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Rating: NR
Starring: Michel Joelsas, Germano Haiut, Daniela Piepszyk, Simone Spoladore
Directed by: Cao Hamburger
The Year My Parents Went On Vacation is a wonderful,
bittersweet story, providing a good feeling during a time of despair. I loved the characters and the actors playing
the parts. For me it was a heartfelt,
attention-grabbing look at life during troubled times.
Mauro, a young boy from a
mixed Jewish/Brazilian family, has been yanked from his home by his parents who
tell him they are going on a vacation, and that he is going to another city to stay
with his grandfather.
What Mauro doesn’t know is that there is an uprising by
the government to rid Brazil of the Communist Party of which his father is a
member. Calling ahead, his father thinks
that everything is all set for the boy.
After the long drive they arrive at the grandfather’s apartment
building, Mauro gets hastily dropped off, and his parents speed away.
When Mauro knocks on his grandfather’s
apartment door, no one answers. Hearing
the rapping, Shlomo, an elderly Jewish neighbor, comes to Mauro’s
aid. When they get the apartment door
open Mauro finds that his grandfather has died of heart failure.
With no way to
contact Mauro’s parents, Shlomo takes in the boy. And so begins the story of a
young boy who has lost contact with his parents, does not have any knowledge of
Jewish ways, and all he really craves is to see Brazil win the World Cup.
The fascinating and compelling story has some wonderful
characters. I loved the performance by
Piepszyk, who plays Hanna, a young girl who runs the neighborhood with a strong
will and penchant for earning money by selling a peak at the girls in the
changing rooms of her father’s clothing store.
Haiut was perfectly cast for the
role of Shlomo. His constant prodding of
Mauro, and his gentle handling of the bad situation, makes the film a
winner. The outstanding performance
comes from Joelsas though. Chosen from over
1,000 candidates, Joelsas makes Mauro believable.
His amazing talent is evident in his portrayal of the young boy who has
to progress from bitter to sad to acceptance.
Although the film is in a foreign language, the subtitle
speed matches well with the slow spoken dialogue. Those who understand Yiddish will enjoy the
film even more.
FINAL ANALYSIS: The Year My Parents Went On Vacation is a
superb film with great characters and a wonderful story.
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