Brazil, 1970. The whole country’s going nuts in anticipation of the Pele-led national soccer team winning the World Cup. But in “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation,” something bigger is going on.
Twelve-year-old Mauro (Michel Joelsas) has football fever like everyone else, but his mom and dad have a real problem: They’ve gotten on the bad side of the junta in power at the time.
Before going into hiding, they drive from their home in Belo Horizonte to a Jewish suburb of São Paulo and drop off Mauro in front of his paternal grandfather’s apartment building, swearing to come back from “vacation” in time to watch the big games with him.
One thing they forgot to check, though: Is Grandpa still alive? As it turns out, no.
The neighbors don’t quite know what to do about the abandoned kid with the untraceable parents, but after some initial kvetching they of course rise to the task, and affectionate bonding is spread all around.
This is one of those adorable foreign kid/cranky old folks heartwarmers; think “Central Station” with mezuzahs, but minus the gorgeous photography.
Tragedy, naturally, lurks around the edges of this one.
Writer-director Cao Hamburger gets a lot of what he must have considered comic mileage from shots of Orthodox rabbis crazily cheering around a TV set, not to mention the enterprising little girl Hanna’s (Daniela Piepszyk) business of charging the local boys to peep into the changing rooms of her mother’s dress shop.
But his film develops honest emotional strength only when it’s focused on Mauro’s often solitary, frustrated longing to see his family again.
Otherwise moving in a push-button way, “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” was Brazil’s official entry for the foreign-language film Oscar.
It didn’t make the cut, which is about the only thing that puts it in the company of a great foreign political/character study such as “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.”
The Los Angeles Daily News does not give star ratings.
“The Year My Parents Went on Vacation”
Not rated, but with mild violence, language and children in jeopardy. 1 hour, 44 minutes. Directed by Cao Hamburger. Starring Michel Joelsas, Germano Haiut, Daniela Piepszyk. In Portuguese and Yiddish with English subtitles. Opens today at the Esquire.
