<P>A road movie with&nbsp;a strong sub-text of social criticism.</P>

A road movie with a strong sub-text of social criticism.

Dora, played by veteran Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro, is a retired schoolteacher; she operates a letter-writing service in the hall of Brazil`s Central Station where she helps the illiterate. But Dora is profoundly cynical, though she takes money from her customers, she doesn`t always send their letters. Meanwhile 9-year-old Josue, (Vinicius de Oliveira), is left alone when his mother is killed just after dictating to Dora a letter addressed to his father. The old woman takes responsibility for the boy, and together they set out into the countryside to try to find his father... Comparisons will be made between this film and Kolya, the Czech film - and Walter Salles` magnificent road movie is equally good. On the surface it`s a simple story about how a child softens the heart of a bitter old woman - but there`s more going on here. Dora represents Brazil`s past, while the innocent boy is the future. Their journey takes them to the most impoverished parts of the country, allowing them encounters with a cross-section of society, culminating in the starkness of an amazingly bleak, government created town in the middle of nowhere. So there`s a strong sub-text of social criticism. The stunning widescreen photography by Walter Carvalho is alone worth the price of admission, and the sentimentality which threatens is kept well and truly in check. Margaret`s comment: This haunting story of the connection between two people who are bereft of human contact or support is a really fine achievement for first-time feature director Walter Salles. Salles` background as a documentary filmmaker shows in this, there`s a sense of reality, a hint of social issues but a resistance to sentimentality in the world through which his two protagonists move. I felt, for the first time, that I was somehow breathing the air of Brazil, moving the story out of the city into the backblocks enables us to connect with the visual beauty of this country. Salles lets his story evolve without any sense of it being forced. The two central performances, particularly Montenegro`s portrayal of a miserable old cow, cement the visual fabric that is just so impressive.