Central Station (film)

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Movie
German title Central Station
Original title Central do Brasil
Country of production Brazil and France
original language Portuguese
Publishing year 1998
length 113 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Walter Salles
script Marcos Bernstein , João Emanuel Carneiro and Walter Salles
production Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre and Arthur Cohn
music Jaques Morelenbaum and Antonio Pinto
camera Walter Carvalho
cut Felipe Lacerda and Isabelle Rathery
occupation

Central Station (in the Brazilian original: Central do Brasil ) is a feature film by the Brazilian director Walter Salles from 1998. The road movie is based on an idea by Salles and was produced by the film studios Canal Plus , MACT Productions and Riofilmes , among others .

action

The retired elementary school teacher Dora works as a letter writer at Rio de Janeiro's central train station , whose name Estação Central do Brasil is also the title of the film in the original. In order to earn some household money on top of her small pension, she writes letters to loved ones, friends or relatives for people who are not able to write and promises to forward them for a corresponding payment. In fact, however, a letter rarely reaches the recipient, as Dora, who has become bitter and amoral over the years, never sends the envelopes. The personal messages serve to amuse her and that of her neighbor and friend Irene, and both decide together about their fate. When Dora brings home the letter from disappointed Ana one day, who wants to arrange a meeting between her 9-year-old son Josué and the separated father, Jesus, Irene saves it from tearing apart. A day later, the mother and her son come back to Dora and ask them to tear up the unfriendly letter and write a new one. Visibly happy, she plans to travel to the hinterland of Rio de Janeiro with her son Josué next month to see the drinker who once abused her again.

A few minutes after dictating her letter to Dora, Ana is hit by a bus in front of the train station and killed. Josué, who had to watch the death of his mother, his only relative in Rio, then turns to Dora a little later to dictate a letter to his father. But Dora refuses to write a letter without paying, and from now on the distraught boy spends his time at the central train station during the day, while at night he is chased into the streets of the metropolis by the guards. Dora soon feels sorry for Josué and takes him in at home in agreement with the street vendor Pedrão. The child, who discovers his mother's letter, which has never been sent, along with his attached photo in a drawer, is soon sold by Dora and the street vendor to an adoption agency for US $ 2,000, which, according to the owner, places the children abroad.

Dora uses her share to buy an expensive new television set, but soon finds herself confronted with Irenes' questions, which Josué was very fond of. When she learns that the boy is not in the hands of local welfare, but rather with a private agency, Irene appeals to Dora's conscience. Josué, at nine years of age, is much too old to be adopted abroad and could possibly find himself in the hands of unscrupulous organ dealers. The single Dora then spends sleepless nights and finally decides to bring the boy back. With a lot of luck, she kidnaps Josué from the child traffickers' apartment and is forced to take the boy to his father in the hinterland of Rio de Janeiro. The journey of Dora, who comes from a broken family, and the cocky Josué, who has exposed his companion as a liar, welds the unequal couple together.

On the way, the older woman, who likes to drink, makes a tender bond with the truck driver César, who, much to Dora's chagrin, runs away. Dora and the boy visit a sacred mountain, where they leave Josués mother's handkerchief. Arrived at their destination in the pilgrimage town of Bom Jesus, Dora and Josué learn that their father won a house in the lottery and has long since moved away. Jesus made the proceeds from the sale of his old house with alcohol. Hungry and without money, Josué and Dora fight, who, exhausted, collapses in a shabby prayer house during the celebrations in honor of the Virgin Mary . The next morning, she wakes up in the arms of Joshua, who markets her ability to write locally, which can make her money enough to buy a meal and stay at the hotel. When Josué wants to destroy the dictated letters, following Dora's example, the woman stops him and sends them to the post office the next day.

Arriving in the hometown of Josués father, they both learn that Jesus disappeared months ago, but meet his older sons Isaía and Moisés, who earn their living with a flourishing carpenter's workshop in the village. Josués stepbrothers report that their father broke up on Ana's departure, fell into alcohol and went to Rio de Janeiro to look for his loved one. In a month-old letter that Dora reads to the brothers, the father hopes for a future together with Ana and his older sons. Dora secretly adds Josués' name to the letter, but the clever boy notices her well-intentioned maneuver.

