Central Station,
Dir. Walter Salles, 1998
Dora: Fernanda Montenegro
Josué: Vinicus de Oliveira
Irene:
Marilia Pera
ONE. CENTRAL STATION.
1. Sound cue, main theme. First image is wide
shot, low angle, of people rushing off of a train at Rio de Janeiro’s Central
Station. Cut to a woman dictating a
letter to someone. The woman is
crying. She is writing a love letter to
someone in prison. Cut to wide shot of
crowds behind the bars of a dividing wall.
Cut to an old man dictating a letter.
He is writing to someone who cheated him. Cut to another wide shot of the crowd in the station. Cut to a third person, a woman, dictating a
letter to her estranged husband, Jesus.
“You’re the worst thing that happened to me.” Cut to a close shot the hand of the letter writer and the pen on
the lined paper. Back to the
woman. Note her little son to her
side. She refers to the son’s
name—Josué. The boy plays with a top
while his mother finishes dictating the letter. Cut to the woman, an elderly woman with reading glasses. She has a kindly face and large brown
eyes. The woman and her son leave. Another man sits down in front of the letter
writer and dictates an erotic love letter.
Then follow five quick faces, men and women, as more people dictate
letters. Cut to a high angle wide shot
of the entire station. It is a classic
structure, balanced rectangular.
2.
(Time 2.55) Closing time for the letter writer. She pays the man she rents the space from and exits to the
train. Tracking shots of the woman walking
right to left as people pass by her on both sides. Everywhere there are crowds.
A tense, driving musical theme can be heard—the Central Station theme—as
the titles come up. Men and women climb through the windows onto the empty
train car. By the time the old woman
reaches the train, she has to stand. Cut to a wide shot of the exterior of the
train as it pulls away. We can see
people holding onto the sides of the train or riding on top of the train. Back inside the women is packed in
tight.
3.(time
4.52) The old woman, Dora, arrives at her apartment in the slums. Cut to the exterior of the building—a
monolithic block-like structure. She
leans out the window and calls to her friend, Irene. Cut to the interior of the old woman’s apartment. She and Irene chat. Irene is a busty auburn-haired woman,
perhaps in her late 40s or early 50s.
Irene is angry with Dora because the latter does not mail the letters
she writes for people. She pockets
their money, but she does not pay for the stamps to mail the letters. But then the two begin pour through the
letters, reading some of them, and laughing about the games people play. Apparently this is also a game the two women
play. Some of the letters go in the
trash, some in the drawer (delayed trash).
Irene reads the letter written by the mother of Josué. Dora wants it in the trash; Irene wants it
in the drawer. Dora is convinced the
boy does not need to meet his father, a drunkard.
4.
(8.20). Next day at Central
Station. The woman and her boy Josué
return to Dora. Now the woman wants to
tear up the first letter she dictated and dictate a new letter. Thinking quickly, Dora grabs someone else’s
letter and tears it up—as if to prove that she is doing the right thing. “I’m dying to see that bastard again,” she
tells Dora. Meanwhile, Josué plays with
his top. In the letter the mother
mentions two boys, Moisés and Isáias (Moses and Isaiah—other Biblical names). The mother even hands her a picture of Josué
to insert in the letter. But Josué
asks, “How do we know she will send the letter?” The mother and Josué leave.
But outside the station, Josué drops his top, runs back for it, and
turns to see his mother struck by a bus in the middle of the street. Hand-held shots of the boy running toward
the scene. We see the woman lying on
her face under the bus. People pull
Josué away from the scene. Fade to
black.
TWO. ORPHAN.
5. 12.33.
The boy sits alone in the station.
He is crying. Suddenly we see
him sit across from Dora. He says he
wants to write a letter to his father.
Dora gets rid of him.
Transitional music. Dora is
leaving for the day. As she stands on
the train she looks out and sees the boy watching her. When the train leaves, the boy runs after it
and can be seen through the open windows of one of the cars. Later, the boy prays in front of a small
altar in the station. Late at night the
police shoo away the vagrants and other homeless people.
6. 16.20. The
next morning Dora is eating a sandwich in the station, and she notices the boy
lying against the wall not far away. He
refuses her charity. Later, while Dora
is working, someone steals a trinket from one of the booths. The thief is chased down by a young security
guard. Then the older man, Mr. Pedrão,
whom we saw earlier collecting rent from Dora, calmly walks up to him (out on
the tracks) and shoots him once. Rough
justice. Back inside the station, Mr.
