O Caminho das Nuvens (The Middle of the world)

"O Caminho das nuvens" (literally: Road to the Clouds) is the moving story, based on true events, of a family that cycles across Brazil to find a better life. They start their journey in the hinterland of Paraíba in the poor northeast of the country. The obstinate, illiterate truck driver Romao feels that it is his fate to be allowed to earn a thousand real a month - a considerable amount by Brazilian standards. Romao needs that amount to maintain his wife Rose and five children, including a rebellious teenager and a baby. Obsessed by this idea, the family sets off on four bicycles. In a period of six months, they travel 3200 kilometres, suffer hunger and thirst, encounter indifference and solidarity and learn strange religious customs and exuberant feasts in the unknown backwaters of Brazil. Vicente Amorim, who learned the profession as an assistant to Carlos Diegues and Hector Babenco among others, often filmed in very difficult circumstances. Yet this début is just as fluent and charming as the cycle ride in the sweltering heat of Paraíba is harsh. The film is backed by popular Brazilian music by Robert Carlos.