01 The first time I saw Walter Salles’s brilliant 02 Brazilian film Central Station (Central do Brasil) was 03 on the same day I had to see Robin Williams’s Patch 04 Adams, which is more or less its American 05 counterpart. 06 Both films tackle the more treacherous emotional 07 regions of movies - always a risky proposition - 08 attempting to connect psychologically with their 09 respective audiences. Both are about optimism in the 10 face of adversity, with Salles dealing with the 11 reformation of a cynical woman, while Wiliams strives 12 to regenerate the entire medical profession. There 13 was an immediate dilemma: Did Central Station look 14 so good because "Patch Williams" was so glaringly 15 bad? The second viewing cinched it. Central Station 16 is a truly great movie, with or without the stark contrast 17 of Patch Adams. Salles provides a textbook example 18 of how to toy with our emotions, how to involve and 19 move us, without necessarily condescending to us 20 or insulting us. 21 The trick is that the young filmmaker does the 22 opposite of what the Williams film does. Had he made 23 Patch Adams, Salles would have focused on the
24 medical profession rather than on Williams’s slaphappy
25 character. In Central Station, Salles makes the 26 villain the center of his piece and goes a step further,
27 giving his villain a very human face.
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Movie Club
A alternativa que não contém a mesma sequência de classes gramaticais da expressão "human face" (linha 27) é