Pedrão spots Josué and begins to talk to him. But Dora interrupts him and says
she knows the boy. Later, after conferring
briefly with Mr. Pedrão, Dora sits with the boy and tries to win him over. He tells her his full name: Josué, Fontenele
de Paiva. She asks him to come home
with her. He tells her he is waiting
for his mother. She tells him his
mother is dead. She gives him a coin
and tells him to follow her on the train.
7.
21.16. She enters her apartment, and
Josué is close behind her. He goes to
the bathroom. Here comes Irene! When she learns that Dora has a guest, she
is intrigued. A gentleman caller? But when the boy opens the bathroom, Irene
looks down at him and smiles. Cut to
the three at dinner. The boy questions
them and learns that both were former teachers. And both do not have husbands.
“But who takes care of you?” he wants to know. They seem to enjoy talking to him. He tells them his father is a carpenter. They don’t mention that his father is also a
drunk. But when they talk about their
fathers both working for the railroad, Dora lets slip, “And he was a drunkard
too!” The boy catches on.
8.
(time 23.48) Later, the boy watches a
tiny television set. Then he goes to
look out the window at the trains going by.
He begins to explore the living room.
Suddenly he spies some letters in a drawer (not quite shut). He picks up a letter, and he finds his
picture in one of them. Dora grabs him
suddenly and yells at him. He figures
out that she isn’t going to mail the letter.
She maintains that she will mail it tomorrow. He looks distrustful. “Do
you swear to promise?” he says seriously.
She swears. Fade to black.
THREE. SWAPPING A BOY FOR A TV.
9
.(time 26.04) She wakes up the next
morning in her chair. She looks over at
the boy on the sofa. Then they are on
the train. Going where? “To a great place,” she says. Then we see them at a modern apartment
building, but covered with graffiti, in the middle of the slums. There they meet Mr. Pedrão, who takes them
inside to a lovely apartment, where a well-dressed woman, Yolande, greets them
warmly. Josué spies a little girl
playing with a doll in another room.
Here’s the deal. Mr. Pedrão maintains that he works with an adoption
agency, which places children with wealthy families in Europe and USA. The boy is distrustful and cries. Meanwhile, Mr. Pedrão hands over some big
bills to Dora. She leaves after waving
good-bye to Josué.
10.
(time 28.40) Wide shot of Dora pulling
a cart with a large box near her apartment entrance. Inside, she shows Irene her prize—a large color television set. Irene wants to know where the boy will be placed. Dora mentions a district far away. Now Irene is suspicious. Where did you get that television? So Dora admits that she got the money from
the agency. Now Irene is irate. She says the boy is too old to be adopted. She doesn’t trust this agency. Irene leaves, and Dora is alone with her
television. Fade to black.
THREE. RESCUE.
11.
(time 30.57) Dora sitting in her
chair. Camera tracks in on her—she
looks lost in thought. Cut to her
tossing and turning in bed that night.
The next morning she gathers her things (including the letter and
Josué’s photograph) and soon is knocking at the door where she left the boy
before. But when Yolande answers the
door, she does not look as beautiful as she did the day before. In fact, she looks bleary-eyed. Dora shows her a number of photographs—more
children she would like to sell. Of
course, she is bluffing. Yolande takes
the photographs and goes to find Mr. Pedrão.
She goes through a few rooms and finally finds Josué. But he won’t go with her. She pulls him out of the bed, and just as
Yolande comes around the corner and yells, “You old cow!” Dora pulls him
through doorway and they exit. Mr. Pedrão puts his mouth up against the slot in
the door and yells, “You’ll die, you fucking bitch!” On the street Dora hails a cab and they escape.
12.
(time 34.31). Dora calls Irene for
help. She warns Irene that if Mr.
Pedrão comes (a big guy with a mustache, be careful. Camera moves left, and we see Mr. Pedrão sitting in Irene’s
apartment. Now Irene begins to put on a
big act, pretending she is talking to a man.
Dora suspects that Mr. Pedrão is in Irene’s apartment. She tells Irene to lock up her apartment,
keep her eye on it, and send some money to a specific town. (time 35.53) Later, she sits with the boy at
the bus station. But he won’t go with
her. He doesn’t trust her at all. The kid even gets on the bus without her
(after she gives him his ticket and his mother’s letter). But Dora stops the bus, gets on, and sits
next to the boy.
