Is this film fun to watch? Generally NO. BUT, I still appreciated the fine acting and the film's refusal to give into cheap sentimentality. The main character is a realistic portrait of a woman with a heart of aluminum at best (certainly not GOLD). She is generally uncaring a self-serving but over time she grows a little--if you expect much, then boy are you in for a disappointment. And, considering how this violates the clichés associated with this type of film, I was thrilled. In many ways this film was a Brazilian version of the Japanese film Kikujirô no natsu (or vice-versa) in that both main characters are terribly flawed and try to help a lost child. FYI--Central Station appeared a year before Kitano's film, Kikujirô no natsu.

Dora (Fernanda Montenegro) is a petty deceitful selfish old woman who writes letters for illiterate people at the central station in Rio de Janeiro. Josué's mother asks to write a letter trashing the father as she demands he sees his son. She is killed by a bus and Dora is left with the young Josué. She sells him to some child traffickers, but she has second thoughts. She rescues him and takes him on a road trip to see his father.

Dora is not a saint and the movie is better for it. She is bitter and struggles with her moral compass. The kid sees this and resists her at first. This is no light comedy, but the growth in their relationship is what's so great about this movie. Fernanda's performance is second to none.

Central Station has a great virtue - after you see it, it becomes a part from yourself. it sounds strange but it is more than a film. it is just an experience. simple, seductive, touching, realistic, discovering social isles, powerful feelings, inventing, in cruel honest manner, a world having the axis a not ordinary friendship. Fernanda Montenegro and Vinicius de Oliveira. this is all. a station and its letters, a meet and a long and special trip as start to define yourself. the film is one of the most impressive examples of the talent of Fernanda Montenegro.her Dora is far to be a model. but only a fascinating character who start as embroidery of expectations, frustrations, fear and need of comfort. more than a story, the film propose an admirable, useful parable. and a good support to reflect about every day experiences. at the first sigh.