Table Of ContentReview:[Untitled]
ReviewedWork(s):
CentralStation[CentraldoBrasil]byMartine deClermont-Tonnerre;Arthur Cohn;Walter
Salles,Jr.;MarcosBernstein;JoãoEmanuelCarneiro;WalterSalles
DariénJ.Davis
TheAmericanHistoricalReview,Vol.104,No.2.(Apr.,1999),pp.692-693.
StableURL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762%28199904%29104%3A2%3C692%3ACS%5BDB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
TheAmericanHistoricalReviewiscurrentlypublishedbyAmericanHistoricalAssociation.
YouruseoftheJSTORarchiveindicatesyouracceptanceofJSTOR'sTermsandConditionsofUse,availableat
http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html.JSTOR'sTermsandConditionsofUseprovides,inpart,thatunlessyouhaveobtained
priorpermission,youmaynotdownloadanentireissueofajournalormultiplecopiesofarticles,andyoumayusecontentin
theJSTORarchiveonlyforyourpersonal,non-commercialuse.
Pleasecontactthepublisherregardinganyfurtheruseofthiswork.Publishercontactinformationmaybeobtainedat
http://www.jstor.org/journals/aha.html.
EachcopyofanypartofaJSTORtransmissionmustcontainthesamecopyrightnoticethatappearsonthescreenorprinted
pageofsuchtransmission.
TheJSTORArchiveisatrusteddigitalrepositoryprovidingforlong-termpreservationandaccesstoleadingacademic
journalsandscholarlyliteraturefromaroundtheworld.TheArchiveissupportedbylibraries,scholarlysocieties,publishers,
andfoundations.ItisaninitiativeofJSTOR,anot-for-profitorganizationwithamissiontohelpthescholarlycommunitytake
advantageofadvancesintechnology.FormoreinformationregardingJSTOR,[email protected].
http://www.jstor.org
SunSep918:04:382007
Film Reviews
CENTRALSTATION[Cerztral (lo Brasil]. Produced by exiled, alienated; and often unscrupulous. JosuC has
Martine de Clerrnont-Tonnerre and Arthur Cohn; lost his innocence, and Dora is pathetically corrupt.
directed by Walter Salles, Jr.; screenplay by Marcos Cerzrral Statiori takes its name from the busy subway
Bernstein, Sogo Emanuel Carneiro; and Walter Salles; and train stop in the heart of Rio's working-class
Jr. 1998; color; 115 minutes. Brazil. In Port~ig~iewseit h district. One end of the station is the gateway to the
English subtitles. Distributor: New Yorker Films. Pra~ada Republica (the Plaza of the Republic), one of
the outer landmarks of the bustling downtown area.
The Brazilian film Cerztrnl Statioi~ is not based on Another serves as a gateway to the bus terminal, which
historical events. Unlike such recent highly acclaimed takes passengers to neighborhoods farther afield. The
films as Elizabetlz, L$e Is Beaurifi/l; or Slznkespeare in title thus recails at once a central and specifically
Love. it does not seek to recreate the dynamics of a urban locale and becomes a metaphor for a crossroads
bygone era, nor does it attempt to comment on or to in Brazilian history. The filrn ~inderscorest he coming
imagine what such dynamics might have been like at together of two distant generations; one represented
some given moment in the past. Cer~trrrlS tntiorz is. by Dora; a grandmother-like figure, and $112 other by
Josue, a child of about ten. Together, they flee the
nonetheless; an important filrn for students of history
urban confusion and find friendship and redemption as
for three reasons. First, it marks an ilnportant moment
they search for Josue's father. In their travels, they
in Brazilian film production when Brazilians are redis-
discover themselves and a vast country full of beauty
covering their country's geographic diversity (although
and mystery.
economic uncertainty accentuated by the devaluation
Walter Salles's inspiration for the filrn apparently
of the real in early 1999 may limit this development).
