Bolivia

Freddie is a Bolivian in Buenos Aires, working as a cook in a small bar/restaurant. His contact with the owner, the working-class customers, and his co-workers tells a story of poverty, intolerance, violence, and despair in contemporary Argentina. This brief (75-minute) film is well worth the effort you may have to make to seek it out. First rate.

The life of illegal immigrants, in Buenos Aires or in another place in the world, is a black & white life, the colors are off. For telling the routine of a Bolivian cook, alone, sleeping in a bar, with his wife and children living 1500 miles away, disturbed everyday by police asking for his papers, white and black are enough. You won't find here famous actors or great special effects. Almost the whole movie occurs in a cheap neighbourhood bar. But the story is universal, it could be a Turkey in Munich, a Tunisian in Marsella or a Mexican in Los Angeles.

Hector Kesselman, Buenos Aires, Argentina

In a small bar/restaurant, at a corner in Buenos Aires Argentina, a Bolivian immigrant finds a job as a cook. His experiences and those of the locals in the bar are used by the director to tell us a story about life of working class people in nowaday Argentina. The film is almost entirely shot in the bar. The scenery, discussions in the bar, and development of the drama have a Jarmusch like quality.

The film won the critics-price in the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Highly recommended!

There are movies that shows you how hard can life be for people considered different or out of place. We know that Adrian Caetano is quite an expert in such films. "Bolivia" is not an exception. Really good, makes you think about facts that seems quite normal in our countries.In Argentina the Bolivian or Paraguayan people are generally unwanted immigrants, as Argentinians are unwanted in other places like USA, Italy or Spain. This movie shows clearly how can individual tragedies be part of social discrimination. Considered as "Nuevo Cine Argentino", Caetano's filmography should be watched carefully, being a good director that tells simple but deep stories.

Bolivia is filmed entirely in black and white, contains almost no score, and 90% of it takes place in the same setting - a quaint, run-down café frequented by Argentinian regulars.

It sounds slow but captivates for the entirety of its short duration. The movie follows an illegal immigrant, Freddy, who is trying to make his way in the country as he struggles to deal with intolerant locals. He supports a family back home and wants them to join him in Buenos Aires when he saves up enough money.

The film delivers a powerful message about xenophobia and poverty in South America in the modern era. Despite its short length, it is one of my favorite foreign films to date.