(2008; El Baño del Papa, Spanish) In May 1988, Pope John Paul II came to Melo, Uruguay, to give a speech; the townspeople, who were mostly poor, anticipated tens of thousands of visitors for the event. In a humble homily on unaffordable hubris, filmmakers César Charlone and Enrique Fernández imagined how a small-time smuggler, Beto (César Troncoso), might have joined his neighbors in trying to earn a profit from the papal appearance.

Bicycling back and forth across the border into Brazil, Beto and his friends transport contraband for local businesses. Their nemesis Meleyo, the unscrupulous mobile customs agent, pursues in his vehicle, sometimes catching them, confiscating whiskey and humiliating them.

Though Beto's wife Carmen (Virginia Mendez) objects to making money from people wanting to see the Pope in person, Beto decides, seeing as that others will be selling quantities of food - chorizo sandwiches, barbeque, tamales - and beverages, to construct an outdoor toilet for their convenience.

He expects to make enough money for a motorbike, a new roof, a walkway around the humble house, a chicken coop with egg-laying chickens, and a new radio for his teenage daughter Silvia (Virginia Ruiz), who wants to go to school in Montevideo to become a radio announcer.

Running out of funds before he's able to complete the privy - wanting a fancy door and a porcelain toilet bowl - he's forced to make a deal with Meleyo to run special errands into Aceguá.

"Did you sell anything?" Carmen asks her next-door neighbor. "Only my soul to the devil" is the reply. Holy bowel movement.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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