The Swimming Pool is only an hour long and in some ways
feels like a lengthened short rather than a full feature. Its strength is its observational,
non-judgemental tone that allows the individual characters to come through,
important given the lack of narrative drive.
It depicts a day in the life of four disabled teenagers and
their swimming instructor at a pool in Cuba. What it portrays
well is a group of kids testing how to relate each other and how far they can
push things – something that is heightened by the way they are clearly stuck in
a group together, separated from the other kids who they have to clear the pool
for. The film unfolds gently, perhaps a
little too gently given it only has a short running time, with a documentary
feel to it. It has nice moments of
comedy and emotional touches, but in the end is a short, quiet piece that
doesn't quite reveal as much as it could have.
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