Cinema
Central Station
Central do Brasil
Walter Salles · 1998
Synopsis
Dora, a former schoolteacher, writes for a small fee, in the Central do Brasil station in Rio de Janeiro, the letters of those who cannot write; some never get sent and stay in her drawer. Ana has her write to the father of her son Josué, a nine-year-old boy who has never seen him. When Ana dies, run over by a bus in front of the station, Dora takes in the child reluctantly, hands him over to a shady couple, then takes him back and sets off with him to look for his father in the interior of the country.
Context
The story grew out of a documentary the director had made in 1995, according to the Indiana University Cinema. Written by João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein and co-produced with France, it brings together Fernanda Montenegro and a newcomer, Vinícius de Oliveira, a shoeshine boy chosen from more than fifteen hundred boys, according to AdoroCinema; the same site reports that passers-by at the station came to ask the actress to write their letters and that some of these scenes were kept. The film drew 1.6 million viewers in Brazil, according to the English-language encyclopedia, and a restored version was re-released in 2018.
Who it is for
A film of a little under two hours, in Portuguese, set first in a Rio station, then on the roads of the interior.
Prizes and reception
Golden Bear and Silver Bear for best actress at Berlin in 1998; Golden Globe for best foreign film; twice nominated for Oscars, for the film and for Fernanda Montenegro.
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