Central Station: Teaching Notes-1

THREE KEY POINTS:

• Connection between Josué and Dora on the bus—both have similar holes in their hearts (technique: camera movement and sound (new theme). Theme of the lost father--Josué in search of his lost father, and Dora's father was a dissolute man that abandoned his family. So BOTH have a hole in their hearts. Notice the first time we hear the "lost father" theme is after Dora tells him about her father.
• Brutality of the urban area—the killing of the thief. CHAPTER 6
• Friendship and love and loyalty between Dora and Irene (her conscience). Dora's friendship with Irene. The sense of community between them--the "game" they play with the letters.—show the editing scheme (two on screen vs. parallel editing)

Ask students to characterize the four sequences:

Sequence 1: Central Station: Chaos, Betrayal, and Death (metaphors for Central Station)

Sequence 2: Orphan: Loneliness and Fear (scene 5), Brutality (scene 6), Hope and Girlfriends (Josue visits apartment), Betrayal (she did not send letter)

Sequence 3: Swapping a Boy for a TV: Betrayal, (scene 9 at Mr. Padrao’s apartment), Dora’s dark night of the soul, Rescue, Standoff (between the two main characters)

Sequence 4: On the Road: Metaphors of taking the bus vs. taking the taxi=loss, anger, both are “stuck” in the middle of nowhere

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Editing: montage of close-ups of indigenous people. These characters become individuated--humanized--issues they are dealing with involve FAMILY, LOVE, MONEY, FAITH. How could we break their hearts? How could we betray them?
2. Role of place in the film and the actions in these symbolic spaces:
1. Central Station, overcrowding, individual entrepreneurs, cheapness of life
2. The trains, overcrowding, dog-eat-dog atmosphere, no caring for others.
3. Where people live--Dora's block-house apartment building next to the rails; the urban apartments where Josué is kept, bombed-out, prison-like.
4. The streets--overcrowding, dangerous, source of DEATH for Josué's mother.
3. Determinism (based on environment) vs. free will (ability to overcome hardships)--based on everything in nr. 3, and based upon Dora's unethical activities (not sending letters), one would expect her to BETRAY the boy--just as she does. What makes her want to save him?
4. This first half of the film leads to the first LOW POINT in the overall film--there will be one more lower point to come, and then a lower point after that, before we finally move upwards. Look for LOTS of DARK NIGHTS OF THE SOULS. First dark night of the soul scene in Sequence 3, scene 10 – CHAPTER 10

Film resource written by Robert Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke,  © 2009
Professor, Univ. of Minnesota
Request permission from the author to reprint this resource--for educational use only