★★★★½ The Pope's Toilet

[Twinkletoes: 4.5, Gino: 4.0] Twinkletoes says: 'This film got a middling score from the Philadelphia Film Festival crowds, which when you take into account that everyone rates everything favorably, is a pretty sad statement about the film. Well I must be out of touch with the rest of the world because I thought this thing was fantastic. It is the story of a poor family man living in a poor town on the border bewteen Uruguay and Brazil. When word comes that the Pope will be paying a visit, the town is excited about the financial possibilities that all of the expected tourists will bring. While most are planning on selling food, the man at the center of this film devises a plan to build a fully functioning modern toilet (sorely lacking in this town) and charge visitors to use it. It's the story of a flawed but essentially good man who is a dreamer. It is gently funny, sweet, heartbreaking and most of all very genuine. Maybe these people were all actors who a big stars in Brazil but I wouldn't be surprised if they were all actual residents of this little town. They were all that convincing. Highly recommended.'

Gino: [No text review.]