The Pool

Superb depiction of Indian life
This interesting and impressive and ultimately moving film is set in the Indian state of Goa and uses the talents of street kids who play its stars. It follows the lives of Venkatesh, an 18-year-old and his 11-year-old friend Janghir (the actors use their actual names. Both live a hand-to-mouth existence cleaning hotel rooms and restaurants and scrounging what they can selling plastic bags.

Venkatesh becomes fascinated by a villa on a hill with a pristine swimming pool he longs to swim in. He eventually inserts himself into the lives of the father and teenage daughter living there - neither of whom ever breaks the perfect blue water of the pool. The father, played with grave dignity by Indian film star Nana Patekar, takes an interest in the illiterate Venkatesh, who is smart but has no schooling. Venkatesh, for his part, is sexually drawn to the sultry and bored Ayesha -- who is interested in Venkatesh and Janghir -- but clearly the class divisions between them are too wide...

Beautiful movie about India
Beautiful movie! The story, the images and the dialogues are poetical. I enjoyed the slow space of the movie and the beauty of the pictures.

The Pool
I liked The Pool when I first saw it on the Sundance channel while channel surfing. It was an escape film for me, took me to India and what felt like was the 'real' India and it's culture. The story was compelling and well acted in my opinion.

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