A family living in a shanty town in Brazil find they have won first prize in the New Year's lottery of the local paper a red BMW. However they are contractually not allowed to sell or rent it for two years. Unable to drive it and unable to pay for taxes and petrol the car is nothing more than an attraction and they begin to use it as a better shelter than their home.
Seems a comical story at first, but it doesn't manage to be laugh out loud funny instead it raises the odd smile but not more than that. The problem was, I didn't know if it was meant to be a comedy or not. The main performances say `playing it for laughs' but the delivery isn't good enough for that. Which left me wondering if it had a point.
The underlying point is about the nature of `help' for people living in shanty towns with little hope of leaving them. Here the BMW is potentially worth lots, but it is an asset that they aren't trained to use nor can they afford to use it. Instead of being a car, it is ill-used and becomes their home i.e. the potentially valuable gift is not realised because it is in a unsuitable form. This is a strong point however it is only ever hinted at here and never carried to the fore. This made me feel like it had missed it's opportunity or maybe the director didn't know what the writer had in mind?
The cast are good but I got the feeling that the director had told them they were in a much funnier film. Hence they mug a bit and play it for laughs when there aren't any. However the film looks professional and very colourful and bright it just a shame that there isn't the content to compliment it.
Overall this has promise but it fails to deliver. It is vaguely funny but it could have had a real dark wit and made a good social point. It isn't rubbish but you can't help feeling that this blew it's potential and feel disappointed.