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Central Station (Walter Salles) 1998
***1/2 September, 2001 Jeremy Heilman |
Sentimental, but still intelligent, Walter Salles' Central Station is
definitely better than the schizophrenic Life Is Beautiful, which won the
Best Foreign Film Oscar the year both were nominated for that award. It's like a
somewhat more palatable, less brilliant version of Victor Babenenco's Pixote
(which is also set in Brazil & deals with the country's abandoned youth).
The main reason to watch this film is Fernando Montenegra's great lead
performance as Dora. Her character is a cynic, and that cynicism helps disarm us
as we're made to watch the inherent sentimentality of seeing a little kid
suffer. What could easily descend into trite emotionalism doesn't, mostly
because of her work. There is something lamentable in seeing her cold exterior
inevitably melt, but it gives was to the the uplifting sense of purpose we see
during her pilgrimage. The film's got an epic feel even though it's well under
two hours long, and we get a good sampling of Brazilian culture, including some
surprisingly incisive skewering of the country's religious preoccupations. The
film seems to be telling us that religious transformation happens not at
festivals or in chaste environments, but rather in the unpredictable world
itself. Overall, it's a film that is eminently watchable (and thankfully never
slides into artistic pretensions), and comes recommended.