came from an actual relationship that developed be-
Cerztr.al Statior? looks inward, discovering the potentials
tween a female prisoner and the sculptor Franz Krajc-
of the interior of the country. It is, to paraphrase Luigi
berg after she wrote a letter to him. This uncommon
Pirandello, a filrn in search of a country. Second,
relationship became the subject of the documentary
Ceiztral Stntiorz engages in a dialogue with Brazilian
Socor.ro nobre (Noble Help) of 1995. The power of that
filmography, particularly the films of ciilenzn i~ovot,h e
letter intrigued Salles, who wondered what would have
aesthetically and politically coinprornised movement
happened if the letter never arrived. This premise was
that emerged in the late 1950s determined to focus on
developed into a fictionalized script for Ceiztml Statiorz.
Brazilian social reality and its underdevelopment. Fi-
Ceritrrll Statiorl represents an important develop-
nally, while the film does not travel through time; it
ment in the filmmaker's career as well as in Brazilian
does travel across space and in so doing conxnents on
filmography. Salles's first major film, Ter1.a extrangeirii
our notions of time and progress. At the center of
(1996), dramatized the era in Brazilian history under
Cerztml Statiorz is the historian's quintessential preoc- the corrupt President Fernando Collar de Mello, when
cupation: the search for i~lforrnatjb~aln d the uliover- disillusioned Brazilians were leaving for Europe and
ing of truth; however fragmented it may be. the United States in record numbers (see AHR Film
The film's plot centers on two main characters: Dora Reviews, April 1998). Salles, the son of a Brazilian
(Fernanda Montenegro. the grarlde clarne of Brazilian diplomat. spent many years living outside Brazil and
theater), an elderly retired schoolteacher who purport- was eager to depict that perspective. In Central Statiorz,
edly transcribes and mails letters across the country for which takes place in the present, the young director
many of the illiterate citizens of Rio de Janeiro. and provides a more optimistic view. Brazilians are in the
Josue (a young boy whom the director met begging in process of self-discovery, and it is no coincidence that
the airport), the son of one of Dora's clients, who finds this occurred precisely at a time when Brazilians were
himself abandoned when a city bus strikes down his enjoying unprecedented economic and political stabil-
mother near the train station where Dora works. These ity. The film argues that the answers to Brazil's prob-
two characters are products of Brazilian urban rnal- lems lie within; and this is symbolized by the interior
aise; which has cultivated individuals who are lost; dry lands, the sertLio.
Film Reviews
The interior of Brazil, particularly that of the north- to write letters for them. Brazil is a place where
eastern state of Bahia, has long held a mythical place religion-long dismissed in many urban centers-
in Brazilian history. In his classic Rebelliorz in the continues to play a significant role in the lives of
Biiclclands (1902), Euclides da Cunha provided a vivid people. The Protestantism of the truck driver, who
and often sympathetic portrayal of life in the north- ironically reawakens Dora's dormant sexuality, and the
eastern interior while documenting the famed millen- religious celehation in the small town, where hun-
nial rebellion at Canudos. Many modernist writers of dreds of believers pray and give thanks to saints, are
the 1920s and 1930s described the interior as the two examples. In Salles's Brazil, remnants of feudalism
cradle of Brazilian civilization. Filmmakers associated coexist with some of the most advanced trends of
with cinema novo focused on the interior and the capitalism. Poverty and beauty are interconnected in
northeast to raise consciousness about Brazil's under- ways unimaginable to many in the West.
development and poverty. For example, Glauber At times, Salles's discourse borders on exoticism. a
Rocha. one of the major ideologues of the movement criticism not unfamiliar to those who promote Latin
and author of the manifesto "An Aesthetic of Hunger" America's unique baroque nature. In some ways, the
(l965), focused on the northeast in his film Bavavento sertiro serves the same function as Egypt in The English
(The Turning Wind, 1962). Other films. such as Nelson Patient (1996). although without the colonial dis-
Perreira dos Santos's Vidas secas (Barren Lives, 1963), course, or Italy inA Rooin with a View (1986), although
accentuated the devastating poverty and isolation of Salles's characters are more subtle. The "other space"
life in the backlands. The agenda of ci~zemii~zovoin the is constructed in an almost orientalist fashion that does
1960s established a discourse that continued to influ- not reflect the dynamic quality of the day-to-day life of
ence Brazilian cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. One "ordinary people" or the role of their rituals. Here, the
poignant example was Hector Babenco's internation- filmmaker faces the same challenge as the historian:
ally acclaimed Pi.xote (1980), which employed street how to reconstruct the truth of "ordinary people."
