Foreword: Since its release in 1998, the Brazilian film "Central Station" can be described as full of glory, and it has won heavyweight awards such as the Golden Bear, the Golden Globe, and the Oscar, which is enough to show that it is a very good film, and even many film critics praised it as "one of the best-looking movies in the world".
The film tells the story of Dora, a middle-aged woman who writes letters from generation to generation, after witnessing the death of Joshua's mother who had written to her on the streets of Rio, takes Joshua home in a complicated mood and sells it to traffickers, and then struggles to save him, and finally embarks on a journey with Joshua to find her father.
The classic of the film is not in the thrilling shots or complex and twisted plots, but through the brilliance of humanity flashed by the old and the young in the process of searching, and the dazedness of people under the social turmoil of the 90s in Brazil, showing the yearning of young boys, middle-aged women and the whole nation for a better hope.
Today, I will analyze why the heroine Dora, a cold, lonely old woman, sold Joshua and then risked rescuing him, and took him to find his father tirelessly. What does Dora want? What did she get? In my opinion, Dora's transformation of humanity can be interpreted in three stages. In the fourth part of this article, I will analyze the artistic performance of the "Central Station" film, and the charm and value of being called "one of the best movies in the world".
<h1>01. The first stage of "the confrontation between indifference and selfishness and the desire for father's love": The lonely Dora sets herself as the judge of other people's emotions, until she encounters Joshua's tragic encounter and begins to fight between indifferent humanity and the desire to be loved</h1>
In the turbulent years of Rio in the 1990s, many families were displaced. In the waiting hall of Central Station, Dora helps people to convey information to her loved ones, listens to the talk of expectation, and writes and puts it into an envelope with no expression. While calmly accepting the person's honorarium, she returned home and discarded some letters of emotional expression that she did not like.
Everyone craves affection, whether young or adult, that is a kind of sustenance, a kind of spiritual dependence. On this day, a woman came with a little boy to write to her husband, the little boy Joshua had not seen his father, the mother expressed in her heart the expectation of going to find him, Joshua was also proud of this carpenter's father, he wanted to rush to his father, but Dora said that his father must be an irresponsible drunkard, which made Joshua very angry.
In that era when faith is scattered in the wind and reality is unspeakably miserable, having a positive and sunny father figure is undoubtedly the hope of a difficult life. But without fatherly love or loss of hope for fatherly love, one moves towards another extreme in one's attitude towards life.
Joshua's mother died in an accident, and Dora looked at the sad Joshua and suddenly sprouted the kindness of human nature, and took him home. But after returning to the room surrounded by the disciples, the evil in her heart bubbled up again, and she sold Joshua to the traffickers. When he used the money to buy a television set, the only woman in his life who could be called a girlfriend told him that where the organs were trafficked at that time, Joshua might be killed.
Thinking of the situation of the little boy Joshua and watching her life with nothing, Dora struggles between the good and the evil of human nature, and finally plucks up the courage to snatch Joshua back from the trafficker's house, but she does not dare to return to her own home. Joshua distrusted the old woman, hiding the letter she had written to her father and not sending it out, and had sold herself to the traffickers, and though she had escaped together now, it did not diminish his disgust and hostility in the slightest. It's just that Joshua is too young to be able to live alone and find his father.
The feelings between people are delicate, even if two strangers with a wide age difference and disgust with each other will snuggle up to each other after encountering life shocks and mutations. Like the train tracks of Central Station, they extend forward without crossing but also in parallel.
Dora still couldn't see tenderness in her eyes, only dazed and anxious, watching the world change indifferently, not knowing where her future was. And Joshua, despite the unexpected death of his mother, is still full of longing for life, firmly believing that as long as he finds his father, everything will be fine. Two contradictory emotional states, fighting and helplessly looking for their own belonging, perhaps this is full of emotional tension and resonance that attracts the audience.
<h1>02, the second stage of "the awakening and search of human nature": After saving Joshua, Dora only out of human instinct, gradually re-experienced human warmth on the way to find his father</h1>
Joshua still keeps a psychological distance from Dora, and although Dora buys him new clothes and takes him to his father, she does not have any gratitude to Dora, and even uses sarcasm. This made Dora lose patience, but after losing the only money left, the two of them had to rely on each other and continue to hate each other and embark on the journey. When they were at a loss, they met the kind truck driver and promised to let them take the next location.
The truck driver in the film has another symbolic meaning, representing the hopeful people who live actively in a turbulent society. Although he is also single like Dora, he regards the highway as his home, the delivery work as his life, and he is also happy to work hard. But he was a devout believer, good-hearted and afraid of change, even the onslaught of emotion.
Joshua and Dora are still fighting, but gradually adding some warmth, and when the little boy is hungry and can't stand going to the store to steal something, Dora stops him, probably worried about ending up like the one who stole bread at Central Station. But then Dora steals some food and is caught by the shop owner, but fortunately, a truck driver helps out. Back in the car, Dora lies about the food she bought, but Joshua unceremoniously breaks her lie, and the two begin to squeeze each other with "your father is an alcoholic" and "you are a yellow-faced woman who no one wants."
