Chad Shiira "O Caminho das Nuvens"(American title: "The Middle of the World") tells the true story of a man who leads his itinerant family across Brazil on bicycles. Romao(Wagner Moura) is that man, a seemingly good man who doesn't drink(by default, perhaps; he can't afford any alcohol), or beat his wife and kids. Unfortunately for his wife, Romao is not a smart man. The world that passes by their two wheels looks yellow, dead, without promise. Rose(Claudia Abreu) is a saint whose husband needs a slap in the face. His dogged persistence that he won't settle for a job that pays less than a thousand reals makes him sound like the Rainman. While he promises Rose a better life in Rio de Janerio, Rose and his family make ends meet by performing traditional songs for tourists, and whatever odd jobs or crimes that turn up during their travels. It's okay for his family to demean themselves, but when Romao has the opportunity to contribute, pride takes precedence over his obligation to provide leadership and sustenance for the people who carry his surname.Growing pains is a trying time for an adolescent boy, even if he resides in a nice home with enough food on the table. Now consider poor Antonio(Ravi Ramos Lacerda) who goes through puberty on location. His raging hormones, raging in the brush, the tumbleweeds, the whole outback entire. When Antonio falls in love with a mermaid(a girl who poses for pictures in a club), he announces his decision to leave the two-wheel caravan. Romao doesn't discourage him because it's one less mouth to feed. After the beautiful girl in the mermaid costume rejects him for the older and wealthier club owner, we think about his mother, who married out of love instead of money. There should be a scene in which this beautiful woman second-guesses herself. A cross-country journey is exhausting, but the family in "Caminho das Nuvens" seem remarkably fresh. They must be part-camel because the heat doesn't prevent them from sharing an occasional off-the-cuff moment while they stave off hunger and dehydration. Remarkably, prostitution, or some desperate means of earning money is never broached between father and mother. Considering the distance they cover, the parents and kids just aren't dirty enough, or angry enough, at their dire situation, or at each other.

haohaiyu Being a Chinese, living in US for 11 years. this randomly-found, third-world movie opened my mind once again to the bigger world.The movie describes a crazy migration of an unfortunate family led by a strong-, ideal-, foolish-minded young father from the poor part of Brazil, (northern, close-to-equator, close to amazon), to the best city of the nation, Rio (coastal, close to San Paulo). The family has 7 members, 30-year old father and weak-minded, naive mother, 4 sons aged about 15, 12, 10, 2, and a 7 year old daughter. They ride on 4 bikes for 2000 miles for the trip. They beg for food or hunger, and random night-rest. The purpose of the migration is to seek a better life for the family, the very-common, very-basic purpose for most population of the whole world.The movie is beautifully presented, including delicately balanced contents ranging from family love, caring, growing, idealism, beautiful pictures, disturbing emotions. It's a movie disturbing my mind and will stay there for a long while. It is urging me to discuss it with people.

dirk breedveld it's the best road movie after Thelma and Louise. It's lovely in tempo, pictures, acting performance even of the very small kids, nice music, good mixture of action, drama, laughter, hope and despair, and getting out of your life the best possible....

annepg Rarely does one have the opportunity to see such a unique, honest and beautiful movie, specially when it comes to dealing with such difficult issues such as poverty, a family's struggle to stick together and overcome all sorts of misadventures. This is a beautifully shot road movie on bicycles - based on a true story - that can be compared to The Bicycle Theif, and another Brazilian master piece by Nelson Pereira dos Santos: Vidas Secas (Barren Lives, is the English title) (based on a novel). Everyone should get to see this movie.