The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006)
"O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias" (original title)

A boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood in the year of 1970, where both world cup and dictatorship happen in Brazil.

Director:

Cao Hamburger

Writers:

Adriana Falcão (script collaborator), Claudio Galperin,

Stars:

Michel Joelsas, Germano Haiut, Paulo Autran

22 wins & 26 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Michel Joelsas	...	Mauro
Germano Haiut	...	Shlomo
Paulo Autran	...	Mótel, Mauro's grandfather
Simone Spoladore	...	Bia - Mauro's mother
Eduardo Moreira	...	Daniel, Mauro's father
Caio Blat	...	Ítalo
Daniela Piepszyk	...	Hanna
Liliana De Castro	...	Irene (as Liliana Castro)
Rodrigo dos Santos	...	Edgar
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Felipe Hanna Braun	...	Caco
Gabriel Eric Bursztein	...	Bóris
Abrahão Farc	...	Anatol
Haim Fridman	...	Duda
Edu Guimarães	...	Alfredo
Gérson	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

In 1970, near the World Cup, Daniel Stern and his wife Miriam leaves Belo Horizonte in a hurry and scared with their ten years old son Mauro in their Volkswagen. While traveling to São Paulo, the couple explains Mauro that they will travel on vacation and will leave Mauro with his grandfather Mótel. Daniel promises to return before the first game of the Brazilian National Soccer Team in the Cup. The boy is left in Bom Retiro, a Jewish and Italian neighborhood, and waits for Mótel in front of his apartment. When the next door neighbor Shlomo arrives, he tells the boy that Mótel had just had a heart attack and died. Alone and without knowing where his parents are, the boy is lodged by Shlomo and the Jewish community. Through the young neighbor Hanna, Mauro makes new friends, cheers for the Brazilian team and sees the movement of the police and militaries on the streets while waiting for his parents.

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Plot Keywords:

boy | jewish | 1970s | world cup | brazil | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic material, mild language, brief suggestive content, some violence and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [br] Official site [br] (English)

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese Yiddish Hebrew

Release Date:

2 November 2006 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

El año que mis padres se fueron de vacaciones

Filming Locations:

Bom Retiro, São Paulo, Brazil

Box Office

Budget:

BRL 3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$233,475 (Brazil) (3 November 2006)

Gross:

$873,942 (Brazil) (24 November 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gullane Filmes, Caos Produções Cinematográficas, Miravista

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min 104 min (theatrical and DVD) 104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Brazil's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

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Connections

Referenced in To Each His Own Cinema (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Na Cadência do Samba"
Written by Luiz Bandeira
Performed by Coral do Joab

User Reviews

Masterpiece, maybe the best Brazilian movie since City of God

Fernando Meirelles is the producer and Cao Hamburguer the director. Daniel Rezende (also from City of God) is the editor. But there is no violence, only sadness and sensibility in this movie. Tells the history of Mauro, a twelve years old boy that sudden has to stay by himself. Because of the dictatorship his parents lives him.It's happens in 1970, during the soccer world cup. The screenplay, written by Bráulio Mantovani (also from City of God) and other two writers and Cao Hamburguer, avoids sentimentality. With intelligent mix of the ordinary life and the heavy atmosphere, the movie offers moments of spontaneous geniality. Music and cinematography is also very good. I saw it during the São Paulo cinema Festival. It's open in Brasil in November. With the quality of the movie, for sure is going to open also in the USA.It's a movie to everybody.