The child's thinking is simple and clear,between good and evil, and even though Dora is helping him find his father, she is bitter about the viciousness of not sending and selling the letter to the traffickers before. Human nature is like this, the judgment of whether things are good or bad is simple and direct, but it is also deeply penetrating into the soul.
The truck driver didn't bother about Dora stealing food, and even when Joshua proposed that his dream was to drive a truck, He let Joshua touch the steering wheel at Dora's request. At that moment, the cockpit of the truck in the film is filled with warm sunshine, and the whole shot is warm and joyful, they are like a happy family outing.
When the three of them slept in the evening, Dora and the truck driver opened their hearts and talked to each other about their lives, and the truck driver said: "Pingshui meets the most sad, because the difference is never wanting to see each other." Dora, on the other hand, said, "We don't have to be separated either. ”
Dora's heart may never be so emotional, she pulled the driver's watch white, and went to the bathroom to put on lipstick, but the harsh reality is that the driver quickly fled in a car. Looking at the loss of happiness in front of her, Dora's heart was extremely aggrieved, and she cried on the window.
Although the story with the truck driver was short on the journey to find Joshua's father, it melted Dora's frozen emotions, and even if she didn't get it, it made her heart softer. And the people and things that have passed through life, who is not such a change, there are gains and losses, there is enthusiasm and indifference, we are all growing up step by step in the journey of life, living as we want.
<h1>03, the third stage of "self-redemption and re-departure": When she finally found Joshua's father's home, the family affection and joy made Dora realize the goodness of human nature, and she set out again to find the belonging of her soul</h1>
Dora took Joshua in another Catholic car and continued toward his father's place.
Contradictions and conflicts are always accompanied by two people with similar fates, and when they finally find the address left by Joshua's father, they are told that Joshua's father has already bought the house and that he is an idle drunkard. Joshua heard this and silently turned away, Dora also felt very helpless, full of hope but in exchange for disappointment, they quarreled again in the context of the carnival of the believers, Joshua ran into the crowd in a huff, Dora shouted and chased past, but because of the problem of old age and heart failure, she passed out in the room where the believers prayed.
Looking for opportunities in disappointment, losing hope in opportunities, when you reach the terminal station of your dreams, you find that it is not what you want. Emotions of anger, loss, and anxiety exhaust them, but they have to face the next step in life.
Dora woke up in Joshua's arms, she was touched, and Joshua apparently forgave Dora at this time and began to accept her and embrace life together. They stayed in the local area to return to their old businesses, writing letters to those at the bottom, only this time Dora's mood was no longer as cold as before, and she looked at the expressions of happiness in her faith, and a long-lost smile appeared on her face.
The two made some money, no longer worried about survival, and went to the photo place to take a group photo, in the background is the kind image of the priest, they hold hands, like a farewell to the past confrontation, but also to leave a good impression for the future.
This echoes when Dora first brought Joshua out and asked him if he remembered what his father looked like, because Joshua had a vague memory of his father's appearance, and Dora did not want to be forgotten in Joshua's mind, or it could be said that she did not want to forget this little boy who had met her as a child.
After living for half a lifetime, Dora developed a selfish and indifferent personality, but in the process of helping Joshua find her father, she also became more and more aware of her inner relief, Joshua bought Dora a dress, and Dora did not send all the letters she wrote.
Eventually, they find Joshua's father's home, although he is not here, but the appearance of the two brothers tells them the reality of warmth, the father has been thinking about Joshua and his mother, and went to Rio to find their mother and son, but never returned, just a letter sent back. Dora read the letter, and although joshua was not mentioned in her father's letter, Dora secretly added his name, and Joshua finally smiled with relief, and he and his two brothers believed that his father would eventually return to the house.
The next day, Dora put on the dress Joshua had bought her, put on lipstick, and quietly left in the face of Asaka. On the bus she wrote a letter to Joshua, she hoped that Joshua would not forget herself, writing that she remembered her father again, and burst into tears.
We have unpleasant or painful experiences in life, if we have been carrying it and can not let go, in the future journey of life, we will slowly accumulate in the heart, let ourselves lose the heart to find the good, and even gradually distort the understanding of the world and the values of life. Perhaps, when the shackles of being hurt and tortured for a long time are lifted, eventually everyone will forgive those who have hurt themselves.
<h1>04. What is so wonderful about "Central Station"? What are its artistic representations? </h1>
The movie "Central Station" is a realist-style road movie, using "letter" as an emotional carrier throughout, telling people the theme story of finding family affection, finding lost self, and finding national hope. From this, we can see the confusion and beliefs of contemporary Brazilian society, and it is easy to map certain plots to their own real lives, and good stories usually resonate with people in this way.
(1) The director's intention and film connotation
Director Walter Salles is a well-known Brazilian film director, screenwriter and producer who specializes in documentaries and feature films, and the poster theme of this film is "A child is looking for his home, a woman is looking for her heart, and the country is looking for its roots." This is very much in line with Walter Cyrus's consistent theme of "exile and the search for self-identity", through the complexity of human nature in the conflict of social environment, to find faith and spiritual belonging, to explore the beautiful yearning for the best of human nature.
