Dora was an old woman who wrote letters for people who did not know how
to read or write. She used to be a teacher, but later she started to work at the Central do Brasil, the biggest train station in Rio de Janeiro.
She served many people in the station. One day, a middle-aged woman and his son, Josué, approached to Dora to ask her to write a letter to Josue's father. They wanted to tell him that they were OK living in Rio, and that Josue wanted to get in touch with him. Josue's mother made it clear that she didn't agree with it because she thought he was just a drunker.
Often, Dora did not take the letters to the post office. Sometimes she
just stayed at home with her friend and mocked the stuff people asked her to
write. Dora kept Josué and his mother's letter.
Several days later, Josue and his mother went
to Dora again to ask her to write a new letter. Josue
suspected Dora had not taken the letter in the mail. Dora did her job, and when
Josue
and his mom left the train station, a bus crashed the woman. Then, Josue
remained alone.
Feeling guilty, Dora took Josue to her home, but
she didn't know what to do. Then, she decided to "sell" him to a
couple who wanted to adopt him, but later she found out their intention was to
sell Josue's organs. Heroically, Dora decided to rescue him and escaped from Rio de Janeiro.
Dora assumes to take Josue with his father,
who lived in Bom Jesus, in Northeast Brazil.
During the trip Josue gets drunk because of a bottle of wine Dora left. There is a point where Dora decided to abandon him because, she thought, he would be better without her. She put some money in the kid's bag while he was sleeping and gave indications to the driver to take him to Bom Jesus. She left the bus and buys a ticket to go back to Rio.
Nevertheless, when she was in the cafeteria at the bus station, she
realized the kid had got down from the bus and left the bag in it. Then, they
remained with no money or food, so a truck driver offered to help by taking
them to the town they want.
They stopped in a restaurant and Dora was flirting with the driver. She
went to the restroom and once she came back the driver was already gone.
Some hours later she gave her watch to another driver in order to take them to the town. When they finally arrived at their destiny, they realized they had to get some money and Josue had the idea of selling letters. Then, they bought some food and they looked to Josue's father. They didn't find him. Instead they found Josue's brothers and Dora decided to leave him there because she thought it was a better place for him.
Conclusion:
Many times, when people don't know how to read or write depend on other
people to communicate their ideas in a formal way also when there is a
situation in which those people need writing skills. In the movie Central
Station we can see how Josué depends on other people because he doesn't have these important skills, he doesn't know how to read and not only him, but many other people especially in the town where is developed the story. These people must trust in the other people who help them write something even without knowing what are they actually writing. In relation
with the text: Theorizing the Space of Literacy Practices by Lesley Bartlett
and Dorothy Holland this movie shows us the situations in which the literacy
education is absent, especially in poor people and how they need to “communicate
oneself” through people who know how write and provide this as a service.
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