The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

‘The Year My Parents Went on Vacation’ is the story of the little Mario, who has to leave his parents at a very young age and cherishes all his hopes for the football during their absence. The film takes the unsteady Brazil of 1970s as background to recount a big world from a child’s eyes.

Directed by Cao Hamburger, ‘The Year My Parents Went on Vacation’ (O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias) tells a warm story taking Brazil, which is smashed by the military junta of the 1970s, and the 1970 FIFA World Cup Mexico 70 as the background.
Bia and Daniel, who have been wanted by the police as political criminals decide to go for an exile. Telling their little son Mauro that they are going on vacation, they take him to his grandfather in São Paolo. However, the grandfather is a religious Jew, who does not talk to his son, so they leave Mauro in front of the apartment flat of his grandfather. While his family goes away with their blue Volkswagen Beetle, there is a surprise for Mauro – his grandfather, whom he has not seen since ages, has died just a few minutes ago.

Leaning on the Football
Mauro starts to live alone in his grandfather’s flat in a Jewish quarter, looking forward the day his parents will come back. His father had promised Mauro that they would return until the first match of Brazil in the World Cup. Mauro leans on football, his biggest passion in the world, during his parents’ absence.
His first friend in this new life, the rules of which remains puzzling for him, is an old Jewish man, called Shlomo, the next door of his late grandfather. For Mauro, Shlomo is quite boring because of his over-principled life-style; whereas, for Schlomo, Mauro is too resourceful and independent. However, soon a grandchild and grandfather relationship is about to spring between them.
Meanwhile, Hana appears. This smart young lady will come along with new hopes in his little world. His acquaintance with Irene, the popular girl of the street, is actually the first sexual experience of our little hero. Edgar, the black boyfriend of Irene, is a successful goalkeeper and soon he becomes a hero for Mauro. Ítalo, a militant college boy, is no different from a lost father’s shadow...
The biggest passion of Mauro in life is the love of football, inspired from his father. Football for Mauro, in this stage of his life, is of special importance both as a shelter against the distress he is in, and as symbolic of his parents’ arrival. As World Cup Mexico 70 draws near, Mauro’s excitement accordingly increases everyday.

A Sad Story
‘The Year My Parents Went on Vacation’ tells a turbulent period from the point of view of an innocent child. Although this is a theme very much explored by many films before, the aesthetic and narrative structure of the movie are praiseworthy. The film succeeds in giving us the littlest details about the relationships, tensions between little children and adults, adults and the old, women and men, Jews and Christians without offending the eye of the audience. What is more, it presents a spectacular visual quality and cinematography.
Even though the main tension of the film is Mauro’s reunion with his parents, this tension becomes partially less important in the middle of the film. The sub-tales and characters, the football conversations in particular, manage to enrich the film without rambling it.
‘The Year My Parents Went on Vacation’, which has comedy and drama in patches, but is never trapped in clichés and melodrama; has traces of autobiography. Just like in the film, the director Cao Hamburger’s parents, academics in São Paulo College, were arrested by the soldiers in 1970. In this period, little Cao and his four siblings had to stay with their grandmothers, one of them was Jewish, and the other a Catholic Italian. The most important reason why the film is so real and earnest is maybe the proximity of it to the story of the director...
In June, we are going to take a lively interest in football once again thanks to the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. If you want to diminish the absence of Brazil in 2008 UEFA European Football Championship or if you are still determined to spend your time on football, you should see ‘The Year My Parents Went on Vacation’. But let me put it straight, you do not need any excuses to see a good film.

Burçin Tuncer