Spring Break
Ethnicity and family explored in Brazilian film
Issue date: 4/17/08
The Year my Parents Went on Vacation takes place in 1970 in Brazil. It was a tumultuous yet exciting time to live in the country. At the time Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship that frequently arrested accused dissidents. Yet it was also the year that the national soccer team, led by superstar Pelé, was on its way to win the World Cup.
The film centers on a young 12-year old boy named Mauro (Michel Joelsas), whose parents leave him with his paternal grandfather after having to go underground to avoid arrest.
When Mauro arrives at his grandfather's Sao Paolo apartment, young Mauro discovers that the grandfather that he never met had died just minutes earlier.
Mauro is brought in by his grandfather's neighbor, Shlomo (Germano Haiut), who acts like his surrogate parent. Shlomo is an orthodox Jew who works in the local synagogue and seamlessly moves between Portuguese and Yiddish.
But Mauro's father is Jewish, which, according to the religious community he finds himself thrust into makes him a "goy," a term they pejoratively call him initially. Much of the narrative concerns the tensions between Mauro and the traditionalist community that brings him in.
This issue is first raised when Mauro is caught peeing in Shlomo's houseplant because Shlomo is taking too long in the bathroom.
Shlomo is stunned, not so much that Mauro is peeing in the middle of his living room, but that he is not circumcised. While some of the Yiddish is subtitled for the audience, much of it isn't. The selective translation effectively conveys Mauro's confusion and sense of otherness.
Yet it does not take long for Mauro to become embraced by the community. He sits around daily being overfed by elderly Jewish women and dragged to synagogue where he sits bewildered among the bearded men. He also befriends several kids in the neighborhood, including a girl on whom he has a mutual, yet unspoken of crush.
The Sao Paolo neighborhood reveals the multicultural fabric of urban life. Groups mingle, yet largely keep apart in daily life. It is soccer, however, that serves to bring everyone together.
The film centers on a young 12-year old boy named Mauro (Michel Joelsas), whose parents leave him with his paternal grandfather after having to go underground to avoid arrest.
When Mauro arrives at his grandfather's Sao Paolo apartment, young Mauro discovers that the grandfather that he never met had died just minutes earlier.
Mauro is brought in by his grandfather's neighbor, Shlomo (Germano Haiut), who acts like his surrogate parent. Shlomo is an orthodox Jew who works in the local synagogue and seamlessly moves between Portuguese and Yiddish.
But Mauro's father is Jewish, which, according to the religious community he finds himself thrust into makes him a "goy," a term they pejoratively call him initially. Much of the narrative concerns the tensions between Mauro and the traditionalist community that brings him in.
This issue is first raised when Mauro is caught peeing in Shlomo's houseplant because Shlomo is taking too long in the bathroom.
Shlomo is stunned, not so much that Mauro is peeing in the middle of his living room, but that he is not circumcised. While some of the Yiddish is subtitled for the audience, much of it isn't. The selective translation effectively conveys Mauro's confusion and sense of otherness.
Yet it does not take long for Mauro to become embraced by the community. He sits around daily being overfed by elderly Jewish women and dragged to synagogue where he sits bewildered among the bearded men. He also befriends several kids in the neighborhood, including a girl on whom he has a mutual, yet unspoken of crush.
The Sao Paolo neighborhood reveals the multicultural fabric of urban life. Groups mingle, yet largely keep apart in daily life. It is soccer, however, that serves to bring everyone together.
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