São Paulo is a sink-or-swim kind of a city; a cacophonous, ever-evolving sprawl of unplanned slums and suburbs so large that even lifelong residents can’t know it all. Set against the backdrop of restless camerawork, mercurial editing and the city’s constant movement are the stories of four fatherless brothers from an impoverished but close-knit family.

Walter Salles brings his customary empathy and nonjudgmental approach to his latest film, Linha de Passe, which is co-directed with his regular collaborator Daniela Thomas and based upon true stories collected from the city.

Dario dreams of buying his way out of poverty with his skill as a footballer, but at 18 he has missed the window where he can hope to be spotted and signed. Dinho has escaped from a troubled past by embracing religion; Denis, a motorcycle dispatch rider with a son of his own, is tempted by the idea of crime as a short cut. And the youngest, Reginaldo, is obsessed with finding the father he never knew and rides the city’s buses looking for him. Their mother, Clueza, is both parents in one; but she has another child on the way with no father in evidence and little means of support.

Salles and Thomas draw parallels between football and religion with the recurring motif of raised hands that is common to both worlds; they sculpt the sound design, fading out the battering assault of the city to take us into minds of the boys as they daydream of escape. Ultimately, there is an optimism to the film, albeit one that is tempered by the poignancy of lives shadowed by São Paulo’s harsh indifference.

15, 113 minutes

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