different worlds.

GP: —Yes, that is very noticeable. Coco, through rugby and teamwork, manages to integrate different worlds. It is up to each one to be awake to live in other worlds. That has to do with prejudices. I think that we should not romanticize crime or prison, but this has to do with being aware that we live in a system that is macabre in many ways. Why were you born there and I here? So I think we have a duty to be more attentive, to have empathy.

—Coco, what made you leave your quiet life and get into this “mess”?

CO: —Male and I have eight children, I worked in the judiciary for 15 years and I felt very good working there, but I liked to go further, I was missing the social leg. Prison appeared. I started to get involved and it started to grow, but I never thought it would get to this point. What happened is that I felt very good about the project. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the enormous work that people in the Justice system do. Often, in specific cases, they try to discredit entities such as the Justice system, the police, the Church or rugby itself. I reinforce the idea that some people do things wrong and that should be corrected, but that there are also a lot of people who do a lot of positive things anonymously. I hope that this inspires not only people to lend a hand but also to do something for others. An ounce of action is worth more than a ton of words. To do what? To do the possible; to “make it possible.” In the series, when Guille [Pfening] appears in prison, the viewer thinks: “Take it from there.” Everyone around him tells him this, but he, persistent and stubborn, manages to take his idea to its ultimate consequences and reaffirms that everything possible can always be done.

GP: —Sometimes there is resistance to change, but with a leader like Coco [Oderigo] it is difficult to resist.

—In the series we see that you apply “local cleverness” to carry out your project.

CO: —Yes! I can't be beaten that easily by someone who says no just because he owns something or whatever. I tried to be more clever, I don't know if it's something that life or the street gives you, but I always tried to find a way around it.

GP: —I have seen Coco [Oderigo] handle himself inside the prison and with the people he trains. I saw him resolve spicy situations between them with a joke. Without raising your voice, without using force: telling them things with love and often also with that liveliness and with humor as an ally.

—What do the Spartans say about the series?

CO: —There are some Spartans who act as extras and have some other roles. Those who are now in custody are amazed by what we have been telling them, because they only saw the trailer. They are happy to be able to show what they do behind closed doors: Many people from outside think "let them rot"They don't think about giving them another chance, and the series is the key to people being able to see something that happens in reality. If after watching the series they want to come and see it live, they can: what they will see in the episodes happens in a lot of prisons in Argentina and in other countries.

—What would you say to people who think rugby is a violent sport?

CO: —Violence occurs in general. No one is immune, and rugby is not immune either. These cases must be addressed both in rugby and in other areas. The Spartans talked about how they were the most violent in society and they had never played rugby. In prison they started playing rugby and the rates of violence within the prison dropped considerably, as did recidivism. In this particular case, rugby is part of the solution and not part of the problem.

The former captain of Los Pumas Agustin Pichot es the president of PEGSA, the production company that conceived and produced Spartans for Disney+ and in dialogue with LA NACIÓN reflected on the relevance of this project: “My relationship with Coco Oderigo started in 2008 or 2009, when I retired. I travelled from New Zealand to play in the Rugby Championship and in that context, he came up with the idea of ​​organising a match between the Spartans team and judges and prosecutors. That’s when we got to know each other. The match was spectacular. I was with the Spartans, I met them, I played with them. And then, the idea arose that many more people would get to know them. We came up with the idea of ​​writing this story and telling it. with the deep admiration that I feel not only for Coco at PEGSA, but also for all the volunteers who come to help," said the former player and businessman.