In order to review this movie and explain what I didn't like about it, I had to reveal some plot elements that might spoil it for those who have not seen it (including the ending). So, please read ahead only if you want to.
Central Station / Central do Brasil is a film about a boy whose mother is hit and killed by a bus and he has nowhere to go but to a dishonest elderly woman who earns a living by writing letters for illiterate people. She doesn't actually send the letters, though. The reason for this is not entirely explained although we are given her reasons from a few cases.
If you are a "realist" movie-goer you won't like the beginning of the film. You would expect that, after the boy's mother is killed, the police would show up who would locate the boy's relatives and place him at a home. We never see any police, not even an ambulance arrive on the scene. A little later, someone steals some food and runs off. He is chased by a man who shoots him. Again, where are the police? There are not even any security guards at the station as you would expect.
The film kind of gets going after this. After almost selling the boy (possibly for body parts?) we see the couple embarking on a quest to find the boy's father. We get to see the absolutely beautiful Brazilian countryside and the interesting characters that the woman and the boy encounter in their travels. We also see how the film uses the characters and events to make reference to Christianity (the boy's father is named Jesus and he is trying to find him).
However, when the boy, does find his two half-brothers, for some unexplained reason, the boy and woman keep it from them that this is their lost little brother whom they had been expecting. We WANT to see the joy on the faces of these two older brothers when they learn that this is him. But we never get to see this. We are led to believe that they are to find out when the old woman leaves, dropping off a letter the boy's mother wrote to his father before she was killed (although the two brothers were illiterate, but there was supposedly a picture of mom and son in the envelope). In short, the emotionally constipated ending without resolution leaves the viewer disappointed.
**1/2 out of **** (fairly good)
Central Station / Central do Brasil is a film about a boy whose mother is hit and killed by a bus and he has nowhere to go but to a dishonest elderly woman who earns a living by writing letters for illiterate people. She doesn't actually send the letters, though. The reason for this is not entirely explained although we are given her reasons from a few cases.
If you are a "realist" movie-goer you won't like the beginning of the film. You would expect that, after the boy's mother is killed, the police would show up who would locate the boy's relatives and place him at a home. We never see any police, not even an ambulance arrive on the scene. A little later, someone steals some food and runs off. He is chased by a man who shoots him. Again, where are the police? There are not even any security guards at the station as you would expect.
The film kind of gets going after this. After almost selling the boy (possibly for body parts?) we see the couple embarking on a quest to find the boy's father. We get to see the absolutely beautiful Brazilian countryside and the interesting characters that the woman and the boy encounter in their travels. We also see how the film uses the characters and events to make reference to Christianity (the boy's father is named Jesus and he is trying to find him).
However, when the boy, does find his two half-brothers, for some unexplained reason, the boy and woman keep it from them that this is their lost little brother whom they had been expecting. We WANT to see the joy on the faces of these two older brothers when they learn that this is him. But we never get to see this. We are led to believe that they are to find out when the old woman leaves, dropping off a letter the boy's mother wrote to his father before she was killed (although the two brothers were illiterate, but there was supposedly a picture of mom and son in the envelope). In short, the emotionally constipated ending without resolution leaves the viewer disappointed.
**1/2 out of **** (fairly good)