The Middle of the World (2003)
Romão, illiterate and unemployed, feels destiny drawing him on an odyssey to Rio de Janeiro in pursuit of a job and a decent life. A family of seven journeys 2,000 miles across the hinterlands of Brazil on bicycles. Along the way, the story explores the inner dynamics of a family facing a great challenge with the courage to pursue dreams.
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Just saw the movie and was touched and traumatized. Beautifully made and very realistic. At first I got the idea of a visionary hard working father that wants to provide for his wife and children,soon to find out he is not...Those 5 kids just wonderful! All 5 of them! I loved the way they would all take turns caring for their little brother... The way they sang together with their mom in the middle of nowhere...and making the best out of the circumstances. Enjoyed the "rebel" on the older son and his failures...The mother was very talented just a bit too naive and submissive...maybe too in love with the looser... What did not sit well at all with me was how the father would let his family beg all along but would be ashamed of a little add job he got (temporary) where he could have earned at least a meal for his kids and not let them go to sleep hungry...The movie is dedicated to Roberto Carlos ( as in the singer)? and why would that be for?
Being a Chinese, living in US for 11 years. this randomly-found, third-world movie opened my mind once again to the bigger world.The movie describes a crazy migration of an unfortunate family led by a strong-, ideal-, foolish-minded young father from the poor part of Brazil, (northern, close-to-equator, close to amazon), to the best city of the nation, Rio (coastal, close to San Paulo). The family has 7 members, 30-year old father and weak-minded, naive mother, 4 sons aged about 15, 12, 10, 2, and a 7 year old daughter. They ride on 4 bikes for 2000 miles for the trip. They beg for food or hunger, and random night-rest. The purpose of the migration is to seek a better life for the family, the very-common, very-basic purpose for most population of the whole world.The movie is beautifully presented, including delicately balanced contents ranging from family love, caring, growing, idealism, beautiful pictures, disturbing emotions. It's a movie disturbing my mind and will stay there for a long while. It is urging me to discuss it with people.
it's the best road movie after Thelma and Louise. It's lovely in tempo, pictures, acting performance even of the very small kids, nice music, good mixture of action, drama, laughter, hope and despair, and getting out of your life the best possible....
Rarely does one have the opportunity to see such a unique, honest and beautiful movie, specially when it comes to dealing with such difficult issues such as poverty, a family's struggle to stick together and overcome all sorts of misadventures. This is a beautifully shot road movie on bicycles - based on a true story - that can be compared to The Bicycle Theif, and another Brazilian master piece by Nelson Pereira dos Santos: Vidas Secas (Barren Lives, is the English title) (based on a novel). Everyone should get to see this movie.