The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

1970, Brazil. Mauro is twelve. His parents bundle him into the car, drive to São Paulo and leave him at his grandfather's door, saying they are going on holiday. In fact they are fleeing; the military government is looking for them. Mauro waits for his grandfather, but the old man died that morning. The boy is left alone outside the building. It stands in a Jewish neighbourhood and the neighbours begin taking turns looking after him. That same summer Brazil is playing in the World Cup and the whole country is watching. Cao Hamburger directs. Michel Joelsas plays Mauro. The ground the narrative builds is double: the pressure of the military period and the excitement of football happen in the same weeks and the film sets them side by side. The child's point of view is kept consistently; the political events are nowhere explained and the viewer sees only as much as Mauro understands. The Bom Retiro quarter is reconstructed in detail and its different communities are part of the narrative. The film was submitted as Brazil's entry for the Oscars and shown at international festivals. Its best sections are the relations among the children; football works as a common language. The ending comes without explanation and the narrative offers no consolation. Who it is for: viewers who like history seen through a child and Latin American cinema. Who it is not for: the pace is slow, the political background is not given, and the ending is heavy.