Central Station

Central Station

Walter Salles, Central Station is a touching, well made motion picture that has very few flaws. The movie centers around a Brazilian woman named Dora and a little boy, Josuй. This is a story of a cynical woman and a little boy's adventure to find his father of whom he has never seen before. Through the film there is a bonding of the two main characters and each of them greatly transforms each other for the rest of their lives. The script of this movie has a compelling quality, drawing us into the narrative and makes the audience really care about what happens to the characters. This movie should be known for its great story line and the fantastic acting from both of the main characters.

Throughout the film there are many reoccurring themes that enhance the film. The main theme of Central Station is the transformation of Dora and Josuй as the story progresses. At the beginning of the movie Dora is a nasty, retired school teacher who makes a living by writing letters for illiterate people in the Rio central train station. Instead of sending the letters like she says she will, she disposes of almost all of them. The epitome of her cynicism is shown when she sells Josuй to the adoption agency that intends to kill him. Josuй starts off as a little brat has no respect for adults. As the story progresses Dora and Josuй become very close. The bonding between them begins to show when Dora collapses in the religious shrine and in the next scene Josuй is holding her in his arms. From this point on Dora develops a love for Josuй and this love changes Dora drastically. Through the love between these two characters Dora is transformed into a sweet, caring person who would stop at nothing to find a good home for Josuй to live in. A perfect example of Dora's transformation is the fact that she actually sent the letters that her and Josuй had collected.

Another theme that is present in this film is Religion. Religion is a reoccurring aspect of this movie. First off the Truck driver that helped them along the way was a very convinced Evangelist who had many religious messages on his truck. Another religious aspect of this movie was the people who were making a pilgrimage to the Saint and when Dora and Josuй are writing letters to the Saint. One very interesting point that this movie brought across is the fact that there was a very large religious separation between cities and rural areas. In the city there were almost no signs of people being very religious they were more focused on making money and going about their daily lives. In the rural areas it seemed like everyone thought that religion should be a large part of their lives. As you can see the religious theme plays a great role in the plot of the film.

This film also provides great insight into the state of Brazilian society and culture. This film show how much different the Brazilian culture is from the United States. The cities in the movie seem to be very crowded and underdeveloped. None of the people owned cars and they all needed to take the train to and from where ever they were going. In the train it also show the great diversity of the people in Brazil.