On DVD: The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

Get me in the right mood and I'm a sucker for a sentimental coming-of-age film. Yeah, I know that my heartstrings are being deliberately plucked, but if the picture's well made, odds are good that it'll work its magic on me. Sure, I'm a hard sell. But every once in a while I have to watch one just to prove that reviewing movies hasn't turned me into a completely jaded misanthrope, and that there's still a glimmer of humanity lurking in my tiny, cold, black critic's heart.

Such a film is The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, a charming, funny and meticulously crafted Brazilian indie set in the summer of 1970, when leftists were plotting to overthrow Medici's totalitarian regime and the chance for a World Cup victory brought the country together in hope. Michel Joelsas plays Mauro, a 13-year-old soccer fanatic whose parents abruptly announce that they're going on a little vacation, so he's going to be left with his grandfather in São Paulo's Jewish Quarter. But Mauro's folks are actually revolutionaries, and they're really going underground. And Mauro's folks don't know that grandpa died before they dropped the boy on the doorstep of his apartment house.

Left to fend for himself in an empty apartment with nothing but a promise that his parents will return in time for the anticipated World Cup soccer matches, Mauro strikes up an odd friendship with an elderly Jewish neighbor named Schlomo (Germano Haiut). The man isn't thrilled to be looking after a young, non-Jewish boy who isn't really his responsibility, but his rabbi and other members of his synagogue decide that since Mauro has been brought to them, like Moses floating in the reeds, it's up to their tight-knit community to care for him.

All Mauro cares about, though, are two things -- the Brazilian soccer team's chances and his parent's return. As he waits for both, he makes friends with Hanna (amazing, adorable Daniela Piepszyk), a spunky tomboy who lives in the building. The weeks become months, and Mauro gradually develops relationships with the people in this strange, multicultural city. Eventually Mauro begins to realize that his parents may never return, and that this temporary summer layover may continue indefinitely.

The picture has a rather slow first act, which shouldn't deter you from giving this marvelous film a chance. Director Cao Hamburger takes a languid approach to developing the characters and the relationships, and before you know it, this small world becomes vividly real and beautifully textured. As with most coming-of-age films, our hero develops a crush on an older woman, deals with bullies and makes new friends, develops a deep relationship with the elderly parent substitute, and ultimately grows up a bit as a result. It's not new territory, but it's revisited with such passion, and the Brazil 1970 setting is so specific to the outcome of the film, that it's still deeply affecting.

Hamburger's canny juxtaposition of childhood joys and disappointments with the terrifying military presence, combined with the cross-cultural, cross-generational fascination with soccer make for a moving, tender tale of hope. It won't knock My Life as a Dog or Cinema Paradiso out of the top slots in this genre, but it's a solid runner-up, and one well worth seeing when you feel like your cold, bitter heart needs a little warming.

The DVD from City Lights Pictures offers a good, if not spectacular, transfer of the film with solid audio (Portuguese, with English subtitles). Extras include a very nice "making of" featurette, cast and crew interviews, plus some minor deleted scenes and outtakes.

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