Mario Vargas Llosa, Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973)

So the Peruvian army has a problem: their troops stationed in remote areas are sexually frustrated, with few women around, rape is commonplace, and generally the whole situation is bad for morale.  Captain Pantoja isn't really interested in this, but he is extremely dilligent and devoted to the army, so he is assigned to create a "Special Service" of prostitutes to try to ameliorate the situation.  This is made even more difficult for him by the fact that he's not allowed to reveal his ties to the army, and he's not allowed to tell his family what he's really doing.  Seems rough, but in fact, due to his conscientious nature, he succeeds beyond anyone's wildest dreams.  It's probably not much of a spoiler, though, to reveal that everything does not end up going wholly according to plan.

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A Soldier Dreams of White Lilies

 I'm glad that pro-Ukraine sentiment is as nigh-universal as it is.  Sure, there are some right-wing Putin-apologist shitheads, but the message doesn't really seemed to have spread to the vast majority of people.  There's a bank around here that now says "Pray for Ukraine" on its electronic sign.  If you think a dang bank would ever put up a sign that they feared was going to cause any controversy whatsoever...well, I disagree.

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