Dropping the ball

>> The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
recreates World Cup fever in 1970s Brazil,
but the story is stale

by MARK SLUTSKY

1970-era Brazil, in the midst of a tide of cultural change, a military dictatorship and a World Cup series to boot is the setting for a new coming-of-age film from that country, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation. But the story’s backdrop, both large (the repressive regime, the monumental football series) and small (the São Paulo neighbourhood where the film takes place) is so interesting that it threatens to overshadow the movie itself.

Directed by Cao Hamburger (whose name is apparently actually pronounced “Cow Hamburger”—go figure), The Year stars the young Michel Joelsas as Mauro, whose parents are forced to flee due to unspecified political pressures. As the film is told from the kid’s point of view, the exact situation is hinted at but never explicitly explained. While your average Brazilian viewer would probably know exactly what Hamburger is implying, it’s not hard to guess that the grown-ups are dissidents on the lam.

They leave the kid in the care of his grandfather, Motel, who lives in a Jewish suburb of São Paulo—or at least they think they do, as unbeknownst to them the old-timer passes away shortly before they leave the kid at the curb. (That they don’t bother to take him upstairs and say hi to grandpa seems extremely unlikely, even if they are in a hurry.) The secularized (and uncircumcised) Joelsas ends up being looked after by a cranky old Orthodox Jew named Shlomo (Germano Haiut), and by the rest of the close-knit neighbourhood, as he hopes for a Brazilian triumph in the Cup and the return of his parents.

It’s a pleasure to experience the world of out-of-the-way ’70s Brazil; this is not a land of beaches and palm trees, nor is it a violent City of God favela. It’s a multicultural ethnic neighbourhood the likes of which you might find in any metropolis, and there’s definitely a novelty in seeing Orthodox Jews switch between Yiddish and Portuguese.

But as a story, it’s a little lacklustre. The world seen through the eyes of a kid gimmick doesn’t feel fresh, nor does the storytelling, with its unnecessary voice-over narration. Hamburger has recreated a detailed little world well, but he hasn’t told a strong enough story with it.

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
opens this Friday,March 28

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