Central Station

This movie is special.It shows the real Brasil with a simple but beautiful and touching story about a little boy looking for the father he never knew and a woman looking for a second chance. The performers are brilliant! Fernanda Montenegro is extraordinary in the role of Dora.The chemistry between the main characters (Dora and Josué) is splendid. The film photography is wonderful, so as the instrumental soundtrack. Central do Brasil(Central Station) is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Be ready to weep and be happy!

A wonderful film, that works on several layers. This is a film about a cynical woman who becomes a "mother" to a young boy who has just lost his mother. Through the course of this film, this woman, Dora, learns to love. The young boy, Josue, learns to live again. Each is so clearly delineated and so clearly defined that the film is a pleasure from beginning to end.

Central Station actually beat "Life is Beautiful" at some of the world's top awards ceremonies for that year, and you can see why. Its acting is superb, and Walter Salles' direction is with a masterly touch. The cinematography, evoking that desaturated, golden world of Brazil is beautiful - it's a lesson in itself on how to make an apparently 'gritty' world very beautiful. Watch this film.

Having been born and raised in Rio and visited many other parts of Brazil and abroad, I have to recognize that the film is not completely accurate, but still very touching. Let's start with the inaccuracies: yes, teens and children are still murdered in the city slums, but it has more to do with drug dealing wars. Those absurd stories of having kids (and sometimes adults) kidnapped to have their organs extracted and sold in the black market are as untrue as it could be. However, crooks and con men and women like the ones presented there, trying to make some easy money from whatever they can find, is more than real. Another inaccuracy is the huge number of illiterate people who need Dora's help for writing their letters. Actually, nowadays and since a long time ago, you can hardly find real illiterate people in Rio. There are bunches of people who commit hundreds of grammar and spelling mistakes, but they're perfectly able to express their ideas on paper. Inaccurate facts apart, it is one of the most beautiful stories of love and friendship that has ever been set on screen. And the best of all is that, to become nominee for the Academy Award, it didn't need CGI, the appealing cliché of violence and sex, which is almost always expected from Brazilian movies. Dora's suffered and empty heart and unorthodox honesty input by a whole life of deceptions, changes as she spends time with little Josue and she finds space to become a much better person. It's been almost twenty years since I first watched Central Station, but I still can clearly remember leaving the theater surrounded by hordes of women crying and men pretending not to. Frankly speaking, for a very long time, I refused to watch the Italian "Life is beautiful" by super-talented writer, director and actor Roberto Begnini just because it had defeated "Central Station" in the Academy Award, nevertheless when my prejudice was finally gone, I had to recognize a respectful rival. What didn't make any sense was Gwyneth Paltrow's artificial and almost amateur acting in "Shakespeare in Love" having defeated Fernanda Montenegro who really rocked, as usual. So, if you want to enjoy a touching and realistic film which will probably have you in tears, give it a try and take a couple hours to watch this masterpiece of the Brazilian movie industry.

This film, which we watched at the Vancouver Film Festival years ago, turned up the other night on cable. On second viewing, the film still packs quite an impact, as it still feels real. The work of Walter Salles and Fernanda Montenegro was amazing then, and still is now.

This is the story about a cynic and jaded woman who resorts to do menial work and who is a small con artist herself. Dora has seen better days. She is retired now, but in order to make ends meet, she sets a letter writing desk at Rio's train station where she writes letters dictated to her by the illiterate and eager people who can't do the job as they want to communicate with distant family and friends through Dona Dora. In many cases, as it's the case with the letter she has written for Ana, she has no intention of ever sending those missives dictated to her by the unsuspecting people.

Josue, the small boy, who witness the death of his mother, is wiser for his younger years than one might suspect. He sees right through Dora as a charlatan and a con woman. When Dora takes the boy home, she has no intentions of ever helping him much more than a few days. Later, upon learning about the adoption agency, she sells the boy to the unscrupulous people involved in the traffic of children for a thousand dollars without any problems. It's only when her friend Irene tells her the fate that Josue will encounter, that Dora leaps into action.

Since she can't stay home without having to return her money, she takes Josue on the road. This odd couple begins the journey as complete strangers, but this voyage will make them appreciate one another and even move Dora into becoming a better woman for having the courage to do the right thing. Josue also realizes that Dora, in her own way, has been, for however short, the mother he lost in the tragic accident.

Fernanda Montenegro, perhaps Brazil's best actress, is amazing as Dona Dora. She is the whole reason for seeing the movie. Her Dora is one of the best creations in her film career. This intense performer shows an actress who fully understand who Dora is and the way she would behave in the situation. Young Vinicius Oliveira is a sweet Josue, and Marilia Pera, is the kind Irene, who makes Dora see the monstrosity of what she was about to do.

The music by Jacques Morelembaum and Antonio Pinto is an asset, as it adds an atmosphere to the long journey of Dora and Josue. The interesting cinematography by Walter Carvalho, shows the immensity of Brazil's interior as the odd couple go to find the little boy's father.

This film is a triumph for both Walter Salles and Fernanda Montenegro.

I thought this movie was terrific, a little slow in parts, but I cared about the characters and was interested in their journey. I also liked the fact that the main character was not portrayed as a saint - Dora is a real person, flaws and all. Montenegro was robbed at the Oscars and so was the movie.