IT’S 1970, and Brazil is ruled by right-wing generals who have given civil liberties the boot. But most minds are on Brazil’s Pelé-led soccer team, which is on its way to winning the World Cup.
The team has no greater fan than young Mauro who, with no warning, is sent to live with his grandfather while his left-leaning parents go “on vacation,” actually going into hiding from the secret police.
The boy arrives at his grandfather’s high-rise apartment in Sao Paulo to discover that the old man, a barber, had just died of a heart attack while shaving a customer.
Mauro is taken in by one of his grandfather’s neighbors, Shlomo, an elderly Jewish gentleman who is shocked to discover that the boy is a goy.
Mauro, meanwhile, is put off by the customs of the lively Jewish neighborhood. But, as expected, Mauro and Shlomo come to accept each other.
As directed by Cao Hamburger, the film is a pleasant mix of sentimentality and political intrigue. Newcomer Michel Joelsas is believable as Mauro, as is Germano Haiut as Shlomo.
But the movie is stolen by 11-year-old Daniela Piepszyk as tomboy Hanna, one of Mauro’s new friends. She has a face in a million.
THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION
Cup runneth over.
In Portuguese, with English subtitles. Running time: 105 minutes. Not rated (nothing objectionable). At the Paris and the Sunshine.