BOLIVIA

Nostalgia and xenophobia make an unholy mix in BOLIVIA, a film that describes the insulting details and daily grind of immigrant life. In a cheap restaurant in Buenos Aires, Freddy, an illegal immigrant newly arrived from Bolivia, makes 15 pesos a day, most of which he spends on regular phone calls to his wife and kids back home. The clientele, mainly coarse beer-drinking drivers, view Freddy with suspicion and disgust: why hire an immigrant when so many Argentines are out of work? Freddy befriends another victim in the restaurant, Rosa, a Paraguayan immigrant who waits tables. Freddie Flores, a non-professional actor, plays Freddy with quiet dignity and restrained temper while facing both subtle discrimination and overt racism in the restaurant and on the street. It’s a deceptively low-key feature, a simple story that builds slowly to pack an emotional wallop. Based on a story by Romina Lanfranchini, BOLIVIA brings to light issues rarely discussed openly in Argentina, and with the gritty, grainy treatment in blown-up, black-and-white video. (In Spanish with English subtitles)