Product Description

"Visceral, sanguine, extremely well directed. An essential film. Caetano is extremely talented." —Walter Salles, director of The Motorcycle Diaries

"Dazzling! Full of restless energy… Reminiscent of Taxi Driver." —Jamie Russell, bbc.co.uk

A starkly realistic story of an illegal immigrant from Bolivia who lands a job with a greasy spoon on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Bolivia poignantly depicts the world of poverty, racism and violence that characterize his newfound reality. Much like Do the Right Thing, tempers flare as discontented working-class people barrel toward tragedy. Shot in a lyrical, neo-realistic style, this taut film is an urgent and timely drama of life in Argentina, a nation in crisis that in the last few years has reached unprecedented poverty levels with vast unemployment, bankruptcy, and a shrinking economy. A multiple prizewinner in film festivals worldwide, Bolivia suggests that an important new voice is being heard. This second feature by Adrián Caetano, one of Argentina's rising stars in its miraculously fecund movie-making community, manages to be both powerful and understated.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58829 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-18
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 75 minutes

Customer Reviews

Artistic Portrayal of a Universal Subject: Immigration
Coming to this movie with no expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. It deals with the plight of a Bolivian man who is forced to leave his country, and family, in search of work in Argentina, a society that is suffering from its own economic depression. Most of the movie takes place in the café where the Bolivian immigrant has found work as a cook. The frequenters of this establishment are suffering from their own economic hardships and resent the immigrant who is willing to work for less than them.

The film is in black and white and focuses on the daily interactions that take place in the café. While there is not a lot of action, you watch the tension build as the life of one of the characters begins to fall apart and he increasingly makes the Bolivian cook the focus of his anger. The movie also touches on the issue of racism. Well done and definitely worth watching.

Might take multiple viewings but a definite winner
I was pleased to come across this dvd at the newly built Bronx Fordham branch of the NYPL. Having not been to Argentina since before the current economic crisis(1994), I was curious to view the Argentina in one of it's roughest eras in almost 2 decades. I've heard the label "Do the Right Thing" Buenos Aires style. That only partly describes it. This story DOES take place in a restaurant, similar to Sal's Famous Pizza. And it does focus on racism and prejudice in a society, much like ours, that values it's "Whiteness." Although much shorter than Spike Lee's best movie, it does bear similarities and both are very good reference points for modern ideas of racism and prejudice. The "actors" are all referred to by their real names, hence main character Freddy is actually Freddy Flores, Paraguayan/Argentine waitress Rosa is really, you guessed it, Rosa. Shot in black and white on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, it shows an Argentina just barely hanging on. Bolivian "cocinero" Freddy arrives in Buenos Aires and immediately gets hired as a cook, where the customers at the restaurant are for the most part out of work. The tensions build as the story goes, but it is evident from the start. The only "ethnic" looking characters are the cook (Bolivian) and waitress (Paraguayan.) Both of these countries share borders with Argentina but might as well be 1 million miles away. Being of Argentine descent I can agree that most Argentines turn their noses up at their mestizo neighbors. The use of traditional Bolivian music is fantastic and the merging of Bolivian music and imagery is superb. I would like to see more short movies like this and although the scope of Argentine cinema is large this is a great example of Argentine film making.

story that repeats for all imigrants.
I am Bolivian and was disapointed that a Bolivian actor was not used, I can see the same descrimination against Argentinians in many countries, probably the least liked people in Latin America.
When a Bolivian peasant woman was pushed from a train and killed the "Grandmothers of the Missing" marched protesting and that showed that not all are the same.
It is a good film that can be a portrait of any imigrant in any foreign country.