CENTRAL STATION
(Brazilian - in Portuguese with English Subtitles)
Dora(Fernanda Montenegro) is a crotchety old lady who makes her living as a letter writer, transcribing the verbal missives of illiterate transients in a railway station in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. It’s a job. It pays the rent and it puts food on the table. It’s even entertaining. Dora gets her jollies reading unsent letters to her girlfriend before trashing them to save money on postage. She does not count on a lot of repeat business. So Dora is not prepared when a mother comes back to tone down her plea for her man to come back and meet the son he never met in "Central Station." Dora is even less prepared to take care of the kid, Josue, when his mother is killed by a bus outside the station.
"Central Station" is a deceptively simple film. On the surface, it’s about a spinster forced by circumstance to help a boy find his father. Jouse has a faith in his existence that is unshakable. A wooden top is the only evidence that his mother’s stories about him are true - that he is a nomadic carpenter peddling his skills across the country. Dora is a skeptic. She has heard one story too many about fathers who promise to return and never do. But she does have the letter with his last known address.
At first Dora tries to make a few bucks off the kid’s misery, but a bout with her conscience leads to a change of heart and a run in with the local gangster. She and Josue take to the road like Harry and Tonto.
Barren landscapes are linked by pit stops, religious shrines, and pockets of civilization. Brazil is a country in motion. Familes try to plant their roots in one place but are torn apart by the need to find work elsewhere. Josue’s father’s last known address becomes just one more stop on a hopeless quest, peopled by farmers, truck drivers and pilgrims. Financial setbacks and the physical strain of the journey force Dora and Josue to rely on each other’s resourcefulness to survive. A trail of rumor, innuendo, and mistaken identity eventually leads Dora and Josue to a growing community carved out of the wilderness where tract housing becomes a symbol of hope for an itinerant working class, and faith in the country’s future.
Fernanda Montenegro has already won well deserved international acclaim for her moving portrait of a woman hardened by life and softened by the innocent faith of a small boy. Her Dora is the glue that holds all the pieces of "Central Station" together. With a stretch of the imagination, Dora can be seen as the fading vanguard of a country disillusioned by its own past while Josue’s innocence and faith is the beacon of light that leads her out of the darkness of her experience. Together, they forge a new identity made from the common threads of resilience, fortitude, and compassion - the things needed to build character - and perhaps - a new Brazil.
Some other international award winners by Producer, Arthur Cohn
"The Sky Above the Mud Below" (French) - 1961 - Dir. Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau
Oscar for Best Documentary
"The Garden of the Finzi Continis" (Italian) - 1971 - Dir. Vittorio de Sica
Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
Black and White in Color (French/African) - 1977 - Dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
Dangerous Moves (Swiss)- 1984 - Dir. Richard Denbo
Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film