Susan Granger’s review of “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” (City Lights)
Brazil’s official entry for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was a droll coming-of-age story set in the turbulent year of 1970.
12 year-old soccer-obsessed Mauro (Michel Joelsas) is only interested in the upcoming World Cup matches when his parents – left-wing militants, opposed to the repressive military regime that controls the country – are forced into hiding, ostensibly “on vacation,” hastily dropping off bewildered Mauro at his elderly grandfather’s apartment in Sao Paulo’s Bom Retiro district, home to a mixed-ethnic community of Jewish, Italian, Greek and Arab immigrants.
Problem is: Mauro’s grandfather has just died – and his next-door neighbor, Schlomo (Germano Haiut), a solitary, Yiddish-speaking Jew who works in the local synagogue, winds up looking after him after the rabbi tells him that, like Moses, Mauro has been left on his doorstep by God.
Torn between staying near the phone – waiting for his parents’ call – and exploring his new environs, Mauro encounters an array of colorful characters. His first and closest friend is tomboyish, street-smart Hanna (Daniela Pipeszyk), who cleverly peddles peeks at women trying on clothes in the dressing room of her mother’s store. But Mauro’s adolescent heart is smitten by Irene (Liliana Castro), a waitress in the local bar where everyone gathers to watch Pele, Carlos Alberto and Tostao fight for victory in the World Cup Championship which, tragically, coincides with a political upheaval.
Screenwriter/director/producer Cao Hamburger, creator of the award-winning children’s series “Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum” and the HBO series “Filhos do Carnaval,” astutely captures the resilience of the human spirit. “I came here alone,” Mauro reflects, “and managed to survive.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” is an eloquent 9. It’s a gem!
