Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Paul Allaer I recently was browsing the foreign movie section of my local library and stumbled upon this particular DVD. I didn't pay much attention to it, other than it was released by Film Movement, which has an amazing library of indie and foreign films, and so I went ahead and picked it up."The Pope's Toilet" (2007 release from Uruguay; 97 min.) brings the story of Beto and his family and friend in the Melo community in Uruguay, not far from the border from Brazil. As the movie opens, we see Beto and several others biking back into Uruguay, heavily loaded with packages of all kinds. It's not long before we understand that Beto and his friends make a living smuggling everyday goods from southern Brazil into Melo. Meanwhile, Melo is getting excited about the upcoming visit of Pope John Paul II, and Beto and many others are thinking of a way to take advantage of this unexpected economic opportunity. To tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: first, it wasn't until I was about to start watching this that I noticed this movie originally came out in 2007, so almost 10 years ago. It is amazing then to notice that the movie has a certain timelessness about it, as I found this movie utterly fresh and mesmerizing. I was at first a little put off by the movie's opening disclaimer that the events portrayed in the movie are "in essence true and it's only by chance they didn't occur the way they're told here", whatever that is supposed to mean. But the Pope did in fact visit Melo (in May, 1988). Second, the movie's director pays close attention to the economic struggles of the Melo community, synthesized here by Beto and his wife and daughter. His wife has accepted her fate, while his daughter has big dreams of becoming a radio announcer and going to study in Uruguay's far-away capital Montevideo. In that sense, this is a rather depressing movie, as life is hard for this remote community. It's all the more exciting then when the preparations for the Pope's visit begin (signs emphasize the blue collar aspects of Melo), and people in Melo are wondering/contemplating how many Brazilians will cross the border for this historic moment (and spend money in the Melo community): 2,000? 20,000? 200,000? Per the usual, the Film Movement DVD comes with a bonus shortie, this time the excellent "Video 3000" (5 min.) from Germany, an animated shortie about a person who has just received his new DVD player, and is trying to figure out the remote control. Just watch! Meanwhile, "The Pope's Toilet" is an excellent example of Film Movement's rich library of foreign and indie movies. "The Pope's Toilet" is HIGHLY RECOMMEDED!

filmalamosa Follows poor people in small Uruguayan town trying to cash in on the Pope's visit. One decides to build a bathroom (kind of dry irony of some sort). The entire livelihood of the main characters is dependent on smuggling things from Brazil on bicycles. I have recently watched now 3 films all from the same area (Argentina and Uruguay) all with loads of local realism. All of them made recently.By far the best was *Live In Maid*... It features two professional actresses but it is flawlessly authentic...a bump down was *Intimate Stories* it is authentic but too sentimental...still it is technically sound and holds together nicely. This film by contrast is loose amateurish and contrived...the local faces are good that is it. I found the main actors not convincing (they looked middle class not poor) and the relentless shots of the staged poverty and local color (cows being herded in unconvincing ways etc..) depressing rather than interesting (as they would be if it is done right). It was as though anyone well dressed clean and middle class was run off the streets although you accidentally saw a few of them in the Brazilian town. I got the point it is a poor community but I felt it staged and exaggerated---in short contrived.Of the actors the husband does the best job and is a likable character...the daughter totally unlikeable (was she adopted? looks zero like the parents) with a constant sour expression--the wife too old for the role. I got tired of seeing her rear end in old baggy Levi's.It tells me just shooting edited slums (to show most broken down features) and faces doesn't cut it. Especially with obvious middle class actors carrying the story. Just make an authentic documentary! Not an art grade film watch the 2 others I mention above instead.

Red-125 El Baño del Papa (2007) written and directed by César Charlone and Enrique Fernández, was shown in the U.S. with the title, "The Pope's Toilet." The film stars César Troncoso as the small-time smuggler Beto, and Virginia Méndez as Carmen, his loving but cautious wife. The Pope is going to pay a visit to Melo, a small Uruguayan city near the Brazilian border. The residents of Melo are in a fever of anticipation about the visit, especially about the thousands of Brazilian tourists who will come across the border to be present at this historical moment.Beto, like all his friends and neighbors, is caught up in the almost ritualistic excitement. He has the creative thought of constructing a pay toilet for the tourists as his means of finally making some real profits.The rest of the plot hinges on Beto's schemes to acquire enough capital to construct the toilet, and to get the project finished before the Pope arrives. In order to do this, he has to come to terms with people other than the "honest" small-scale tradesmen who purchase his smuggled household goods. He strikes a deal with the devil, although there were varied opinions within our group of just who the bad guy was. (He was obviously a bad guy, and he had power over Beto, but we weren't sure of his exact role. I think he was the local customs officer.)The acting in the film was uniformly good, and the two leads were outstanding. The locations seemed authentic to me, although I have no way to judge this. The subtitles were fine.We saw this film at Rochester's Dryden Theatre, as part of the excellent Rochester Labor Film Festival. It will probably work very well on a small screen. It's an interesting, if flawed film, and worth seeing as long as you don't expect a masterpiece. Let's face it--Uruguayan films don't come along every day, at least they don't come along in Rochester. "The Pope's Toilet" is a way to enter a culture that is like our own in very basic ways, but far different from our culture in practical, day-to-day matters.*Note* Avoid the trailer for this film. It gives away the plot and the best lines.

hrprossi Melo is like this. The film shows the reality of this area of the country where very poor people have to do their best in order to survive. It is the reality of most of our peoples in Latin America. Their dreams and their daily struggle against poverty and frustration. The Pope's visit is a very good way to show what these people do every day to live a "decent" life. The direction, the actors, the natural scenery. everything is in its right place and all of us left the theater with the feeling that life is so and nobody can do anything to change the way thing are for them. Just one word to define it: Excellent.