Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Film & Music

Media Credit: fipresci.org

Cao Hamburger's The Year My Parents Went on Vacation is a foreign film true to it's genre - stingy with dialogue, artistically crafted and never tying the neat plot-knot which is so characteristic of Hollywood.

The film visits a time in Brazil's history when soccer was life and politics were deadly, and focuses around the story of Mauro, a 12-year-old boy who is dumped off at his grandfathers while his parents flee political persecution. Shortly before his arrival, however Mauro's grandfather dies, leaving him virtually orphaned in a suburb of Sao Paolo. Mauro is half-heartedly adopted by his grandfather's Jewish neighbor, Shlomo, and comedic cultural clashes ensue. Scenes like peeping through a crack in a ladies dressing room, mistaking a religious robe for a cape and obsessing over soccer in all kinds of ways are what string this coming-of-age tale along for nearly two hours.

The film is very much the Brazilian equivalent of The Sandlot, and has similar cinematographic qualities. Filmed with brown, turquoise and burnt orange colour palettes true to the 70s, this film is a visual feast for retro-loving eyes. Lots of vintage-looking Ray Ban glasses, textiles you could only find on Queen West-West and furniture inspired by your grandmother are featured in the film, making a somewhat tired genre come to life with artistic integrity. However, if you're not into doilies, teal carpeting and that bleached-out film look, you might find yourself utterly bored by the pace of this film. It offers little in the way of captivating dialogue or thrilling suspense, but is certainly a cute foray into the soccer frenzy in Brazil and the community that grows out of it. Minor plot diversions include highlighting how soccer brought people together in patriotic pride for the Brazilian team and their star player Pele. Regardless of their race, class, age and sex, if the soccer game was on, the country stopped, watched and waited; fittingly, a lot of this film portrays exactly that.

1970s Brazil was also under the military rule of Emílio Garrastazu Médici, which marked the beginnings of Operation Condor - a campaign of government repression which killed thousands of dissidents in the country. The film uses the subject of dictatorship and leftist politics as backdrop, giving the viewer a shallow look at the political tensions of the time. But, in keeping with its PG rating and coming-of-age tale genre, it never dives into what could have been a very turbulent and suspensful setting.

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation is one of those movies intended for all age groups, but only appreciated by adults - the complete opposite of something like Finding Nemo or Madagascar, where you wonder who's getting a kick out of it more, the adults or the kids. Granted, I'm comparing two completely separate genres, one being the foreign dramedy, the other the animated mad cap humour of North America. Nonetheless, the point is that films both appealing to adults and children are possible. In this film, it felt as though Hamburger used kids in the film to explore deeper themes in a lighter way. Yet, the whole time I was watching the movie, I felt that I was being ripped off for story complexities; if I were a decade younger, I'd probably feel ripped off for entertainment.

So if you're looking for a family-friendly film that's easy on the eyes, intellectually light and slow-going enough to get up, make some popcorn, come back and miss next to nothing. The Year My Parents Went on Vacation is that film...and not much more.

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