The following morning Dora gets up early to leave the place and to leave Josué, whom she was actually planning to adopt, in the care of his older stepbrothers. She puts on the dress that Josué gave her from the money she earned in Bom Jesus, and leaves behind the letter his late mother once dictated her. Josué himself wakes up a little later, but can no longer catch the bus in which Dora is starting her journey home. While the bus is leaving, Dora writes a letter to Josué, in which she encourages him to believe that his father will return after all. At the same time Dora longs for her own father, whom she left at the age of sixteen and met briefly shortly before his death.

History of origin

Fernanda Montenegro

When he came up with the idea of ​​his fourth feature film one morning, according to Walter Salles in an interview, the director immediately wrote down the basic plot of the story and later entrusted the two young and still inexperienced screenwriters João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein with his recordings. Bernstein first made a name for himself as a screenwriter in Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas ' film Foreign Land in 1996 . Also presented Central Station only the second film to be edited script for João Emanuel Carneiro is that before with his little-noticed nine minute short film his debut as a director and screenwriter two years Pão de Açúcar had celebrated. It took several months of work before the final film script for Central Station was completed. Salles was able to sign 67-year-old Fernanda Montenegro for the main role of Dora . The Brazilian actress is just as much a star in her homeland as Gena Rowlands in the USA or Giulietta Masina in Italy , which is mainly due to her participation in over fifty plays by Eugene O'Neill , Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Die bitter Tänen der Petra von Can be attributed to Kant . With various appearances in TV series and films, she earned the title of Grande Dame of Brazilian television, but always preferred theater work to cinema. For example, since her acting debut in Leon Hirszman's A Falecida in 1965, Montenegro had only appeared in twelve other feature films for Central Station .

The nine-year-old Vinícius de Oliveira was hired for the role of Josué . In the pre-production phase of Central Station, Walter Salles had 1,500 children audition for the part across Brazil, without success. One day, while filming was getting closer, Salles drove to the small airport in central Rio de Janeiro, where he was approached by a boy shoeshine. The street boy, Vinícius de Oliveira, asked for change for a sandwich because there were no clients on the rainy day. He promised to repay the money to the director when he returned from São Paulo in the late afternoon. Salles liked De Oliveira's face and dignified demeanor and asked the boy, who had never been to a cinema before, if he would like to take part in screen tests for a film. Although the street kid brought other friends of the same age to the casting, he got his first film role and quickly made friends with the film crew during the filming. Was also supported Central Station by the renowned Swiss film producer Arthur Cohn , the added thrust during production on the project and director Walter Salles imaginative stood aside. Other co-producers came from Brazil, France and Japan. The film was shot at Rio de Janeiro's central train station, whose name Central do Brasil used as the original title for the film. The film was shot with 35 mm film cameras from Moviecam and Panaflex.

reception

The road movie premiered on January 16, 1998 in French-speaking Switzerland . After the film was shown three days later at the famous American Sundance Film Festival and was celebrated by the audience, Central Station was represented in the competition at the Berlinale a month later , where it was also highly praised by the critics. The independent production celebrated its official theatrical release on April 3, 1998 and was more successful in theaters than James Cameron's Titanic (1997) or Roland Emmerich's action film Godzilla (1998) with more than 1.5 million admissions . Walter Salle's work was premiered in North America on September 13, 1998 at the Toronto Film Festival , where it ranked third in an audience vote behind Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful and Kirk Jones ' Long Live Ned Devine! occupied. The US theatrical release took place almost two months later, on November 20, 1998. The $ 2.9 million film, with the advertising slogan "He was looking for the father he never knew. She was looking for a second chance . " (dt .: "He was looking for the father he never knew. She was looking for a second chance" ) which was within three months in the US alone its production costs recouped and generated there until 11. July 1999 a profit of nearly $ 5.6 million. The sensitive staging of the former documentary filmmaker Salles, which reminded some film critics of Hector Babenco's Asphalt Sharks ( 1981 ), others of Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude ( 1971 ) or films of Italian neorealism, was in the favor of the cinema audience and critics . The main actress Fernanda Montenegro, whose acting performance was rated as one of the best of the 1998 cinema year, met with an even greater response. Negative voices criticized the Brazilian filmmaker's staging as being too sentimental and the protagonist's change from lonely cynic to moral heroine as too predictable. Salles, who with the character of Dora primarily wanted to devote himself to people's desire for communication (or lack of it) in order to express emotions and feelings, was able to build on the success of Central Station three years later with the drama Behind the Sun.

