Ethnicity and family explored in Brazilian film
During the World Cup everyone in the country from the orthodox rabbi to the young college students are glued to their television sets. The sport also serves to bring people together on the local level.
One particularly comical scene involves a soccer match between the local Jewish and Italian communities. The Jewish team's goalie is none other than a black Catholic man.
Soccer is also the sport that inspires and distracts young Mauro. Mauro dreams of becoming a goalie, a position that he understands to be the one in which mistakes cannot be made. The goalie serves as a symbol for the position that Mauro finds himself in, alone and his own protector.
While Mauro's abandonment forms the heart of the story, both narratively and emotionally, there is also the subtext of the volatile political situation in Brazil in 1970.
Yet the film is a character-centered one. This is both a plus and a minus. The acting is tremendous, and executed powerfully yet realistically. Joelsas captures the confusion and contradictions of being caught between childhood and adulthood. Haiut, too, effectively portrays the struggle of an old man who unexpectedly is given the job of caring for a child who is not his own.
However, the character-centered drama can sometimes verge on triteness. Sure, characters learn and grow and change. Yet the story sometimes makes these character developments seem contrived.
The cinematography is magnificent. Mirrors and reflections are used artfully, avoiding any lapse into gimmickry. The costumes and sets bring the Sao Paolo streets to life.
The Year my Parents Went on Vacation is an ambitious film. Family, ethnicity, religion, assimilation, Brazilian politics and the role of sports as a national unifier are all issues that the film explores. Despite the plethora of topics that the film deals with, it does not feel overwhelming. The film flows smoothly, incorporating all of these themes while delving into the complexities of the characters.
One particularly comical scene involves a soccer match between the local Jewish and Italian communities. The Jewish team's goalie is none other than a black Catholic man.
Soccer is also the sport that inspires and distracts young Mauro. Mauro dreams of becoming a goalie, a position that he understands to be the one in which mistakes cannot be made. The goalie serves as a symbol for the position that Mauro finds himself in, alone and his own protector.
While Mauro's abandonment forms the heart of the story, both narratively and emotionally, there is also the subtext of the volatile political situation in Brazil in 1970.
Yet the film is a character-centered one. This is both a plus and a minus. The acting is tremendous, and executed powerfully yet realistically. Joelsas captures the confusion and contradictions of being caught between childhood and adulthood. Haiut, too, effectively portrays the struggle of an old man who unexpectedly is given the job of caring for a child who is not his own.
However, the character-centered drama can sometimes verge on triteness. Sure, characters learn and grow and change. Yet the story sometimes makes these character developments seem contrived.
The cinematography is magnificent. Mirrors and reflections are used artfully, avoiding any lapse into gimmickry. The costumes and sets bring the Sao Paolo streets to life.
The Year my Parents Went on Vacation is an ambitious film. Family, ethnicity, religion, assimilation, Brazilian politics and the role of sports as a national unifier are all issues that the film explores. Despite the plethora of topics that the film deals with, it does not feel overwhelming. The film flows smoothly, incorporating all of these themes while delving into the complexities of the characters.
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