We analyzed the theme of the poster one by one to see how the director expressed his intentions and embodied the connotation of the film.
A child is looking for his home
The little boy Joshua's task from beginning to end was to find his father, but when he finally found his father's home, he did not see his father, and even from the letter we can guess that his father may have died a long time ago. Why did the director arrange an ending that did not find the real father? I think his focus is on the search process of the little boy, showing the indifference of human nature, the harsh social environment, and the fragmentation of family in turbulent times, which is realistic and profound. On the surface, the little boy is looking for his father and home, but in fact, it is to express people's desire for hope and beauty, but the child's inner emotions are more direct and pure.
A woman is looking for her heart
The little boy's search is a tangible father and home, while Dora's search is passive, inspired by the little boy's search process, just like Chinese said "at the beginning of man, nature is good", under her cold and playful appearance, there is a pain that is not easy to be detected, which is a secret that she longs to change but does not have the courage to touch.
The country is looking for its roots
Unlike the search for little boys and women, the deeper and more serious national disorientation is the ultimate expression of the director's thoughts.
In the 90s, the Brazilian society, the economic situation was extremely bad, inflation "exploded" level, the director of this film once said: "In the past 30 years, no country has experienced so much pain like Brazil to change the country." The chaotic order and the dazed people are desperately eager to get rid of this painful situation, which is the ultimate search that the director wants to express: the spirit of the state, the roots of the country.
And where are these hidden? The answer is conveyed through "searching" and when believers sing about faith, that is, the "truth, goodness, and beauty" of human nature.
(2) The heavy theme is told
Films that express the theme of human nature, simply put, are expressed in a heavy, depressing atmosphere and plot, and are most likely to touch the audience's heart. However, "Central Station" does not describe social unrest and life suffering in a colorful way, but instead tells it lightly through the portrayal of some detailed conflicts.
In the film, these depictions of conflicts can be roughly expressed from the following shots:
Human affection is weak: Dora writes letters in the noisy and chaotic Central Station, a table separates the two inner worlds, the person who pours out is full of affection and expectation, but the person who writes the letter is only used as a tool to earn money, and even takes the letter home and reads and tears it up.
Social unrest: Young men are so hungry that they risk going to a store to steal a loaf of bread in exchange for being shot and killed. No apocalyptic scenes, no chaotic scenes, a simple shot of an extreme plot, enough to explain everything.
Life Expectations: Although Joshua has never met his father, he has always maintained a positive and sunny image of him, and cannot tolerate Dora's half-sentence accusations. In his mind, his father was a carpenter with feelings and righteousness, and if he placed this image in the impetuous and dazed environment of Brazilian society at that time, the image of a down-to-earth, kind and simple carpenter was the hope of saving the country.
It is this kind of emotional progression of "moisturizing and silent" that allows us to follow the development of the plot when watching the film, and more and more feel the brilliance and hope of the director's desire to convey the best of human nature.
(3) Scenes and objects of montage symbolism
There are many detailed descriptions in the film, in addition to the previous description of the truck driver can be interpreted as a person active life, and the photo of Dora and Joshua corresponding to Joshua's vague understanding of the father's image, there are several typical symbolic scenes and objects.
Rio Central Station: This city was once the capital of Brazil, and the railway station has a huge flow of people and the world's reflection, the choice of the station as the turning point of the story, in fact, is not to represent the transformation of contemporary Brazilian society brought about by the industrialization, dazed and hopeful intersection. Where did it come from? Where are you going? What will be the result? People are exploring.
Language and image of religion: Several characters are named after famous characters in the Bible, the protagonist is a young boy named Joshua, his father is called Jesus, and the two older brothers are named Isaiah and Moses. At the end of the film, Joshua finds the car in which his father is riding, the car where the believers attend the meeting, and the carnival and prayer of the congregation in the background of extreme disappointment, all of which show the beautiful yearning and expectation of the humanity of the spiritual faith in this country embraced by Jesus.
Dora's Lipstick: Appears twice in the movie, once secretly smeared for love, and once when she leaves Joshua's house, she puts on lipstick and puts on the new clothes Joshua bought, fearlessly embarking on her own way home. The two lipsticks represent the repressed enthusiasm in people's hearts and the vision of a future Brazilian society. After experiencing the baptism of tribulation, what can stop people from pursuing a beautiful yearning?
The film ends on Dora's bus home, and from writing indifferently to others to writing her own letters with deep affection, Dora has gone through a journey of searching. Brazil, on the other hand, is emerging from nearly 20 years of failed economic planning, and is pulling itself out of the quagmire as the new president embarks on economic reforms at the time of filming.
epilogue:
The movie "Central Station" tells a story that can be richly interpreted from different angles, and from the perspective of pure plot, it is a road film that awakens humanity in the process of finding family affection with rich emotions; and from the perspective of the combination of human nature and contemporary society, it is also a work full of national feelings and expectations. But the deep and shallow interpretation and understanding make us feel that this is indeed a well-deserved classic movie from that point of view.