Central Station (1998)

Waste of time

Undescribable Perfection

How sad is this?

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Central Station is a road movie set in Rio where it is a dog eat dog society if you are poor. Dora a retired teacher works in a train station concourse where she writes letters for illiterates and usually does not post them even though she has been paid for this service.Josue is a young boy who has been orphaned since his mother was hit by a bus. He is a wise kid sensing Dora was scamming her mother who paid her to write letters to his father far away.Dora reluctantly takes him in but she has no altruistic reasons for this. She sells him to an adoption agency and uses the money to buy herself a new television set. Her friend tells her that the kids are not adopted, their organs are used for transplants.Maybe it is guilt, she takes him back and they go looking for his father with the little money they have. Dora is still reluctant, along the way she tries to leave him once more but something inside her makes her stick with him.They get to Josue's father's town but things get more complicated which includes meeting half siblings. The film is more about Dora, a selfish woman wrapped up in her world, trying to get by whilst making a buck. The journey stirs her own memories with her father. She realises at the end that Josue needs to be with his family and uses her writing skills to good effect this time.

Dora (Fernanda Montenegro) is a petty deceitful selfish old woman who writes letters for illiterate people at the central station in Rio de Janeiro. Josué's mother asks to write a letter trashing the father as she demands he sees his son. She is killed by a bus and Dora is left with the young Josué. She sells him to some child traffickers, but she has second thoughts. She rescues him and takes him on a road trip to see his father.Dora is not a saint and the movie is better for it. She is bitter and struggles with her moral compass. The kid sees this and resists her at first. This is no light comedy, but the growth in their relationship is what's so great about this movie. Fernanda's performance is second to none.

This film is uncommonly powerful, with very dark tones but bursting with hope and love. The main character, a jaded and bitter letter writer working in Brazil's largest train station (Fernanda Montenegro), is suddenly burdened with a kid who eventually wins her over. But unlike the common feel-good comedies with the same setup, Central do Brasil takes the viewer on a sometimes hopeless, openly vulnerable, and powerfully emotional journey. You can really feel the connection between the boy and his new caretaker – you can feel all of her emotions, really, because her acting is just that spectacular. The acting, the camera work, the soundtrack, and the beautifully written story all come together to produce just an amazing movie, well worth watching, that may just jerk a tear from your eye.

If I heard I was going to watch a movie about a little boy whose mother dies outside a crowded train station and a retired teacher who helps him find the father he never met, I would imagine I would be watching a sweet story unfold about a sad and lonely boy who is comforted and cared for by a loving and kind hearted woman who takes him under her wing in a motherly and heart-warming way. "Central Station" is not a feel-good movie. The retired teacher, Isadora, is neither warm nor motherly and the boy, Josué, is neither receptive or desiring of her help. However, Isadora and Josué still embark on the seemingly hopeless journey in search of a father who may or may not be alive or around. The movie is by no means predictable, as demonstrated in the way that the characters do not personify those which audiences would expect to see in Hollywood movies dealing with similar plots. It is intriguing and captivating to watch how a stubborn and cold Isadora finds herself best friends with an equally stubborn and cold Josué. Rather than their similarities creating a bond, they constantly drive each other away from the other, but in the end they find themselves forever changed by the remarkable friendship that formed between them. The genius of the movie rests in Salles' success in telling a story that is captivating and unpredictable. He is creative and unconventional and the product that results is phenomenal.