Chichester Cinema at New Park
Linha De Passe
- Line of Passage
Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas’ new film is a complex and gritty drama about a working-class family’s struggle on the streets and football pitches of Sao Paulo. A well-structured, multi-stranded narrative vividly evokes the rigours of maintaining both body & soul in Brazil’s biggest city.
The story follows the family of Cleuza (Sandra Corveloni), a middle-aged single mother with four sons and one more on the way. Dario (Vinicus de Oliveira), a talented footballer; Denis (Joavo Baldasserini), a cheerful womaniser; Dinho (Jose Rodrigues), a fervent Pentecostal Christian; and odd son out Reginaldo (Santos), a mixed-race boy who's become obsessed with the father he's never known. The narrative takes us inexorably towards the four sons' moments of truth.
Without overstating the grimness of Brazilian working-class life, the film evokes a hardscrabble existence in which opportunities are precarious and must be paid for. This is a more humanist and down to earth alternative to the more romantic and stylistic City of God, and one of the most enthusiastically applauded films at Cannes this year.
Brazil · 
France · 2008 · Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas · 108min
