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Central Station

Starring: Fernanda Montenegro
Director: Walter Salles
Genre: Drama
Year: 1998
Rating: 5 / 5

Reviewed by Guest Scribe Legend

Central Station is a beautiful film about the human spirit, not a quickly paced movie, but a rewarding one. Dora (Fernanda Montenegro), the protagonist, is not a nice person. She works in a commuter station, as a scribe for the illiterate. She is malicious to the point of writing what she deems appropriate into said letters, rather than actually doing what she is paid for by her customers. Worse yet, when she goes home, she dumps unworthy letters in the trash instead of mailing them, and stashes others indefinitely in a drawer.

One of her regular customers is a mother of a small boy who has letters written to the deadbeat father of her child who walked out on her years before. Suddenly, the woman is hit by a bus and her son Josue (Vinicius de Oliveira) has no one to turn to besides the dour Dora. Dora originally sells Josue to some adoption agency and uses the money to buy a new television set. However, when she finds out the adoption agency may be a front for something more sinister, she returns and steals Josue back. Leaving Rio de Janeiro, Dora and Josue set out to find the child's father.

The film is a journey undertaken by the unlikely pair - a crotchety old woman who, before now, happily inflicted harm in others' lives, and an innocent child who tries to peel away the callous shell Dora has erected. Naturally, a friendship blossoms between the two, and, at some point along the way, Dora becomes likeable to the viewer. Her conversion is a gradual one, however.

Central Station also does an excellent job of showing the poverty and underdevelopment of central Brazil. The desolation evident during Dora and Josue's journey lets us focus not only upon their desperation, but upon their relationship and Dora's softening, which is really the locus of the film, not Josue's search for his father. And even if you don't feel warm and mushy on the inside when the Grinch or Scrooge has a change of heart, cantankerous Dora's metamorphosis certainly makes this movie an emotional, enjoyable watch.

Cast:

Certification: Rated R.
Running Time: 115 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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