Being a Chinese, living in US for 11 years. this randomly-found, third-world movie opened my mind once again to the bigger world.The movie describes a crazy migration of an unfortunate family led by a strong-, ideal-, foolish-minded young father from the poor part of Brazil, (northern, close-to-equator, close to amazon), to the best city of the nation, Rio (coastal, close to San Paulo). The family has 7 members, 30-year old father and weak-minded, naive mother, 4 sons aged about 15, 12, 10, 2, and a 7 year old daughter. They ride on 4 bikes for 2000 miles for the trip. They beg for food or hunger, and random night-rest. The purpose of the migration is to seek a better life for the family, the very-common, very-basic purpose for most population of the whole world.The movie is beautifully presented, including delicately balanced contents ranging from family love, caring, growing, idealism, beautiful pictures, disturbing emotions. It's a movie disturbing my mind and will stay there for a long while. It is urging me to discuss it with people.

This movie is pointless. There is no story here that hasn't already been told. None of the characters are sympathetic. The man is a complete moron macho who refuses to get a job and as usual the woman is left to take care of the 100 kids they had together. I can see why foreigners will see this and think it's magical... The photography is beautiful but that's about it. It is misogynistic and not a fairy tale. The only thing that father taught his kid was how to smoke a cigarette at the age of 12!!!? It was upsetting and there was no redeeming qualities about him either. At the last scene when they finally get to Rio, the husband asks someone how to get to Brasilia and the wife finally says we're not going anywhere, we traveled for six months to get here. This last line was delivered as a punchline to a bad joke. It was supposed to be cute I guess. It wasn't. The story is predictable and unrealistic.It's a shame that this was funded by the Brazilian government.

The Middle of the World is, although not perfect, one of the most touching films I have seen this year. The performances are great, Wagner Moura and Claudia Abreu are certainly the best actors of their generation in Brazil; the story is compelling. One could only probably hope for a less sad ending. Nonetheless it is a great film. The music score is probably one of the best I have heard. The cinematography is also interesting. Although I'd prefer not to see so many wide shots of the road, but I guess the epic quality of the story would be lost without it. The alternate use of wide angle lenses and long lenses gives us a feeling of intimacy with the characters that is unique.

I've lived in Northeast Brazil, where this movie is set. Viewers get a realistic picture of small-town life, including devotion to Padre Cicero, a priest who died in 1934, in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceara. It shows the importance of the music of Roberto Carlos, the romantic singer who is Brazil's highest-selling recording artist, in the characters' lives. I've known people who have made similar journeys, and seen their devotion to their children and their struggle to preserve their dignity, just like the characters in this movie.It's more low-key than ""Bye Bye Brasil," "Central Station," "O Auto da Compadecida," and "Eu, Tu, Eles" (Me, You, Them). It's most similar in tone to "Central Station."