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BOLIVIA/ FOOD FILMS/
FILM
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dir:Adrián
Caetano/
prod:Lita
Stantic,
Matiás Mosteirín/
cast:Freddie Flores,
Rosa Sanchez, Oscar Bertea, Enrique Liporace, Marcelo Videla/
75'/ Argentina/ 2001
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During the opening credits of
Bolivia, we see TV fragments of a soccer match between Argentina
and Bolivia. This makes it clear just how the two countries get
on: under the jeering and chauvinist commentary of an Argentine
presenter the Bolivian side is hacked to pieces. The Bolivian
Freddie left his wife and children to seek work in Argentina. He
finds a job as a cook in a grill restaurant in Buenos Aires.
The clientele, largely coarse beer-drinking drivers, view the
new cook with suspicion and disgust: why did the owner take
on a foreigner when there are so many unemployed Argentineans?
Freddie works away in silence and tries to ignore the
provocative insults of the drivers. He does make friends with
the waitress (who is however also the sweetheart of one of the
regulars) and holds his boss in high regard. But if you bind
yourself to anything, you get yourself into deep water... The
story of Bolivia is largely set in the restaurant, where the
camera stays close to the characters. Dialogues are only
used sparingly. The black and white images of everyday life in
the restaurant and the significant looks of guests and staff are
enough to sketch a sultry mood, while the melancholy Bolivian
music fits in perfectly with this story about xenophobia and
nostalgia.
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