The Pool (2008)

What makes it different from others?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan) is a self-sufficient eighteen-year-old, working for the hotel Arcadia in the city of Panjim, India, whilst saving up as much money to give to his mother on his frequent visits back to his village.Venkatesh's best friend and business partner is 11-year old Jhangir (Jhangir Badshah), who spend their spare time selling plastic bags. Along his morning laundry-delivering route, Venkatesh sits high up a tree looking over at a gleaming swimming pool in a wealthy mans home. He dreams of swimming in the pure blue water, the pool becomes an obsession to him as a symbol of the wealth he has never known. The house is owned by Nana (Nana Patekar), who returns with his self-centred teenage daughter Ayesha (Ayesha Mohan) to tend to the garden. But neither father nor daughter use the swimming pool, which confuses Venkatesh who has by now managed to get some extra work helping Nana in his garden. He becomes even more intrigued by Ayesha, who spends her days reading books which help to "screw your head up". She strikes a friendship with Venkatesh and Jhangir, their educational, class and caste distinctions put to one side whilst they enjoy each others company.Venkatesh and Jhangir's friendship (both local non-actors) was endearing and thought- provoking, their 7-year age gap rendered meaningless since both have had to grow up at a young age to survive. Their lack of education is all too evident, shaped by what they see not what they read, especially when Jhangir thinks everything outside of India is America. Initially, Venkatesh appeared slack and selfish, he wasn't even bothered when he inadvertently got his hotel co-worker fired. But we learn more about him and his past when he starts to open up to both Ayesha and Nana especially, developing a father-son relationship with him. This bond culminates in Nana making Venkatesh an offer that could change his life. We learn a lot about everyone, including Nana and Ayesha's strained relationship, and it becomes clear that the disused pool was central to everyone's lives.'The Pool' seems initially to tread the familiar coming-of-age stories we have all seen, but it becomes something much more tender, much more contemplative than you could imagine. Beautifully directed by the American director Chris Smith, known for such documentaries as 'American Movie' and 'The Yes Men', he covers a lot of difficult themes with little melodrama or pretension. Complex subjects such as education, the caste system and poverty are treated deftly and with scant moralising. The characters are naturalistic, their insecurities are teased out of them through subtle and poignant observations which you cant help but be moved by.Will Venkatesh understand and accept the wisdom behind Nana's story of the 100 Rupees, will it enslave him or empower him? Nana's offer of salvation requires Venkatesh to grow up and take a terrifying leap of faith, and he knows it. By the end, he may well have surprised us all.

This film is shown on Independent film channel, it's an interesting and relevant film. No great theories here, just Vankatesh a young destitute Indian boy trying to make it in the city of Panjim (his mother lives in the country and he brings money back to her and his two sisters).He works as a hotel boy and also with his friend Jhangir, tries to sell plastic bags to street vendors to make money on the side. From the activities of Venkatesh and his friend, as they try to get a mango down from the tree for lunch (.."Is this what Goans do for recreation?"... , his friend Ayesha asks). They befriend her because Venkatesh tells his friend he has seen a villa which has a nice swimming pool and no one ever uses it. Ayesha Mohan is very good here as the girl, she is more stylish and her father is a businessman from Bombay who works there and owns this villa in Goa.At any rate Venkatesh and Jhangir befriend Ayesha, they walk around Panjim, and he shows her the Portuguese architecture of an abandoned fort from years past.The photography is real without the fake embellished "gritty" style. We could see much of the same streets in Mexico, parts of South Florida or rural America. The street scenes are of food markets and hardscrabble life which is just accepted by Venkatesh as a day to day thing. Noteworthy are the scenes when he meets Ayesha's father who mentors him, has him help in the garden and eventually talks to him about going back to school.It's a shame these films do not get as much distribution in the U.S. It's a reflection of people just trying to survive. The initial screenplay apparently was based in Iowa, its the same situation there in this economy for many, so the theme is certainly relevant and effective. I'd love to see more of these films from Hollywood, and less based on comic book characters. 10/10.

"The Pool" is an excellent, slow paced, moving and an uplifting story of an impoverished teenager whose life changes from having an obsession with a swimming pool. I can easily say that the story being slow paced added an extra charm to the movie. The main actor, Venkatesh, could improve his camera presence a little. Nana Patekar(father), Ayesha (daughter) and Jhangir (friend) were spotless. I am not writing a spoiler content here, and would like to recommend this movie to everyone, not just for the ones who loves independent movies.To you Netflix, when did low budget movies become documentaries? I like documentaries, and surprisingly Netflix recommended this movie to me. I am glad they did! :-)

This is a very slow-paced film which I rather liked. It takes place in India in the town of Goa and is centred around the friendship between 3 adolescent children – 2 boys and a girl. One of the boys also be-friends a man (he is the father of the female character) who owns the pool – where the film title is taken from. The film has a decidedly non-North American perspective. There are no histrionics and the relationship between the different people is very authentic.It is character driven and the plot is kind of minimal, but there is a nice resolution at the end. It is kind of like "Slum Dog Millionaire" with lots of tranquilizers.