E no meio passa um trem

Long before conquering world audiences with the magnificent "Cidade de Deus" ("City of God") and the Oscar winning "The Constant Gardener", Fernando Meirelles had an extensive career producing documentaries and sketches for infamous reporter Ernesto Varela (played by TV host Marcelo Tas) and also made a couple of short film. An interesting highlight in his carrer is the little known and quite underseen short "E no Meio Passa um Trem" ("And in the Middle, a Train Passes By"). A very thrilling story, a very cool concept and greatly well-acted by everyone involved.

Here's the deal: two opposite forces find themselves stuck inside the same train. One is a tough violent cop (Bruno Giordano) whose only purpose in life is to kill a bad guy (Theo Werneck) who escaped from his hands some time ago. Now it's time to face each other and find ways to either one kill the other, or one escape from the other. But there's a dilema there: both are traveling to the different places and they're not alone: their wives and kids are in there as well and they simply can't understand why those men keep walking by on the train corridor. Yet they keep on challenging each other. What will happen next? Lots of thrills and some dark humored moments.

Nando Olival's screenplay is a brilliant piece of screenwriting with tight and balanced dialogues, many thrilling moments with plenty of humor and realistic situations.

There's a brilliance to it that it's hard to describe. There's relevance to life when it comes to presenting exactly their personalities and their traits, why they act the way they act and their eventual reaction to any kind of situation they put themselves into it. Example: after their first meeting while both were going to the bathroom, the cop decides he won't kill the bandit but instead he must jump from the train. And you keep on guessing will he accept trying to escape this violent man, maybe survive the jump or he'll find a way to fight this guy? There's so many challenges that happen between them in a matter of minutes and even a certain sense of admiration (almost respect) between both. For those remember the diner scene from "Heat" when Robert De Niro and Al Pacino reveal their intentions for one another, this plays almost exactly like that scenario.

And the duo of actors facing each other is amazing, they really play their part: Giordano brings a dangerous quality to his whispered voice and menacing eyes while Werneck is really frightened, always trying to find a way to escape this crazed situation. Meirelles and Olival made all the right choices with the casting, the editing and everything basically. If you're into powerful dilemas, some dark humor and plenty of suspense, with thrills and twists, this short film is for you. Meirelles at his finest in the early days of his career. 10/10.