That was an excellent one.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Having been born and raised in Rio and visited many other parts of Brazil and abroad, I have to recognize that the film is not completely accurate, but still very touching. Let's start with the inaccuracies: yes, teens and children are still murdered in the city slums, but it has more to do with drug dealing wars. Those absurd stories of having kids (and sometimes adults) kidnapped to have their organs extracted and sold in the black market are as untrue as it could be. However, crooks and con men and women like the ones presented there, trying to make some easy money from whatever they can find, is more than real. Another inaccuracy is the huge number of illiterate people who need Dora's help for writing their letters. Actually, nowadays and since a long time ago, you can hardly find real illiterate people in Rio. There are bunches of people who commit hundreds of grammar and spelling mistakes, but they're perfectly able to express their ideas on paper. Inaccurate facts apart, it is one of the most beautiful stories of love and friendship that has ever been set on screen. And the best of all is that, to become nominee for the Academy Award, it didn't need CGI, the appealing cliché of violence and sex, which is almost always expected from Brazilian movies. Dora's suffered and empty heart and unorthodox honesty input by a whole life of deceptions, changes as she spends time with little Josue and she finds space to become a much better person. It's been almost twenty years since I first watched Central Station, but I still can clearly remember leaving the theater surrounded by hordes of women crying and men pretending not to. Frankly speaking, for a very long time, I refused to watch the Italian "Life is beautiful" by super-talented writer, director and actor Roberto Begnini just because it had defeated "Central Station" in the Academy Award, nevertheless when my prejudice was finally gone, I had to recognize a respectful rival. What didn't make any sense was Gwyneth Paltrow's artificial and almost amateur acting in "Shakespeare in Love" having defeated Fernanda Montenegro who really rocked, as usual. So, if you want to enjoy a touching and realistic film which will probably have you in tears, give it a try and take a couple hours to watch this masterpiece of the Brazilian movie industry.

An emotive journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.Critically, this film did really well, winning the Golden Globe for best foreign film and getting Oscar-nominated not just for a foreign film, but best actress as well. Sure, it did not win either Oscar, but that is still an impressive feat.According to Richard Schickel, the film is "an odyssey of simple problems, simple emotional discoveries, a relationship full of knots that Salles permits to unwind in an unforced, unsentimental fashion. His imagery, like his storytelling, is clear, often unaffectedly lovely, and quietly, powerfully haunting." Beautifully said, Richard. That is ultimately what makes great cinema: "an odyssey of simple problems".Director Walter Selles went on to make "Dark Water", "The Motorcycle Diaries" and "On the Road".

This story happens in an impoverished area in Brazil. The buzzing, noisy central station is infatuated with people bustling for nothing but life necessities. To put it into more vulgar words, people's life is cheap. It can be seen in this film that a thief is shot dead by the vendor.It is this exact reason that makes this film even moving than, say, if it happens in The United states. When one is living in indecent conditions, one should be given more credit if s/he offers to help others.Isadora is such a woman. She is not a good person in a strict sense. After retirement as a primary school teacher, she makes ends meet by deceit, i.e. helping illiterate people write and send letters but tears up those letters back home. By fate, she is connected with a boy named Josue. Josue's mother, one of Dora's client, is killed in a road accident.After several mental struggles with herself, Dora decides to help Josue find his father according to the letter. On the long way to the kid's father, Dora and Josue's relationship turns better and better and finally they become friends.Shortly after they find the location of Josue's father, it comes the time for them to part from each other. Dora writes a letter to Josue and in this letter Dora asks Josue not to forget her.I think Dora wants to be remembered as she devotes her love to Josue particularly she does not have a happy childhood memory. Her fundamental humanity is awakened during this journey. Yet this selfless help is not a pleasant experience for Dora as she sees how Josue's father and brothers love little Josue which for sure reminds her of those painful childhood memories. Despite all, the awakened humanity impulses her to leave Josue to where he can grow up with love and care. In a sense, she chooses Josue to help finish her unfinished childhood dream for a caring father and family. Loving someone but letting someone fly to better places is a huge sacrifice yet the highest rank of love.Thus, Dora does not want to be forgotten. I remember one line extremely clearly, 'When you grow up and drive the truck one day, do not forget that I am the first one who let you sit behind the wheels.'

Walter Salles' Central Do Brasil is on the surface, a story about the growing relationship between a bitter, cynical old woman and young boy set in the impoverished, violent and illiterate city of Rio De Janeiro. It goes much deeper than that, however. The film portrays elements of Brazil's Cinema Novo in that it attempts to raise awareness about the poverty, child trafficking and the vast number of illiterate people in the country. In addition to the social and cultural problems of Brazil, Salles shows the beauty and vast landscape of the interior dry-lands of the country called the Sertao. Utilizing elements of the road film, we see the gritty city of Rio De Janeiro, with its decadent, violent, miserable every man for himself society compared to the exploration of a different part of the country, the underdeveloped but vast and beautiful landscape of a more rural Brazil. The protagonists, Dora and Josue, embark on a journey of self-discovery while searching for Josue's estranged father. Throughout the film each hardship the protagonists experience molds them into a more compassionate and empathetic human being.