Foreign Land Reviews

In 1990, Brazilian President Collard stabilized the economy by freezing bank accounts. Having scrimped and saved for years to visit her birthplace in faraway Spain, San Paolo widow Manuela (Laura Cardoso) dies broken-hearted. Her son Paco (Fernando Alves Pinto) determines to visit San Sebastian to honor her memory. Meanwhile, in Lisbon, Portugal, Alex (Fernanda Torres) dreams of ditching her boyfriend Miguel (Alexandre Borges) and returning to San Paolo. Unfortunately, Miguel tries to impress Alex by filching diamonds from his boss, Igor (Luis Melo), a globetrotting smuggler. Back in San Paolo, Igor offers desperate Paco a courier job that takes him to Portugal. Although Igor takes care of terminating Miguel, he doesn't count on Paco recognizing the value of the contraband. Teaming up with Alex, who's become unhinged by Manuel's murder, Paco drives toward San Sebastian. Can Alex and Paco elude Igor's hit men? This artful film starts out promisingly as a cinematic mood piece about homesickness, vanished pasts, and the futility of trying to escape to an idyllic land that only exists in one's imagination. Far inferior to co-director Walter Salles' subsequent CENTRAL STATION, it eventually evolves into a more conventional road movie about thieves on the run