QUICKIE 21
Central StationThe reality of everyday life that “Central Station” shows is harsh. In the film, Dora (Fernanda Montenegro) is a bitter woman who makes her living in Rio’s Central Station writting letters for illiterate people. She takes their money but discards the letters.
One day she writes a letter for a mother and her little boy (Vinícius de Oliveira). When the mother is killed in an accident outside the station, Dora tries to sell the boy for adoption. Then she realizes her mistake, rescues the boy and the two set out on a bus trip to find his father. For Walter Salles, the director of the film, Dora is a good example of modern Brazil, with its culture of “cynicism”. But as Dora gradually develops a bond with the boy “she begins to understand that the boy’s route and the boy’s problems are comparable to her own”, he said.
The growing friendship between these two is, for Mr.Salles, a symbol of Brazil where solidarity and compassion may be buried but are still present. His film is not utopian, but it celebrates the diversity both of the land and of what Mr. Salles calls the “human geography” that Dora and Josué encounter on their journey.
(From “A Searching Journey into the Heart of Brazil,”by Laura Winters, In The New York Times, November 22,1998.) Adapted from New Password English, MARQUES, Amadeu (Vol.1)
