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.