FOUR. ON THE ROAD.
13.
(37.22) Montage with the main theme
(piano) as the bus leaves Rio at night. At their first stop each buys a new
shirt. He wants a new shirt for when he
meets his father. Then it’s back to the
bus. Dora has a bottle of wine she sips
at. She and Josué begin to play a game:
does that man look like he is a father?
Dora shares that her own father was “as saint in the house and a real
prick outside.” Then she tells a
roundabout story with a sad point—it illustrates that her father left her own
mother. He said he was tired of riding
the same bus everyday (speaking metaphorically). Then her mother lost her mind
and died when Dora was Josué’s age.
Camera in on Josué as he thinks about what he has been told. Then we hear a new theme, played with
violins, a waltz tempo, and we will call this third musical theme the “lost
childhood” or “lost father” theme.
14.
(41.30). Night on the bus. Josué takes the bottle of wine from Dora,
show is asleep, and he begins to drink from it. Later that night Dora wakes up when she hears the boy yelling and
carrying on from the back of the bus.
He is drunk. She pulls him back
to their seat and chastises him for this behavior.
15.
(42.50) The next bus stop. Josué is
asleep. Dora gets off the bus, but she
stops to talk to the driver. She lies,
and tells him Josué is her nephew and is going on to a specific town. But this is where she gets off. She gives him a modest bribe to look after
the boy. She picks up a ticket back to
Rio at the station. After having a
drink, she watches the bus pull away, but then she spots Josué sitting in the
restaurant. She goes to him. “You should have stayed on that bus. You were better off without me.” Then she finds out he left his backpack on
the bus—and she had left some money in it.
She sits down outside the station and puts her head in her lap. She tries to get a refund on her ticket.
But no luck. The bus for Rio
just left.
FIVE. MARRIED TO THE ROAD.
16.
(time 46.55) The two sit at a lunch counter.
Josué is watching a man eat. He shares some of his food. Cut to a close shot of the back of his
truck. On the mudflaps is written,
“Strength is in everything, but only God is in power.” The man at the lunch counter is a truck
driver, and he gives them a ride. The
boy asks if he has a wife. The man
says, “I’m married to the road.” At his
next stop, the man does some business with a businessman and another
believer. Josué greedily watches a
little boy wolf down a sandwich. Dora
looks around in the store. Meanwhile,
Josué moves around the store and begins to steal things. He finds Dora and shows her that she has
stolen. She is outraged and says she
will take it back. She sends him to the
truck. Cut to Dora in the store. Now she is stealing food and putting it in
her bag. On the way out the proprietor
stops her and asks her to show what she has in her bag. But the driver comes to her defense, and
even though his friend knows Dora took the food, he yields to the driver’s
request and Dora exits. We see her
sitting in the cab and drilling Josué with, “Don’t you ever do that
again.” She pretends that she bought
the food. He knows she stole it Suddenly they are arguing about whether or
not his father was a good man. “Your
father was a drunkard, boy. Know what
that is, a drunkard?” He yells, “You’re so ugly no one will marry you! You even look like a man. You don’t even paint your face.” They begin to eat. The driver enters the cab, checks them out, and refuses her offer
of food. The “lost father” theme begins
to play as they settle down to conversation.
The driver accepts some food and they are off. Cut to a close shot of the cab of the truck. Written in lark letters above the windshield
is “With God I follow my destiny.” As
they interact, Dora mentions the boy wants to be a truck driver someday. So the driver lifts the boy up on his lap
and lets him hold the wheel for a little while. Josué is in heaven.”
17.(time
53.50) Night scene. The boy sits in the
cab. Dora and the driver are sitting
around a campfire. They share a moment
of intimate conversation. He tells her
that the down side of a life on the road is that you meet interesting people,
but then they leave your life. “We don’t have to lose contact,” she says. He smiles.
Josué calls for her to come back to the cab. The next morning the man washes himself in a pool of water. Dora watches him from the cab. There he stands—the man of her dreams?
18.
(time 55.40) The next stop. The three
stop at a restaurant. While the boy
goes off to play foosball, Dora and the man talk. She makes her move. She
tells him she is happy they met. Then she takes his hand. Camera in on the man. Cut back to Dora. “She looks endearingly at him and says, “Wait right here.” Cut to the man—as he takes in the
implications of these words. He looks
at the boy. Cut back to reaction shot
of him. Dora in the bathroom. She
borrows some lipstick from a young woman and does the best she can to make
herself look attractive. Then she
reenters the restaurant. But the man is
not there. Josué stands quietly off to
the side. The driver has fled. Then an incredible reaction shot of Dora
behind some thick glass—all to emphasize how much she is crying on the inside.
