“Brinquedoteca, Mauro's Magical Workshop”

Directed by Marcio Rosario

San Diego Short Film Festival

Documentary

TRT 20:00

 

We are living though a time of accelerating, intentional cruelty. It’s a sad commentary on our current state that any basic human kindness and decency have become noteworthy.

“Brinquedoteca, Mauro's Magical Workshop” is brimming with basic human kindness and decency.

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“Brinquedoteca” roughly translates from Portuguese to “toy library” – a public place where children can play with toys that stay in the place. Mauro Cesar de Oliveira created a non-profit organization that has set up brinquedotecas in 4 Brazilian cities, and is estimated to have helped more than 30,000 children who would otherwise not have had access to toys.

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The non-profit rescues discarded toys and refurbishes them. So in addition to the humanitarian mission, it has an ecological one – keeping plastic and other materials out of landfills.

The film starts by interviewing Mauro, where we learn that he was brought up in a boarding school and had few toys to play with. He wants to ensure that children today can have experiences that he didn’t. There are then a series of interviews with volunteers – one who does community reach-outs, one who makes clothes for recycled dolls, and a general helper. They all tell engaging stories of what brought them to the non-profit and the work that it does. And be sure to stay through the credits to see interviews with a few of the children they’ve helped.

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This is a heartwarming affair from start to finish, marred by some slight details that only impact English-speaking viewers. The light yellow subtitles are sometimes difficult to see and the English is occasionally broken. The title cards are displayed as people are talking, making it difficult to read the subtitles and simultaneously know who is speaking. Before the credits, there’s an English explanation of the non-profit’s origin and impact, which would have been better placed at the beginning of the film.

But don’t let any of those details deter you. We need stories like Mauro’s now more than ever. And if your heart could use a little warming, this will do it.