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.

Dora (Fernanda Montenegro) is a petty deceitful selfish old woman who writes letters for illiterate people at the central station in Rio de Janeiro. Josué's mother asks to write a letter trashing the father as she demands he sees his son. She is killed by a bus and Dora is left with the young Josué. She sells him to some child traffickers, but she has second thoughts. She rescues him and takes him on a road trip to see his father.Dora is not a saint and the movie is better for it. She is bitter and struggles with her moral compass. The kid sees this and resists her at first. This is no light comedy, but the growth in their relationship is what's so great about this movie. Fernanda's performance is second to none.

If I heard I was going to watch a movie about a little boy whose mother dies outside a crowded train station and a retired teacher who helps him find the father he never met, I would imagine I would be watching a sweet story unfold about a sad and lonely boy who is comforted and cared for by a loving and kind hearted woman who takes him under her wing in a motherly and heart-warming way. "Central Station" is not a feel-good movie. The retired teacher, Isadora, is neither warm nor motherly and the boy, Josué, is neither receptive or desiring of her help. However, Isadora and Josué still embark on the seemingly hopeless journey in search of a father who may or may not be alive or around. The movie is by no means predictable, as demonstrated in the way that the characters do not personify those which audiences would expect to see in Hollywood movies dealing with similar plots. It is intriguing and captivating to watch how a stubborn and cold Isadora finds herself best friends with an equally stubborn and cold Josué. Rather than their similarities creating a bond, they constantly drive each other away from the other, but in the end they find themselves forever changed by the remarkable friendship that formed between them. The genius of the movie rests in Salles' success in telling a story that is captivating and unpredictable. He is creative and unconventional and the product that results is phenomenal.

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.