A small town in Uruguay prepares for a visit from the Pope. A huge crowd from across the Brazilian border is expected, estimates going up as far as 200,000. Melo is a poor town and its poorest inhabitants eek out a living as petty smugglers travelling by bicycle 60 kilometres each day to carry whiskey, batteries and anything else that will fit onto a bike, and on their daily journey they run the risk of an encounter with vain, capricious customs officers on the take.
To supplement their meagre income, many of Melo's poor take out loans to set up in business in the hope of cashing in on the anticipated crowds who will come to see John Paul 2.
Most of these entrepreneurs hit on the idea of selling fast food to the would-be pilgrims, but Beto follows a different path and decides to build a toilet. He imagines, not entirely unreasonably, that the crowds who will have travelled far and waited a long time to see the Pope will all be willing to pay for the privilege of using his toilet, the only public facility in the area.
At last the great wealth, prestige and power of the Pope rolls into town and the hopes of the poor are heightened, although some suffer a bit of a guilty conscience about making money off the back of the Pope who they revere. The Chorizo sandwiches, holy knick-knacks and the fabled toilet are all on display, complete with price tags, but the expected crowd fails to materialise and the poor people are left disappointed and poorer than when they started, but at least Beto has a new toilet for his family to use.
The striking themes of the movie (well directed by Cesar Charloneand Enrique Fernandez), are the poverty of the people, the oppression they live under (corrupt customs officials etc) and their resilience. Their joy and contentment in spite of hardship is hard to understand, difficult to relate to perhaps; maybe they are well practiced, but their optimism seems indestructible. Even after the Papal disappointment their faith is unchanged.
The movie is humorous and poignant and the plight of the characters is convincingly portrayed by a solid cast. I was left with a wondering about the nature of hope and the resilience of the human race to rise against adversity.
It's a bit long but well worth the watch and deserving of the awards it has picked up.
Original title: “El baño del Papa”.
