In the Castillo File, we find out what has happened to Lieutenant Castillo of the famed Miami Vice since his retirement from the squad. Castillo recounts his departure from the underpaid and over-risky police force and his subsequent immigration to the Netherlands in search of a more peaceful new life. After a quick course in Dutch, Castillo finds himself a freelance job with VPRO television- an assignment to create a documentary about foreigners living in Holland and their views of Dutch life. Castillo delves thoroughly into a series of interviews with a circus of characters from every corner of Holland's immigrant population. Among them, an Italian pickpocket who finds Holland an ideal workplace, a woman from Suriname who thinks the Dutch are all 'cheese hea…s' and an American military wife that can't fulfil all her shopping desires in the Netherlands (but is grateful for the tax breaks). The interviewees are mostly played by Dutch actors feigning their Eastern European or Iranian accents, and of course, the result is a hilarious commentary on cultural stereotypes mediated by the deliberately unsophisticated stylization characteristic of Marroquin's work. What Marroquin is really making a parody of, as Castillo's boss at the VPRO sounds off, is the stereotypes the Dutch have of foreigners. By creating the obvious falseness in backdrops, characters and dialogues, he pokes fun at cultural difference. We are challenged to see our own weaknesses and social limits under the manipulation of the media. (Elaine W. Ho) Read more...