A QUARTER of Brazilians live in poverty. The film Trash
(Cert. 15, and not to be confused with the Paul Morrissey-Andy
Warhol-Joe Dallesandro 1970 cause célèbre) is about three
of them.
The teenagers Raphael (Rickson Tevez), Gardo (Eduardo Luis), and
Rato (Gabriel Weinstein) live hand to mouth by foraging among the
landfills of Rio de Janeiro. When Raphael scoops up a wallet from
the garbage, he discovers it's full of banknotes, plus the key to a
railway-station locker. This contains an intriguing set of numbers,
and a letter to Joaõ Clemente (Nelson Xavier), a jailed
anti-corruption lawyer.
In a country riddled with fraud, the trio's dilemma is how best
to hide their findings. Their suspicions are confirmed when
Frederico (Selton Mello), a dishonest police inspector in cahoots
with a shady character running for mayor, offers a reward for the
wallet.
The story is based on a youth-orientated novel by Andy Mulligan,
who has been a teacher in Brazil. Rooney Mara (Lisbeth in the
American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo),
playing his alter ego, engages the boys in what are tantamount to
situation-ethics seminars, encouraging them to discover what is
"right".
There are times when the film reminds one of Millions
(2004) written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (God on Trial,
The Railway Man, etc.), inasmuch as it also features a boy
who comes across a small fortune. In that case, the boy believes it
is heaven-sent, citing scripture to endorse this perception.
In Trash, the teenagers discover through Clemente that
the scribbled numbers are biblical quotations that, if decoded,
could expose some of Rio's sleaziest leaders. Martin Sheen plays a
world-weary but compassionate priest. He is hard-headed enough to
know how many beans make five. "Wherever there's corruption and
injustice," he roars, "there are dollars" - in this case, a fistful
of them.
His tough-love assistance is decidedly about enabling an option
for the poor to be realised. But which of these choices in this
situation is right: should the teenagers pocket the money, collude
with slush-fund politicians, or redistribute it among the needy? In
genre terms, we are watching what turns out to be a rather
spiritual tale wrapped up as an adventurous thriller - more
Three Musketeers than Secret Seven, one would have to say.
Or, returning to its biblical references, this is a David and
Goliath story. In church, one of the boys even dances before the
altar, as King David did.
It doesn't take much to guess what happens, but the excitement
lies in the process by which it is all resolved. The script is by
Richard Curtis (The Vicar of Dibley, Love
Actually, Blackadder): not someone I readily equate
with thrills, although we know his commitment through Comic Relief
to the world's most destitute people. And its director, Stephen
Daldry, began his film career with Billy Elliot (2000),
about another teenage boy overcoming social and economic
obstacles.
There are differences, of course, in this new film, which offers
us gritty realism before waving an almost magical wand over events.
We won't have to wait long to learn whether this BAFTA-nominated
film has been seen by Academy voters as an impressive clarion call
for communal justice, or an example of cheap grace being slathered
over issues that deserve more serious analysis.
On current release.