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| The Year My Parents Went on Vacation | 
| Director: Cao Hamburger
Actors: Paulo Autran, Caio Blat, Simone Spoladore, Michel Joelsas, Germano Haiut
Studio: City Lights Home Vid
Category: DVD
List Price: $26.98
Buy New: $14.60
You Save: $12.38 (46%)
Buy New/Used from $10.66
Avg. Customer Rating:  (6 reviews)
Sales Rank: 15302
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: Portuguese (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 105 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: WEAD600145D
UPC: 897246001454
EAN: 0897246001454
ASIN: B00195FU82
Release Date: July 15, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 07/15/2008 Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Pg
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A sad coming of age November 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The year is 1970 and Brazil's soccer team is challenging to win the World Cup. Its successful campaign should have dominated 11-year-old Mauro's year. But his parents are Communists and Brazil is ruled by a brutal military regime. They have to go into hiding and decide to dump Mauro with his grandfather in Sao Paulo.
The problem is, as Mauro discovers when he knocks on the door of his grandfather's apartment, the old man has had a heart attack and died. Here the movie indulges in a moment of unreality that seriously spoiled it for me. Which parents would dump their 11 year-old kid outside an apartment and not knock on the door to hand him over? And yet, without this totally unbelievable moment, there is no movie.
It turns out that grandfather is an orthodox Jew, whereas Mauro's parents have brought him up in ignorance of his heritage and have not even had him circumcised. So he is thrown on the mercy of the old man who lives next door and an unlikely friendship eventually grows up between the young boy and the neighbor.
There are some sweet things in this movie -- the acting is good and the relationships well-developed. But one doesn't feel the rage and pain of an abandoned child, left by his parents with no proper explanation.
Brazil does win the Cup but that's the only point that is truly resolved. The movie ends on a bittersweet note without really processing the meaning or significance of the year he spent alone in Mauro's life.
 The Year My Parents Went On Vacation is a powerful film September 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The sport of soccer is a source of national pride for the people of Brazil during the World Cup. This is one theme in the movie The Year My Parents Went On Vacation. Another theme of the movie is the separation of children from their parents during the Cold War and the opppression of people during the military dictatorship. Director Cao Hamburger presents these themes in this beautiful movie set in Brazil in 1970.
I watched this movie with English subtitles. There are some brief parts in the movie with no English subtitles to accompany the Portuguese dialogue, but it didn't prevent me from understanding it. I like the friendship of young boy Mauro and the elderly Polish Jewish man who takes care of him after his grandfather dies. I also love the friendship between Mauro and Hanna in the movie. Michel Joelsas is an excellent young actor who gives an authentic performance as a boy separated from his parents in the lead role. The performance of all the other actors in the movie are excellent as well. I enjoyed watching the bonus features on this DVD. There are interviews with the director and members of the cast. This is a moving and informative film about a country I knew very little about.
 English Subtitles September 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There does not seem to be English subtitles available for this film when I downloaded it.
 One Boy's Lesson in Cultural Diversity and 'Iron' Politics. September 1, 2008
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (O Ano em Que Meus Pais Sairam de Ferias) is a subtle, 2006 Brazilian drama film written and directed by Cao Hamburger. Set in Sao Paulo at the time of the 1970 World Cup and during the political turmoil of the "Iron Years" of Brazilian military dictatorship, the tells the story of a 12-year old boy, Mauro (Michel Joelsas), who is unexpectedly abandoned by his young, politically-subversive parents, Bia and Daniel Stein (Simone Spoladore; Eduardo Moreira). They deliver Mauro to his grandfather, Motel (Paulo Autran), a barber, promising to return for him before World Cup games in Mexico. Mauro loves football, and aspires to be a goalkeeper. The grandfather dies on the same day Mauro arrives. While waiting for his parents to return as promised, Mauro immerses himself in the diverse culture of his grandfather's working-class neighborhood, Bom Retiro. He is befriended by including Hanna(Daniela Piepszyk); Italo(Caio Blat), an anarchist university student;, Irene, a bartender and her mulatto boyfriend; the local rabbi and other Jewish elders; and Italian immigrants. As the country cheers on the Brazilian National Soccer Team, the police and militaries occupy the streets, as Mauro wonders if he will ever see his parents again. The film itself is stunning due the cinematography of Adriano Goldman and editing by Daniel Rezende (The Motorcycle Diaries, City of God). Funny yet sad, this sharply-drawn, charming coming of age movie is thankfully not Home Alone.
G. Merritt
A Child's Mind: The Door to Understanding August 8, 2008
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
O Ano em Que Meus Pais Sairam de Ferias (THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION) is an amazing little film from Brazil written by Adriana Falcao and Claudio Galperin and directed with panache by Cao Hamberger. It tackles many important issues (political upheaval, religion, ghettos, soccer, aging and more) while telling a very tender story about a young lad forced into a change of life that builds his character and his appreciation for the global community. It works on every level.
The year is 1970, the place is Sao Paulo during the World Cup Soccer Games, and we meet the young Mauro (Michel Joelsas) as he is swept away from his home by his frantic parents to live in Sao Paulo with his grandfather: his parents tell him they are going on 'vacation' while in reality they are escaping the dictatorial 'disappearances' that challenged the Brazil of the time. The grandfather lives in the Jewish ghetto and Mauro soon discovers that his would be host has just died. He meets the adjoining neighbor, grumpy old Shlomo (Germano Haiut), who begrudgingly takes Mauro in and allows him to pursue his obsession with soccer. The story winds through the disparities of Jewish life and the governmental changes that are disrupting the flow of this important year for Brazil (there are many film clips of the famous player Pele which add to the tenor of the story), and as Mauro makes friends with a little girl Hanna (Daniela Piepszyk) the two children are confronted with the realities of political strife and the glories of Brazil's World Cup. By keeping the narrative (in Portuguese, Yiddish and German) to a minimum the beauty of viewing the world and its incongruities through the eyes of children becomes even more touching.
This is one of those films that allows us a vantage of longstanding problems and gives us a fresh view - a factor that helps our understanding of traumas of the history and awareness of similar traumas of the present. Hamberger delivers it with tenderness and is greatly assisted by the artistic cinematography of Adriano Goldman and the musical score by Beto Villares. It is a film well worth seeing at least once! Grady Harp, August 08
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