Central do Brasil (film)
| Central Station | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Walter Salles |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Walter Salles |
| Starring | |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Walter Carvalho |
| Edited by | Felipe Lacerda |
| Distributed by | Europa Filmes |
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Release date
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Running time
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113 minutes |
| Country |
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| Language | Portuguese |
| Budget | $2.9 million |
| Box office | $22 million |
Central Station (Portuguese: Central do Brasil) is a 1998 Brazilian–French drama film set in Brazil. It tells the story of a young boy's friendship with a jaded middle-aged woman. The film was adapted by João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein from a story by Walter Salles, who directed it. It features Fernanda Montenegro and Vinícius de Oliveira in the major roles. The film's title in Portuguese is the name of Rio de Janeiro's main railway station. Montenegro's performance earned her critical acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination. The film itself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Dora is a retired schoolteacher who has become embittered. She works at Rio de Janeiro's Central Station, writing letters for illiterate customers, in order to make ends meet. She can be impatient with her customers and sometimes does not mail the letters that she writes, putting them in a drawer or even tearing them up. Josué is a poor 9-year-old boy who has never met 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 killed in a bus accident just outside the train station, the boy is left homeless. Dora takes him in and traffics him to a corrupt couple, but she is made to feel guilty by her neighbor and friend Irene and later steals him back.
Dora is initially reluctant to be responsible for the boy, but ends up deciding to take a trip with him to Northeast Brazil 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 backpack containing Dora's money. Penniless, they are picked up by a kind, Evangelical truck driver who abandons them when Dora encourages him to drink beer and then grows too friendly. Dora trades her watch for a ride to Bom Jesus do Norte. They find his father's address in Bom Jesus, but the current residents say that Jesus won a house in the lottery, and now lives in the new settlements, adding 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.
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Wikipedia