Reviews

“The film's success rests largely on the shoulders of Fernanda Montenegro, an actress who thwarts any temptation that sentimentality may ruin her relationship with the child. She understands that the movie isn't really about the boy's search for his father, but rather about her own resurrection. This process is measured so carefully that we don't immediately notice the point at which it turns into a nicer person. "

- Roger Ebert : Chicago Sun-Times

“A road movie that reflects the dreary social reality of Brazil in the face of neoliberalism and at the same time makes it possible to experience the change in its protagonists, who cast off their cold feelings and experience humanity. A film that looks like a documentary for a long time, whose sensitive portrayal of an unequal friendship helps to overcome the sometimes all too fairytale-like construction. "

- film service

“With 'Central Station', Salles, who became famous for his documentaries, portrays a country marked by sadness and hollow religiosity, in which a human life counts little. His images of a soulless city ruled by crime contrast in the course of the film with the wasteland of the barren hinterland, but this time Salles doesn't stop at documenting: Dora and Josué not only give the road movie emotional depth, the brilliant performances of Montenegro and Oleveira (apparently a natural talent) also connect the individual stages of the journey and even wrest a bit of hope from the bleak image of a country in upheaval. "

- Focus

“Wonderfully observant and with a brilliant performance by the Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro in the lead role, he (the film) looks gracefully at these strangely brought together characters who develop a stubborn bond that changes both profoundly. Salle's background as a documentary filmmaker gives this lovable, rousing film a crude perception of Brazil's impoverished, rural landscape as soon as it takes its leading actors towards the street. "

- New York Times

“Fernanda Montenegro shows a groundbreaking role in the Brazilian film 'Central Station'. Not wearing any make-up and showing all her 67 years, she is sensational as Dora, a bitter old maid who befriends a boy whose mother dies - and accompanies him on a long journey to find his father. "

- San Francisco Chronicle

“Any film that brings up a cute half-orphan to pound a hard heart softly makes it undeservedly easy. Dora's path to inner purification is mapped out, and 'Central Station', which won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale earlier this year, mercilessly pulls the audience from stage to stage. If this film were a novel, it would be best kept in the station bookstore. "

- The mirror

Remarks

  • When Fernanda Montenegro set up her table at the central train station, she was actually approached by people who wanted to dictate letters to her. Director Walter Salles used some of these real sequences for his film.
  • In Dora's new TV that she bought with the money that they got for Josué, is a popular Brazilian TV show called "Topa Tudo Por Dinheiro" to see what means as much as "Do anything for money" .
  • Fernanda Montenegro, who had little film experience, relied entirely on director Walter Salles and producer Arthur Cohn. The latter she called "my beloved general" (Eng .: "my beloved general" ).
  • The well-known Brazilian actress Marília Pêra can be seen in the supporting role of Irene . In 1982 she was the first South American actress to receive recognition from North American film critics for the role of prostitute Sueli in Hector Babenco's drama Asphalt-Haie , who honored her performance with the awards of the National Society of Film Critics and the Boston Film Critics Association for Best Actress.
  • In Germany, the film was released on DVD as part of the Arthur Cohn Edition published in 2003 , which contains both the German and the original soundtrack.
  • At the beginning of May 2006, Central Station was mentioned on the top 250 list of the best films of all time by the industry service IMDb . There the film is in 242th place with a rating of 8.0 out of 10 possible points and over 10,400 submitted ratings.

