Movie - Central Station

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(Central do Brasil)


Directed by Walter Salles
Produced by Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre
Arthur Cohn
Donald Ranvaud
Written by Walter Salles
Starring Fernanda Montenegro
Matheus Nachtergaele
Marília Pêra
Vinícius de Oliveira
Music by Antonio Pinto
Jaques Morelenbaum
Cinematography Walter Carvalho
Editing by Felipe Lacerda
Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics (USA)
Europa Filmes (Brazil)

Central Station (Portuguese: Central do Brasil) is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning 1998 drama film set in Brazil. It tells the story of a young boy's friendship with a jaded middle-aged woman. The movie was adapted by Marcos Bernstein and João Emanuel Carneiro from a story by Walter Salles and it was directed by Salles. It features Fernanda Montenegro and Vinícius de Oliveira in the major roles. It was an international co-production between Brazil and France. The film's title in Portuguese, Central do Brasil, is the name of Rio de Janeiro's main railway station. The film premiered at the 1998 Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot
Dora is a former school teacher who is now a bitter old woman. She works at Rio de Janeiro's Central Station, writing letters for illiterate customers in exchange for some money. She hates her customers, and does not mail the letters she writes, putting them in a drawer or even tearing them apart. Josué is a poor 9-year-old boy who has never met with his father but hopes to do so. His mother sends letters to his father through Dora, saying that she hopes to reunite with him soon, but when she is run over and killed in a bus accident just outside of the train station, he is left homeless. Dora takes him in to sell him, but made to feel guilty by her neighbor and friend Irene, later steals him back.

Dora is initially reluctant to be responsible for the boy, but she ends up deciding to take a trip with him to the Nordeste, the northeast region of the country, in order to find his father's house and leave him there.

Dora tries to leave Josué on the bus but he follows her, forgetting his rucksack which contains Dora's money. Penniless, they are picked up by a kind, religious truck driver who abandons them when Dora grows too friendly. Dora trades her watch for a ride to Bom Jesus on the back of a truck. They find the only address Josué's mother had for his father in Bom Jesus, but the current residents say that Jesus won a house in the lottery, and now lives in the new settlements; but they also say that he lost the house and money through drinking. With no money, Josué saves them from destitution by suggesting Dora write letters for the pilgrims who have arrived in Bom Jesus for a massive pilgrimage. This time she posts the letters.

They take the bus to the settlements, but when they locate the address they have for Josué's father, they are told by the new residents that he no longer lives there and that he has disappeared. Josué tells Dora that he will wait for him, but Dora invites him to live with her. She calls Irene in Rio and asks her to sell her refrigerator, sofa, and television. She says that she will call when she gets settled elsewhere. After she hangs up, she learns that there are no buses leaving until the next morning.

Isaías, one of Josué's half-brothers, is working on a roof next to the bus stop, and learns that they are looking for his father. After introducing himself, Dora says that she is a friend of his father and was in the area. Isaías insists that she and Josué, who has introduced himself as Geraldo, come to dinner. They return to his house, where they meet Moisés, the other half-brother. Later, Isaías explains to Dora that their father married Ana, Josué's mother, after their mother died, and that nine years ago, while pregnant, Ana went to Rio and never returned. Isaías asks Dora to read a letter his father wrote for Ana when he disappeared, six months ago, in case she returned. In the letter, Josué's father explains that he has gone to Rio to find Ana, and the son he has never met. He promises to return, and asks her to wait for him. He writes that then they can all be together, himself, Ana, Isaías, and Moisés. At this point Dora pauses, looks at Josué and then says, "and Josué, who I can't wait to meet." Isaías and Moisés both realize that Geraldo is actually their half-brother, Josué. Isaías and Josué both say that he will return, but Moisés doesn't think so. The next morning, while Josué sleeps, Dora takes the bus for Rio, but leaves a letter for Josué, explaining why she left. Josué wakes up too late to prevent her departure. Both are left with a photo by which to remember one another.