Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Trash (Foreign Film – Brazilian Thriller)

Trash (Foreign Film – Brazilian Thriller)

Rafael and Gardo are young teens, trash pickers by trade, living by a huge garbage dump outside of Rio in Brazil.  One day the boys find a wallet.  Inside is money, pictures with numbers on the back and a strange key.  The police come to the dump the next day wanting to know if anyone has found a wallet and offering a reward.  The boys hold their tongues, hoping for a better reward as time goes by and now really curious about what they may have found.  They team up with an acquaintance, another boy who goes by the name Rat, who helps them figure out what the key may open.  This begins a race against time as the boys try to keep a step ahead of the police to expose the corruption at the core of their city.

I was already familiar with the people who sift through the garbage for recyclable materials to sell from the movie Waste Land, which is why this film caught my eye.  That and Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara also star in this film an American missionary and teacher.  The boys, Rafael, Gardo and Rat, are simply wonderful.  These are close friends that are determined to do what is right in the face of incredible odds and you want them to rise above the life they have, but at the same time you recognize that they are happy with the life they were leading because they had each other.  You’re on the edge of your seat because there is a good chance they will disappear or be killed by the police, or from a bad fall, at any time.

If you enjoy thrillers, love stories where right triumphs over might, or just love a well told and well filmed story.