SIX. THE WRONG FATHER.
19.
(time 1:00.20). The two are stuck at
this rest stop. They talk about why the
man left. He tells her she is prettier
with lipstick. Suddenly a truck of
pilgrims stops. They are all dressed in
white. She gives the driver her watch
to pay for the ride to their destination.
20.
(time 1:03.00) The pilgrims stop and take a break. Josué walks along some hills
surrounding some limestone karsts (outcroppings). He sits next to Dora and says, “Mom always said Dad would show me
these hills one day.” The two are very
small in the frame. Josué talks about
his mother. He realizes she is
dead. “I wonder where she is now. Do you think they gave her a decent
burial?” She gets up, takes his hand,
and they return to the pilgrims below.
The “lost father” theme plays.
She leads him down to a makeshift memorial—ribbons strung around a
pole. She takes out his mother’s
handkerchief—she has been carrying it since it was left behind the day Josué’s
mother died. She tells him to attach
it to this memorial. Cut to close shot
of the memorial—camera tracks in on the handkerchief.
21.
(time 1.4.17) They walk into a small
town and are surrounded by hundreds of pilgrims walking on either side. Dora confirms she is taking the boy to see
his father. But Josué seems sad. He
doesn’t want his father seeing look so bedraggled. Cut to a scene showing Dora combing his hair at a vendor’s cart
(where combs and mirrors are sold). “Your father is not the person you think he
is,” Dora warns him. Then Dora asks the
vendor if she knows the address where his father lives.
22.
(time 1.05.50) Cut to Dora and Josué approaching a fence line in the middle of
a rural area. They reach the gate of a
house. “Go on, Josué,” Dora says. He runs through the gate, the music swells
to a crescendo, cut to a reverse angle of Josué in medium shot—as he surveys
the scene—then he frowns. Cut to a
medium shot of another young boy behind a fence by the house. The two eye each other warily. Meanwhile,
Dora is at the door of the house.
Inside is an old woman. Dora asks
if Jesus lives here. The old woman says
he is out, but he is coming back. Here
comes the wife. The little boy is
behind her. An even younger boy sits in
a chair to the mother’s right. Everyone
stands uneasily—not sure what is going on here. Focus on Josué as he enters and
looks around. Suddenly a wind comes
up—perfect timing—and Josué looks out to see a man approaching the house. Josué catches glimpses of him through the
open windows. He enters the house. He doesn’t recognize his two visitors. His wife seems uneasy, suspicious. Dora asks to speak in private, and soon only
the three of them are in the room. She
tells him she brought this boy to him.
“His mother died. He’s got no
one else but you.” The man doesn’t
understand her. He seems to think she
is bringing the boy to live with him—but why?
“Is he a good boy?” She looks at
Josué and says, “Yes, he’s a good boy.”
Reaction shot of Josué—he smiles proudly. She gives the man the letter Josué’s mother wrote. The man looks at the envelope, smiles, and
says, “That’s not me. The letter is for
Jesus, who used to live here.” He
fetches an address in the “new settlements.”
“He won a house in the lottery
and so he sold this one.” Then he leans
over to Dora and says, “He drank it away, house and all.” Reaction shot of
Josué. He turns away and exits the
house. The “lost father” theme plays.
SEVEN. PILGRIMS.
23.
time 1.10.30) Interior of Irene’s
apartment. She gets a call from
Dora. But Irene learns she sent the
money to Dora to the wrong town. Dora
hangs up on her. Night scene. The pilgrims are gathered for a religious
ceremony. Meanwhile, Dora is raging—she
turns on Josué and says, “You’re my punishment.” She tells him they have no money and no food. Nothing.
“You’re parents should never have had you. You’re a curse!” Angry,
Josué turns and walks away. Dora runs
to catch up with him but he melts into the crowd of pilgrims. Lots of movement and crowding as Dora
searches for him.
24.
(time 13.03) Dora enters a small chapel. Inside, lit with golden light from candles,
are pilgrims praying—surrounded with thousands of pictures and icons. Dora moves around in the space. She can’t find Josué. She begins to fade out, weak from lack of
food, and finally she passes out. Outside
the climax of the fireworks for the pilgrims. Inside the chapel, Josué finds
Dora.
