Linha de Passe

Walter Salles’ (The Motorcycle Diaries, Central Station) latest is a tough, unsentimental examination of Brazillian youth identity in a world of poverty and a dissolving traditional family unit. Drawing heavily on documentary filmmaking, Salles and occasional directing partner Daniela Thomas - they also worked together on ‘96’s Foreign Land – tell the story of four brothers living with their mother coping with the daily disappointments and frustrated ambitions of inner city Sao Paulo. Each react to their situation in different ways, either turning to football, God or crime in order to get out of the ghetto.

A moving and powerful slice of social realism, Linha de Passe is tense, gripping and profoundly tragic. As a statement of how families become eroded by poverty and a lack of a traditional father figure it is an important and admirable film.