Although not what American studios generally mean by "family fare," this drama is actually excellent family viewing -- it both opens a window onto another culture and, through Antonio, speaks the universal language of teen angst.
The Middle of the World(O Caminho das Nuvens)
Brazil · 2003
1h 25m
Director Vicente Amorim
Starring Cláudia Abreu, Wagner Moura, Ravi Ramos Lacerda, Carol Castro
Genre Drama
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Romão, illiterate and unemployed, feels destiny drawing him on an odyssey to Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of a job and a decent life. A family of seven journeys 2,000 miles across the hinterlands of Brazil on bicycles. Along the way, the story explores the inner dynamics of a family facing a great challenge with the courage to pursue dreams.
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What are critics saying?
Debuting helmer Vicente Amorim provides a determined forward movement, which, while lacking in cultural explanation, gives the saga uplift and punch.
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
In the depiction of this unlikely journey -- it is supposedly based on a real-life story -- the film awkwardly veers between naturalism and a striving for poetic myth.
When they (the family) arrive at their destination, the story arrives at an ending that's neither obvious nor interesting, kind of like the film leading up to it.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Director Vicente Amorim's dramatic instincts evoke after-school specials (most of the drama entails the clan's brooding teenager chomping at the parental bit), and his visual ideas are restricted to aping "City of God's" fish-eye ambience and hectic editing.
A dull film, inspired by a true story.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Wants to be both a realistic family drama and a mythical odyssey but lacks the substance to be much more than a vignette.
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