ABSTRACT
One of the most striking moments in Brazilian sport was the winning of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. In a troubled political period, when Brazil was controlled by a civil-military dictatorship, football was used as a cultural symbol by the government. The film O ano em que meus pais saíram de férias (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation) (2006), directed by Cao Hamburger, addresses in a subtle manner how an innocent child perceives the complex world around him in the Bom Retiro neighbourhood of São Paulo. Through film analysis, this chapter contends that O ano em que meus pais saíram de férias reinforces the relationship between national identity and Brazilian football while revealing the tensions that exist between these concerns.
