Call me a cynic, but it's plain to see why Brazil made "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation" its candidate for this year's foreign-film Oscar.

Kids. Old people. Cuteness. Dire circumstances that don't interfere with the cuteness but imply gravity nonetheless -- the old "Life Is Beautiful" gambit.

In 1970, Mauro (the post-cherubic Michel Joelsas) is dispatched to his grandfather's home in the Sao Paolo Jewish quarter while his parents, Communists facing death under Brazil's junta, go on "vacation." That Grandpa drops dead in the few moments between the phone call made by Mauro's father (Eduardo Moreira) and Mauro's arrival at his tatty apartment is just one of the many contrivances plaguing this ostensibly heartwarming coming-of-age story. Mauro, whose temperament adjusts to whatever the script calls for, falls in with the elderly neighbor Shlomo (Gemano Haiut), who seems cranky or benevolent, depending on the crisis du jour. Director Cao Hamburger (yes, it's a meaty movie) spins all the emotional candy he can out of the kids (especially the gamine-esque Daniela Piepszyk, who is big-eyed and adorable). And he makes stereotypes out of the elderly denizens of the neighborhood, who clearly are meant to be Holocaust survivors, even if it's never spelled out. The whole thing culminates in the World Cup final featuring the Pele-led Brazilian team, which becomes the rallying point for Brazilians of every stripe. What "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation" seems to be about, in the end, is big-time sport as the opiate of the masses.

-- John Anderson (March 28, 2008)

Contains adult content and themes, smoking and mild language.