E-Mail This Article to a Friend O CAMINHO DAS NUVENS|THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD

PORTUGUESE | 85 MINUTES | MFA: AUGUST 12-14

The middle of the world is seen twice in Vicente Amorim’s film. In the beginning, Romão, his wife, and five kids, en route on bicycle to Rio from their village 2000 miles away, ponder a monument to "The Middle of the World." There’s nothing there to see. Later, Romão takes a job dressed up as an Indian at a theme park by the same name. Somewhere between the bleakness of the one and the kitsch of the other lies the film’s sensibility. Hollywood’s version of this true story would focus on the family values and the triumph of the spirit, and there’s enough of that here. Also, Amorim tarts it up: a tumbling hand-held camera records a mad chase, and the family catches a pig! But traces of the Brazilian film tradition of social and psychological realism persevere in his critiques of injustice and of Romão’s macho opacity. O caminho das nuvens stays clear of the middle of the road.