25.
(time 15.10) Exterior the next
morning. Dora lies on Josué’s lap off
the side of the street. Camera track
sin. Josué rubs her hair. She looks up at him and then lies back and
touches him affectionately. Later, they
are sitting up and watching the pilgrims and the various vendors along the
street. They take turns throwing
pebbles at a can. Then Josué gets up
and checks out one of the vendors. He
overhears a woman asking if the photograph with the saint includes a message to
him. When the vendors says no, only the
photograph, Josué has his idea. He
introduces the woman to Dora and tells her Dora writes letters—she can write a
letter to the saint. When Dora sits
down and begins to write, Josué becomes the hawker at the carnival and calls
out to everyone—“Letters to the saints!
Only one buck!” Soon Dora has
lots of business. Cut to a montage of
the various letter writers, with the main theme playing. The scene moves from the day to the
night. The faces of the pilgrims are
beautifully lit and their statements—some to the saints and some to
relatives—are beautifully stated. Done for
the night, they celebrate by having their picture taken in front of the saint.
As they leave, Josué stops at a stall and busy a dress for Dora. Cut to the interior of a small hotel. They sit across from each other. Both are happy, relaxed. Josué takes out the letters. He begins to throw them out. But Dora stops him. “I’ll do something with them later.” They get in bed later. They talk easily and with great teasing in
the bed. She kisses him on the forehead.
EIGHT. THE NEW
SETTLEMENTS.
26.
(time 22.20) The next morning Dora
notices a postal box across the street.
She goes into the post office to buy stamps. Cut to the bus leaving town.
They have to stand it’s so packed.
The bus arrives at the new settlements.
The area seems remote from everything.
Dora asks where F street is. The
man at the station calls to someone working on the roof. Camera up—and as the man responds, we can
see, as far as the eye can see, the red roofs of the houses all along this
remote plain in the interior of Brazil.
27.
(1.24.20) Dora and Josué walk along the
street. All the houses are alike. They talk.
“Do you think you can remember your father’s face?” He’s not sure. “I forgot my father’s face, too.
Damn photos shouldn’t be there to remind us. We should be able to forget.”
What pain she must have experienced in childhood. “I left home at
sixteen, and never saw my father again.
Years later I saw him on the street.
I froze. Then I found the
courage to go up to him.” She asked him
if he recognized her. But he did
not. “He didn’t recognize his own
daughter. He said, ‘How could I forgot
such a lovely girl like you?’ I told
the rat I’d make a mistake and left.”
She pauses and adds, “I heard he died sometime soon after that.” Then she stops to make her point to
Josué. “You’ll soon forget me
too.” But he denies it.
28. (25.40)
They arrive at the house. She
calls out for the father. A man comes
out and says Jesus “vanished into the wilderness.” No one knows where he is.
Dora and Josué leave. Josué walks away quickly, and Dora runs to catch
up. She stops him. Josué says he will wait for his father. But Dora assures him his father won’t come
back. “Why don’t you come with me?” she asks. “I’d really like that, kid.” They shake on it. They walk away. Strain of
violins, and echoes of the “lost father” theme. Back at the station Dora calls Irene again. “I’ve made so many mistakes in Rio, you know
that, Irene.” She tells Irene to sell
her valuables. “What are you going to
do?” “When I get settled somewhere,
I’ll call you.”
29.
(28.15) She tries to buy two tickets
for the bus, but the vendor says the bus—any bus—does not come until tomorrow
morning. “This is the end of the world here.”
Suddenly a young man walks up to her (after he confers briefly with a
kid on a bike—the kid we saw at the house they found on F Street). “Are you looking for my father?” Josué seems
afraid. He takes Dora’s arm and holds
on. Dora is nervous, suspicious, too. But the young man introduces himself as
Isáias—and that was one of the names of the two sons. They arrive at the house they moved to when the father left. The young man calls out for his brother:
“Moisés!”
NINE. A NEW FAMILY.
30. 30.35
They enter the house. The other
brother steps forward. He is
dark-haired, like Josué. The first
brother introduces Dora as a friend of their father’s. But Moisés looks sad, as if not happy to
hear a reference to his father. The
adults begin small talk. But Josué is
stunned by what he sees hanging on the wall across the room. As the “lost father” theme plays, cut to a
shot of a photograph on the wall—camera tracks in—and it is a picture of
Josué’s mother and his father, a dark-haired man with a mustache. Reaction shot of Josué as he soaks this
in. The brothers take Dora and Josué to
their small woodworking shop. The older
brother praises Moisés and says he is a better wood-worker than their father is
now. Moisés turns on his lathe and then has Josué come over to work it
too. In seconds he has fashioned a
wooden top—and he hands it over to the boy.
