El baño del Papa (2007)

Directors:

César Charlone
Enrique Fernández

Writers:

César Charlone (writer)
Enrique Fernández (writer)

Release Date:

8 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A small South American village is in a flurry over the Pope's 1988 visit.

Plot Keywords:

Pope | Contraband | Bicycle | In Law | Border Crossing

Awards:

11 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

  (Credited cast)

César Troncoso	...	Beto
Virginia Méndez	...	Carmen
Mario Silva	...	Valvulina
Virginia Ruiz	...	Silvia
Nelson Lence	...	Meleyo
Henry De Leon	...	Nacente
Jose Arce	...	Tica
Rosario Dos Santos	...	Teresa
Hugo Blandamuro	...	Tartamudo

Also Known As:

Les toilettes du pape (France)
O Banheiro do Papa (Brazil) (festival title)
The Pope's Toilet (Canada: English title)

Runtime:

90 min | Canada:97 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Uruguay | Brazil | France

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | South Korea:12 | Taiwan:GP | Canada:G (Quebec) | Ireland:15A | USA:TV-MA (tv rating)

Filming Locations:

Acegua, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Company:

Chaya Films

Trivia:

Uruguay's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Pope Project (2010)

It deserves to be seen... but open your mind first.

If you are looking for effects, heroes and such, don't watch it. If you watch movies as a thread of facts, or scenes, you'll never understand a movie like this. But if you open your mind enough to understand what poverty does to the characters; their broken dreams, their lack of material goods, their lack of education, food, etc., and read carefully each one of the subtle (and not so subtle sometimes) messages about honesty, friendship and family values, and how strong those values can be, you'll find you are watching a little jewel; surprisingly, non-pro actors almost outperform pro actors, thus making a very fresh and simple film, very natural. A message goes to church: it seems church doesn't care about poor people but only when is good marketing; feeding kids in poor countries (just an example, not related with the film) may be of great impact, but getting involved with problems and faith of people seems not to be important at all. That doesn't means stop feeding kids; that means not making a display of richness each time a country is visited, cause seems that the church laughs at people's poverty and suffering. I guess that's why so many of us in Uruguay believe in god, but doesn't trust the church as an institution anymore. Press credibility is at stake too. My personal opinion from now on: the message is clear.. the flame of values is still alive. Don't let it die, cause only values will keep us alive as big family.