Awards

The film received the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 1998 for best film. Central Station was the favorite for the trophy for the best foreign language film of the year at the Academy Awards in 1999 (1998 official count). The drama had previously won the Golden Globe Award and British Academy Film Award in the same category. At the presentation of the Academy Awards on March 21, 1999 in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles , Walter Salle's film surprisingly could not prevail against Roberto Benigni's controversial war comedy Life is Beautiful . Fernanda Montenegro, the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for an Oscar, had to admit defeat to the American Gwyneth Paltrow ( Shakespeare in Love ) in the Best Actress category . At the Golden Globe Awards in the same year, Montenegro, nominated for best actress in a drama, was inferior to Cate Blanchett ( Elizabeth ).

The independent film also received the Satellite Award for best foreign language production of the year. Fernanda Montenegro received the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Actress, the National Board of Review and Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards.

Oscar 1999

  • nominated in the categories
    • Best foreign language film
    • Best Actress (Fernanda Montenegro)

British Academy Film Awards 1999

  • Best Non-English Language Film

Golden Globe Awards 1999

  • Best foreign language film
  • nominated in the category Best Actress - Drama (Fernanda Montenegro)

Further

Amanda 1999

  • nominated in the category Best Foreign Film

Argentinian Film Critics Association Awards 2000

  • Best foreign film

Berlinale 1998

Manaki Brothers Film Festival 1998

  • Best camera
  • Prize of the student jury

Camerimage 1998

  • Best camera

Chlotrudis Awards 1999

  • nominated in the category Best Actress (Fernanda Montenegro)

Cinema Writers Circle Awards 1999

  • Best foreign film

César 1999

  • nominated in the category Best Foreign Film

Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival 1998

  • Critic Award - Best Actress (Fernanda Montenegro)

Guldbagge 2000

  • nominated in the category Best Foreign Film

Havana Film Festival 1998

  • Best Actress (Fernanda Montenegro)
  • Special prize from the jury
  • University of Havana Prize
  • Glauber Rocha Prize - Special Commendation (Walter Salles)
  • Special Commendation - Child Actor (Vinícius de Oliveira)

Independent Spirit Awards 1999

  • nominated in the category Best Foreign Film

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1998

  • Best Actress (Fernanda Montenegro)

National Board of Review Awards 1998

  • Best foreign language film
  • Best Actress (Fernanda Montenegro)

Online Film Critics Society Awards 1999

  • nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category

San Sebastián International Film Festival 1998

  • Audience award
  • Prize of the youth jury

Satellite Awards 1999

  • Best foreign language film
    • nominated in the categories
      • Best Actress - Drama (Fernanda Montenegro)
      • Best original script

Silver Daisy Awards 1998

  • Silver daisy

Spain Film Critics Association Awards 1999

  • Best foreign language film

São Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards 1999

  • Best movie
  • Best director
  • Best Actress (Fernanda Montenegro)
  • Best camera

literature

  • Carneiro, João Emanuel; Bernstein, Marcos: Central station . London: Bloomsbury, 1999. ISBN 0-7475-4502-2 (English edition)
  • Carneiro, João Emanuel; Bernstein, Marcos: Central do Brasil: um filme dirigido por Walter Salles: roteiro . Rio de Janeiro: Objetica, ISBN 85-7302-178-0 (Portuguese edition)
  • Shaw, Deborah: Contemporary cinema of Latin America: ten key films . New York: Continuum, 2003. ISBN 0-8264-1485-0 (English edition)
  • Almeida, Carlos Helí de; Salles, Walter: Walter Salles: uma entrevista . Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal: Festival de Cinema Luso-Brasileiro de Santa Maria da Feira, 2003. ISBN 972-95421-2-0 (Portuguese edition)
  • Martin Schlesinger: Brazil of Pictures (= series of modern film, vol. 7), VDG Verlag, Weimar 2008, ISBN 3-89739-601-7

Web links