(Now this is perhaps too much coincidence—after all, the boy’s mother
died because Josué dropped his wooden top on the street.) Later in the day the three brothers play an
informal soccer game on the street.
Dora watches them from the curb.
31.
32.25 Later that afternoon Moisés stands
at the doorway to the living room. The
others are sitting inside. The two
brothers seem uneasy about something.
The older brother wants Moisés to show it to Dora. “She can read it. She’s Dad’s friend.” But Moisés isn’t sure. So Isáias fetches the
letter. It’s a letter written by their
father. It came six months ago and was
addressed to Ana Fontenelle. (We know
this is Josué’s mother.) . Isáias tells Dora he was living with another woman
after their mother died. This must mean their m other is not Josué’s
mother. And this is confirmed when
Isáias says Ana took off nine years ago and moved to Rio. She was pregnant. Dora turns to Josué and gives him a knowing glance. The younger brother picks up the story. Their father waited for two years for Ana to
come back. He began drinking. He sold the lottery house to pay his
debts. Then he disappeared. The younger
brother admits that life got better after their father left. “Don’t say that,” Isáias snaps. The brothers clearly disagree on the “truth”
of their father.
32.
(time 34.44) Dora reads the letter.
Well, she seems to read the letter—but what she seems to be doing is
making up the story as she goes along.
She tells them the father went to Rio to look for Ana—and if Ana has
found the house in the new settlements, she is to wait for him. She says he has written that he will back
and they will all be together. She
mentions the name of the two older boys, and then we see Josué looking sad—and
Dora adds, “—and Josué, who I can’t wait to meet. The boy looks up proudly at
the older brother—who is nearly in tears.
“Forgive me, it’s you and me for
life.” The younger brother looks
stunned. The older brother says, “He’ll
be back.” The younger bother says, “No,
he won’t.” Josué says, “Yes, he will,
one day.” Later that night, Dora and Josué sit on the curb outside the
house that night. “Did my father really
say he wanted to meet me?” “Of course
he did,” she says. “I know he didn’t,”
Josué says. Then the older brother
comes out and invites them in. He has
prepared a bedroom for Dora.
33.
(Time 38.30) In her room Dora tries on
the dress Josué bought for her. She
puts on lipstick, checks on the three boys in their bed, places the two letters
(one from Dora, one from the father) on the mantle under their pictures, and
walks away. Camera in on the
letters. Outside, Dora walks away from
the house. Piano music begins to play. It is near dawn. Back in the house, Josué wakes up. He gets up. His action is
intercut with the scene of Dora heading for the bus station. The boy runs
outside, and we hear the “lost father” theme playing as he runs down the street
to the station. But Dora is already there—and boards the bus. Cut to the boy running. Cut to the bus. On the bus Dora is writing a letter, a real letter, to
Josué. “I haven’t written a letter in a
long time. But I’m sending you this one
now. You were right. Your father will
come back. And he surely is all you say he is. I remember riding with my father
in his train. I was a little girl, but he let me blow the whistle the whole
time. When you’re driving down the road in your big truck, remember that I was
the first person to have you put your hand on the wheel.” Cut to the boy running up to the
station. “It will be better for you to
stay with your brothers. You deserve
much more than I can give you.” Back to
the close shot of Dora on the bus. “If you miss me one day, look at the picture
we took together. I’m telling you this because I’m afraid you too may forget
me. I long for my father. I long for my
father. Dora.” She is crying. She takes off her glasses. Cut to wide shot of the bus in the distance,
mountains in the background. Cut to
close shot of Josué. He is crying. Cut to Dora on the bus.
She is crying. Full orchestration
of the theme now. She takes out the little viewfinder that has the color
negative inside—hold it up to the light and you see the picture. Cut to Josué, and he does the same. We see the
picture—from
his point of view—and then cut to Dora looking at the picture (so we saw her
point of view too). Cut to Josué. He
lowers the viewer and smiles through his tears. Cut to Dora. She wipes
her tears away, and then smiles through her tears.
Copyright,
Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota,
Reprinted by permission of the author
for educational use only