LINHA DE PASSE
Brazil, 2008, 108 minutes, Colour.
Vinicius De Olivera, Sandra Corveloni.
Directed by Walter Salles and Daniella Thomas.
A film about soccer in the Cannes competition? A film by Walter Salles, yes. But, of course, it is about many aspects of life among the underprivileged in the suburbs of Sao Paolo. Salles has said that there are three things that can offer alternatives to the hard way of life: soccer, religion and crime. Linha de Passe illustrates all three.
At the centre of this story is a middle-aged mother of four sons – and pregnant with another child. She is Cleuza who works as a maid and as a cleaner for a doctor and her family. The oldest son, Denis, works as a motorcycle delivery man (one of 300, 000 in the city, it is said). He fancies himself as a ladies’ man and already has fathered a child. The second son is Dinho. He is religious, belonging to one of the mushrooming evangelical churches in Latin America. The third son is Dario, turning 18, and desperate to find a place in a professional soccer team. Then there is, Reginaldo, quite black (‘If I am as black as this, my father must be the colour of coal’). He spends a lot of time riding the local buses looking for his father and, in fact, learning how to drive the bus.
Salles, with his co-director Daniela Thomas (together they made Foreign Land in 1994) knows how to bring alive the smallest incidents in this part of the city and the incidents range over soccer tryouts (where a large bribe is needed to get into a team), sermons, prayer and baptisms by immersion in the church, delivery men smashing windows at traffic lights to steal back-seat bags.
Though the film chops from one story to another, the directors immerse us in their world, its struggles, its sometime joys and its frequent pain. And, as the film stops with the main characters at personal turning points without telling us where they are going, we have hopes for them but are prepared for their disappointments.
1.A portrait of San Paolo, of Brazil and its cities? The 21st century?
2.The city itself, the views of the buildings, the spread, the roads and the traffic, prosperity, poverty, homes and the streets, the petrol stations, the stadium, the church? The musical score? The hymns?
3.The focus on soccer, Cleuza, her pregnancy, a fan, cheering at the game, the scenes of play, the danger of relegation, success? The spirit of football? The tryouts, the thousands of young boys trying to get picked, the danger of not being a team player, rejection? Changing documents and age to get picked, the coaches, the possibilities, bribes, being on the bench, opportunities? Football as one of the great sustainers of hope for the poor?
4.The family, the four sons, playing soccer under the underpass, at home, the meals, each relating to his mother, Reginaldo as special, their rooms, Reginaldo on the sofa, the kitchen, the clogged sink? The chronic absence of fathers in Brazilian society?
5.Cleuza as the matriarch, her age, work, relationship to the doctor, work in her house? The doctor’s son? Her pregnancy, having four sons already, no husband present in the house? The range of photos and the memories of the past, the boy’s father, Reginaldo’s father and the torn photo? Her finally piecing it together and putting it under his blanket? Her hard work, her moods, the clogged sink, her concern about Reginaldo being out on the bus, her drinking, Denis’s gift and its being stolen, her integrity, her concern about her sons, Dario and the football, the football friend? Watching the new maid, the squeegee with the windows? Going to match, her collapse, waiting to give birth?
6.Her sons and their relationship, to Reginaldo, Reginaldo and his being black, his comment about his father, going to school, avoiding school, riding the bus, talking to the drivers, learning how to drive, going out, passing the overturned bus and the fire, the television commentaries, his mother’s concern? The final with his driving the bus through the streets? The photo and the possibilities of discovering his father?
7.Dario as the focus of the sons, turning eighteen, late for his party, the celebration? Going for the tryouts, being too old, not being a team player, changing his documents, the coach warning him, with his brothers, play, the next tryout, the need for a bribe? The possibility of getting the money? Out with his friends, the drug experiment, his collapse at home? His mother, clearing the sink? On the bench, the penalty – and the possibility of success?
8.Dino, his religion, the evangelical church, praying, the homilies, the pastor, the assistant, his doubts and his sexuality, talk, no miracle for Rosa, at the petrol station, his principles, giving the money to Denis, his being accused of being a thief, his anger, bashing the owner, drinking, going to the pastor, his collapse, going to the baptisms? Helping Rosa? His walking away – to where?
9.Denis, the oldest, the bike and its being stolen, paying the new one off, going to see his child, his girlfriend, his smooth words, his fickleness, flirting with Gloria, the sexual experience with her? Her violence? Wanting free petrol? The gift to his mother, its being stolen? The plan with his fellow worker, the robbery, bashing the windows, stealing the bags, the chase, the crash, his threatening the frightened man, letting him go? The role of crime?
10.The vitality of the church, the pastor and his sincerity, the absolute faith in Jesus, Jesus as personal saviour, his wanting Rosa to be healed, Dino helping her walk, her not being cured? Later at the baptism – and her still not being able to stand? The pastor blaming her sinfulness? Yet the pastor and his wife and their kindness to Dino collapsed?
11.The football background, the players, the friend of the family, the coaches?
12.The messenger service, the number of cyclists, the deliveries, Gloria in the office? Denis and his relationships, his girlfriend and the baby?
13.The ending, the focus on each of the central characters – at a crossroads in their life, for good or for ill?