children rather than professional actors to document While the film has some documentary qualities,
and dramatize their brutal lives in urban Brazil. Salles chooses to present one specific interpretation of
Centrill Station borrows much from cinema novo, but Brazilian reality. Through the eyes of two urban
Salles is less dogmatic and less brutal in his depiction travelers, we gain a perspective on the tensions in
of poverty. Brazil is plagued by poverty and illiteracy. Brazilian life. Salles accentuates these tensions with-
to be sure. They are both part of the urban landscape out being didactic. The film raises many questions and
and integral to the rural environment. They affect the treats important conflicts and issues, including age and
old and have an impact on children. But Brazil is also gender, poverty, and the urban-rural dichotomy. In
a country of celebration and beauty. Salles employs addition, this important work situates itself within the
techniques of the road movie to explore Brazil and to debates on progress and national identity.
allow his alienated protagonists to escape into the DARI~JN. DAVIS
sunset. Dora and Josue travel by bus, and their poetic ;l/litltllebrlry College
sunset is the heart of the sertcio. The various bus stops
become moments for reflection as they move further
and further away from the city. Although the sertiro is WELCOMTEO SAR~JEP~rOod.uced by Graham Broad-
bent, Damian Jones, and Paul Sarony; directed by
every bit as poor as the city. Salles celebrates the
Michael Winterbottom; screenplay by Frank Cottrell
humanity of the old-fashioned life of the interior (as
Boyce. 1997; color, 102 minutes. UKIUSA. In English
seen in the way that JosuC's brothers eventually accept
and Serbo-Croatian. Distributor: Miramax.
him). The celebration of the nobility and innocence of
"the unexplored" or uncorrupted territory goes back at THE PERFECTC IRCLE[ Savdeni kmg]. Produced by
least to Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the mid-eighteenth Sylvan Burztejn, Dana Rotberg, Peter Van Vogelpoel:
century, and. like Rousseau, Salles's vision is both directed by Ademir Kenovic; screenplay by Ademir
romantic and utopian. Kenovic, Abdulah Sidran, and Pjar Zalica. 1996; color;
The film's voyage through Brazil's underdeveloped 110 minutes. BosniaIFrance. In Serbo-Croatian and
geographical space is a lesson in history. The Cuban French. Distributor: Les Films du Losange. Paris1
writer Alejo Carpentier remarked on several occasions Parnasse International.
that, as a culture born from symbiosis, from cultural.
THE WOLNDS[R uize].Produced by Dragan BjelogrliC;
political, and social intermingling. Latin America rep-
written and directed by Srdjan DragojeviC. 1998: color:
resented the spirit of the baroque. It is, as he also said,
103 minutes. Yugoslavia (Serbia)iFrance. in associa-
a culture that possesses a marvelous reality (lo rzal
tion with European Film Promotion, an initiative of
mawilloso). where the extraordinary is often routine.
the European Union's Media Program. In Serbo-
Central Station gives us a glimpse of Brazil's baroque. Croatian. Distributors: Le Studio Canal +, Paris;
The tough urban lifestyle exists within the same na-
Cobra Film DepartmentIPandora Film, USA.
tional boundaries as the archaic, almost medieval
existence of the northeast. This is a large country with THE POWDERK EG [Bure Biinlta]. Produced by Dejan
many resources, but it is also a country where high VraialiC and Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre; directed
levels of illiteracy still have many people paying others by Goran PaskaljeviC: screenplay by Dejan Dukovski,
