A 12-year-old learns to battle loneliness while waiting for his parents to return to him.
This week’s world cinema release at the multiplex, Brazilian feature The Year My Parents Went On Vacation, is an immensely likable film. Against the backdrop of 1970s Brazil, a period of political turmoil under a military regime in the country there is — at the same time — great euphoria as the football-crazy nation prepares for the World Cup. At its core, however, the film is simple, quite in contrast to the intense political, religious and social dilemmas that thread the story. And this could be, most likely, director Cao Hamburger’s central purpose — to not let out any of the political heat on the surface of the film.
That’s why his 12-year-old, Pele-worshipping protagonist Mauro (Michel Joelsas) is unaware of any of the circumstances he lives in. Abandoned by his parents on the doorstep of his grandfather’s house, the boy never really knows that having turned Communist, his parents had to go underground in the face of a state crackdown. Mauro is told that his parents are on vacation for a year or so and is shielded from the truth, much in the manner that the little boy in the 1997 multi-award winning film Life is Beautiful is made to believe that being locked up in a concentration camp is actually part of a game he can win. However, The Year My Parents Went On Vacation is more covert in its impact.
When Mauro is taken in by his Jewish grandfather’s neighbour (when his own grandfather suddenly passes away) in Sao Paulo for the rest of the year, the 12-year-old learns to be on his own, facing loneliness perhaps for the first time, forging new relationships in this new world. His only real possession and connection to his old life is his miniature football game set.
He meets his first best friend in the neighbourhood, tomboy Hanna (Daniela Piepszyk) who is a precocious, street smart kid, eager to lead the more understated, quiet Mauro. But while Mauro settles somewhat awkwardly into this new neighbourhood that is decidedly more colourful and vociferously religious than his own, he eagerly waits for his parents to return especially as they had promised to return by the time Brazil is to play in the World Cup. And looking out for his parents’ little blue VW Beetle at every turn, he waits.
Snatches of The Year My Parents Went On Vacation make it utterly endearing and gently amusing, even if it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before. The film, in parts, reminds one of the recent Indian film Little Zizou which also revolved around a football-crazy kid and his coming-of-age dilemmas. The Year My Parents Went On Vacation is equally impressive in its performances and these kids are surprisingly refreshing to watch on screen. Watch it for its lovely background score and understated but effective camera work that strings together unseemly moments — Mauro’s first cold-water bath, his first cooking adventure, his first break dance and his first older-woman crush. These are moments that are heartbreaking and heartwarming at once.
FILM: O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias (The Year My Parents Went On Vacation)
DIRECTOR: Cao Hamburger
CAST: Michel Joelsas, Daniela Piepszyk
GENRE: Drama
LANGUAGE: Portuguese