Cao Hamburger and THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION

(Star Michel Joelsas, right, of Cao Hamburger's new film)





Cao Hamburger Guards the Net
The filmmaker behind The Year My Parents Went on Vacation on his coming-of age drama, directing children, and tending goal.
By Terry Keefe

In the Brazil of 1970, there were two things on everyone’s minds: the military dictatorship which had taken power via a coup d’etat in March of 1964, and which was in the middle of escalating assaults against civilian rights; and soccer, specifically the Brazilian all-star squad, featuring Pele and Tostao in their primes, which tore through all opposition to win the World Cup that same year. That cauldron of political upheaval and athletic triumph is the backdrop for Brazilian filmmaker Cao Hamburger’s new feature, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation. The coming-of-age story, which manages the deft trick in this genre of being poignant without ever turning sappy, centers around a 12-year old boy, and ardent soccer fan, named Mauro (Michel Joelsas) whose politically active parents are forced to go on “vacation,” meaning exile, and leave him with his Jewish grandfather in an immigrant neighborhood in Sao Paulo. Mauro’s troubles increase immediately when his grandfather dies unexpectedly, and the young man has to move in with an elderly neighbor. Sort of an exile without blood relations in his own land now, Mauro creates a surrogate family of his own from different characters in his neighborhood, in order to survive. Like the goalie he also plays in soccer, Mauro must find strength and peace in the solitary role he’s been thrust into. So prevalent is the goalie metaphor in the film, that it won’t come as a surprise that Cao Hamburger himself has played the high-stress position of goalie, the perform-or-die duties of which are also certainly comparable to that of a film director. “There is this saying in Brazil, ‘The goalie’s life is so hard that not even the grass grows where he plays.’ All the responsibility is on his shoulders,” says Hamburger. The 44-year old director then adds with a laugh derived from the knowledge that filmmakers tend to age a bit better than goalies, “I was a good goalkeeper in soccer. But not still! C’mon!”

In addition to the goalie metaphor, the story of Mauro has a few additional parallels to the actual life of Hamburger, although it is not directly autobiographical. Elaborates Hamburger, “Like Mauro, I grew up the child of a mixed marriage. My father is Jewish, from a German family, and my mother is Catholic Italian.” But his folks themselves never “went on vacation,” and Hamburger was not raised in any particular religion. He says, “My parents were both scientists. Physicists. They have their own religion; their God is more like Einstein. Although they are very spiritual.”

Hamburger gets strong performances out of his young cast, which also includes Daniela Piepszyk as Mauro’s fast-talking, sometimes sidekick Hanna. The tone of the children’s acting reminds of one of the great coming-of-age tales, that being Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, in that the kids never rely on cuteness to get by, nor do they simply play their roles as little adults. Says Hamburger on his technique of directing kids, “The way I work with them is the most important element. I treat them as intelligent people. They are not children. They are spiritual, intelligent human beings. What I look for in casting children is charisma and talent, but, more than that, I want smart people.”

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation opens this month.