Film Reviews

El Bano del Papa (The Pope's Toilet)

• Rating:
• Director: César Charlone, Enrique Fernández.
• Starring: César Troncoso, Nelsen Lence, Virginia Mendez, Virginia Ruiz.
• Details: Uruguay / 90 mins (PG).

In 1988, Melo, a small town on the Uruguayan/Brazilian border prepares for the Pope's visit. Because the townsfolk are poor, some are selling their belongings and even their houses so they can set up food stalls (most of them chorizo sausages - a running gag) to feed the multitude of hungry Brazilian tourists they hope will descend on their little hamlet. Beto (Troncoso) is such a hopeful; although he has nothing to sell, he has a killer idea to make money - he plans to build a public toilet and charge people to use it. The race is on to have the toilet finished before the Pope arrives. Almost a comic Fitzcarraldo, El Bano del Papa could have been a downbeat drama about the church's blindness to poverty, but Charlone and Fernandez prefers to give a jovial and charming polish to their film. Scratch the surface, however, and that downbeat drama is there in all its ugliness, as Beto is really putting his family's future in serious jeopardy as he pours more and more money into his dream. The highlights are in the performances, as professionals mix with amateurs to such good effect it's hard to tell them apart.

Review by Gavin Burke