The Year My Parents Went On Vacation | DVD Review

Though comparisons to exquisite films like Cinema Paradiso and City of God are extremely overblown, and references to Home Alone are bizarre, Cao Hamburger’s The year my Parents Went on Vacation, is a sweet, yet slight foreign film award nominee that is worth the watch.

“Vacation” tells the story of young Mauro (Michel Joelsas) who, when his militant parents are forced to go into hiding is left on the door step of his grandfather who, unbeknownst to Mauro’s parents, died earlier that day, and is taken, somewhat unwilling at first, under the wing of Shlomo, the Jewish neighbor while he waits for his parents to return.

The backdrop of the film is 1970 Sao Paulo in the midst of the World Cup and a small but determined uprising against Socialism. The film spends a lot of time on the excitement surrounding the World Cup and Mauro’s obsession with soccer (pardon me, football), but there is a gaping hole in the film when it comes to filling the audience in on the political situation. One might argue that we, the audience, are given only brief glimpses into the issues because we are supposed to see this story through the child’s eyes. But given that this was the catalyst for the story, it becomes more of a distraction trying to put things together, because while the child can accept that his parents are going away “on vacation” the audience knows better and wants to know more. We find out eventually, but for those unfamiliar with the political history of Brazil, the energy used in putting together the pieces on something that could have very easily been explained with one or two sentences is a bit frustrating.

That said, the story is charming and the cast is very solid with strong performances by Germano Haiut (Shlomo) and Joelsas who really shines in his first role after having beaten out a 1000 other hopefuls.


The inside the movie featurette gives a little more insight into the political situation (and more World Cup talk) and covers basic things like casting and whatnot, but about 80% of it is made up of interviews. It would have been better served showing more of the production.

The interviews with cast and crew have nothing more than the standard comments and stories that you would hear from any press junket on any film. And a good portion of it is second time view if you’ve already watched the featurette.

There are Extended Scenes and Outtakes that don’t really add much, though the outtakes do give up a chuckle or two.

“Vacation” offers nothing new in the genre of “child who suddenly has to grow up quickly and take care of him/her-self” films, and may be getting a free pass in the accolade department solely because it a foreign film (i.e. not a sappy American film, even though it’s rife with American film-isms), but it doesn’t feel like a waste of time and qualifies as slightly above “Meh”.

Movie rating – 2.5

Disc Rating – 2