Central do Brasil

In reality, there are a finite amount of interesting story lines to tell. What makes one movie telling the same storyline more worthwhile to see is a combination of creative expression, in depth character development, superb acting, exquisite photography, and believability, or the ability to persuade the moviegoer to suspend disbelief.

How many times have we been exposed to a retelling of Shirley Temple's Heidi, where a young non-related child falls into the life of an old curmudgeon, and teaches that curmudgeon to enjoy life and/or develop morals and values? Too many times for me, so I was reluctant to see this film. It would have been a shame had I not.

There are many creative twists and turns along the way to keep the suspense level up in this film. The photography in Rio is OK, but once out in the Brazilian countryside, it is fantastic. At the end of the film, there is little doubt but that the way this story turns out is how it would have had to turn out. The character development of Josue is a little weak, but that of Dora is superb. And you will see a lot of films before you will see an acting performance like Fernanda Montenegro's as Dora again.

This movie thankfully is not overly sentimental, that would get in the way of the story, it is just a great film to watch and enjoy. 9 of 10.

I thought this movie was terrific, a little slow in parts, but I cared about the characters and was interested in their journey. I also liked the fact that the main character was not portrayed as a saint - Dora is a real person, flaws and all. Montenegro was robbed at the Oscars and so was the movie.

Having been born and raised in Rio and visited many other parts of Brazil and abroad, I have to recognize that the film is not completely accurate, but still very touching. Let's start with the inaccuracies: yes, teens and children are still murdered in the city slums, but it has more to do with drug dealing wars. Those absurd stories of having kids (and sometimes adults) kidnapped to have their organs extracted and sold in the black market are as untrue as it could be. However, crooks and con men and women like the ones presented there, trying to make some easy money from whatever they can find, is more than real. Another inaccuracy is the huge number of illiterate people who need Dora's help for writing their letters. Actually, nowadays and since a long time ago, you can hardly find real illiterate people in Rio. There are bunches of people who commit hundreds of grammar and spelling mistakes, but they're perfectly able to express their ideas on paper. Inaccurate facts apart, it is one of the most beautiful stories of love and friendship that has ever been set on screen. And the best of all is that, to become nominee for the Academy Award, it didn't need CGI, the appealing cliché of violence and sex, which is almost always expected from Brazilian movies. Dora's suffered and empty heart and unorthodox honesty input by a whole life of deceptions, changes as she spends time with little Josue and she finds space to become a much better person. It's been almost twenty years since I first watched Central Station, but I still can clearly remember leaving the theater surrounded by hordes of women crying and men pretending not to. Frankly speaking, for a very long time, I refused to watch the Italian "Life is beautiful" by super-talented writer, director and actor Roberto Begnini just because it had defeated "Central Station" in the Academy Award, nevertheless when my prejudice was finally gone, I had to recognize a respectful rival. What didn't make any sense was Gwyneth Paltrow's artificial and almost amateur acting in "Shakespeare in Love" having defeated Fernanda Montenegro who really rocked, as usual. So, if you want to enjoy a touching and realistic film which will probably have you in tears, give it a try and take a couple hours to watch this masterpiece of the Brazilian movie industry.

Central do Brasil has everything. You come expecting a story of a woman who takes care of a child in a harsh social milieu. You sit in disbelief as this woman shows herself to be a heartless opportunist, and as your expectations are being confounded, you begin to realize how this villainess came to be such a person. The boy she begins to help is also no innocent movie cherub, he has an endearing slyness and a will to survive despite the horrible tragedy he has experienced.

Their road trip is an odyssey from bad to worse, and you begin to sympathize. The characters they meet and the landscape they traverse give us in the north a flavor of Brazil which I cannot confirm as being authentic. But they seem as complex and beautiful and full of contradiction as the Brazilian music that I love. And the final destination for the boy (you're on the edge of your seat hoping things will turn out right) is not a happily-ever-after, but seems to indicate a new direction for the character.

If I sound overly sentimental (I'm sure I do) it's because very few films have moved me like this one. I watched it through three times and cried at the scene of Dora on the bus every time. The use of religious imagery, from the modern evangelicalism of the truck driver to the more unfamiliar scenes with the pictures of the saints (incredible camerawork here) added dimensions of complexity in a medium where Christianity is often treated either in a saccharine fashion or with heavyhanded disdain. See Central Station.

'Central do Brasil' is basically a road movie about a boy Josué (Vinícius de Oliveira) who just lost his mother searching for his father. He does this with the help of Dora (Fernanda Montenegro). She writes letters for illiterate people in the central station of Rio de Janeiro. Dora has a secret, she doesn't mail the letters. She knows Josué because he and his mother used to write letters to Josué's father and when his mother dies she takes care of him, although she has other intentions at first.

The movie is mainly about the relationship between the boy and the woman. Of course they meet people on the road. Especially the part where they travel with a truck driver is very good. We also see a little of the life in Brazil. This is a movie with a good story that is very well directed. The acting is terrific. Montenegra as the older woman and especially De Oliveira as the boy is very good.