Central Station.

"Central Station" is a Brazilian-French film located in Brazil. While the film had heartwarming and soft moments, I found it to be very action-packed and full of drama. I learned while reading that the film's title in Portuguese, Central do Brasil, is the name of Rio de Janeiro's main railway station. The film revolved around the journey between Dora, a retired school teacher, and Josue, a 9 year old boy. The beginning of the film was very sad as you watch Josue's mother get killed by a bus accident outside of the train station where Dora works. Dora makes a living writing letters for others and her duty is to send them out to its desired recipient. Often in the beginning, you see Dora become impatient, rude, and grumpy towards customers.

After witnessing the tragic death of Josue's mother, Dora makes it her duty to take responsibility for the boy and care after him. Often they would get into arguments, due to the boy's lack of manners towards authority. Dora decides to sell him off to what seemed to be an orphanage. However, her friend Irene convinces Dora to that this idea would not be the best and that Josue would likely be sold off to others. Irene's suspicions turned out to be right after all, it was a human trafficking couple plotting to hurt Josue. In the end, Dora was able to save Josue by rescuing him from danger. While Dora was not able to fulfill Josue's wish by meeting his father, she was able to join him with his brothers and decides to leave Josue with them. While both Dora and Josue had grown to love each other from their bond, they knew that the choice was for the best.

Themes that I found through out this film are love, friendship, and the importance of family. Initially, there was not anyone near Josue that he could consider family after the death of his mother. Dora's decision to take him in allowed her to temporarily play the role of a mother, a figure that he extremely needed in his life at that tender age. The road to their bond was not easy with their bickering, but they were able to form one in the end of it all. Seeing them depart from one another was a sad ending, but it was heartwarming one as well and sent a positive message about the universal meaning of love. Religion was also an important theme because you were able to see how much people valued what they believed in through what they chose to put in the letters they wanted to send through Dora. Overall, I fully enjoyed watching "Central Station" and would recommend it to a friend.