As part of the Latin America film festival in Singapore, I watched the show “Puerto Padre” (Port Father) today. It was a film from Costa Rica and although free tickets were distributed half an hour earlier, there were not many people. I saw the queue for the Brazilian film was much longer.
Daniel, 16, an orphan, lives with his grandmother on Chira Island, in Costa Rica. Seeing no future in this poor and isolated place and curious about his origins, Daniel decides to find his godfather, Miguel Angel, in Puntarenas, a port town.
Daniel begins his quest at the hotel where his mother used to work, but he is received coldly by the owner of the place, Chico, who informs him that his godfather had died a while back. After an initial refusal, Chico offers Daniel a job along with strict marching orders.
At the hotel, Daniel meets Soledad, a 17-year-old single mother who maintains the hotel’s kitchen, and before long the two have begun a relationship.
Chico fires Daniel, but, as consolation, refers him to Caracas, the shady operator of a nearby business repairing small boats. It’s hard work but Daniel has the luck to befriend Elias, one of Caracas’ workers who inadvertently reveals a secret about his origins. The journey hasn’t been wasted. A new chapter in Daniel’s life is beginning.
AWARDS
• Silver Zenith award – Montreal World Film Festival, 2014
The film was short, about 86min long and the ending was abrupt. The storyline was not too thrilling but it told the story of Daniel and how a village boy came to the city to find work as well as discover the past. Got me thinking aout my Eco d paper, about neoliberalism, exploitation of the poor and critiques of sustainable development blah blah.
After that I went to donate blood at the blood bank and since it was my 10th time, I received a medallion for my efforts yay.
I’m surprised the Amazing Race came to Singapore again, did the same tightrope walk challenge across Marina Bay Sands. The chinese massage was quite amusing because angmohs have low threshold for pain and were screaming away; actually I would not do it as well as I don’t like the Chinese method of massage and putting that glass of fire over your skin which makes it so red.
Lesson of this episode: never trust anyone even if you think you’re in an alliance cos you might just get played out.
Alright back to studying Eco d. Hasta luego!
