Movie: Por la libre

Por la libre (2000) is the story of two cousins in Mexico City who swipe the ashes of their grandfather from their bickering family and take them to be scattered in Acapulco as he had requested. In the process, they not only learn about themselves and each other (which is, of course, always the case in road trip movies), but they also learn many surprising things about their grandfather.

The title is a reference to the choice in Mexico of taking the toll road or taking the free highway (la libre). The English title is Dust to Dust. Who decides these things? To be fair, the translators didn't have much to work with here. The original title is already a stretch--the highway itself is a very minor plot point and it takes a real effort to make the concept fit the movie as a whole.

Anyway. Shortly after seeing this movie, I heard Slate's Explainer podcast for "How much will my ashes weigh?" where they tell us that our "cremains" generally weigh

About 5 pounds for an adult. The weight can vary from 3 pounds all the way up to 10, depending on the size and density of the deceased's bones.

Having this new little factoid under my belt, I suddenly saw many of the plot points in the movie as extremely far-fetched. The most ridiculous, is that at one point the cousins discover that the ashes in the urn have been swapped out for fritos. Now, before they discover this, they have been carrying it around for a while. Surely they would have noticed a 5-lbs or more difference in the weight of the urn!

I don't mean to give the impression that this diminished my enjoyment of the movie. I still highly recommend it. The final verdict is that we recommend this to most anyone. A very good film.