Mars One
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Mars One
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Mars One is a Brazilian drama about a struggling working-class family with two hardworking and diligent parents trying to get their bright kids through school and into successful lives. The law student daughter comes out as lesbian and deals with the father's disappointing reaction, and the younger son, who wants to be an astrophysicist, must deal with his father's pressure to play professional soccer instead. An explosion rocks someone's life. A man struggles with alcoholism. Language includes "f--k," "s--t," "bitch," "bastard," "damn," "hell," and "screw." Women have sex and breasts are seen. In Portuguese with English subtitles.
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What's the Story?
In MARS ONE, working-class Wellington (Carlos Francisco) and Tercia (Rejane Faria) are two Brazilian parents of Deivinho (Cicero Lucas), a bright 10-year-old who wants to be an astrophysicist, and Nina (Camilla Damiao), a law student. Dad is a janitor at a swanky building and a recovering alcoholic. It's a loving and close family but fissures are showing as Nina comes out as a lesbian and moves in with her girlfriend and Deivinho struggles to tell his dad he'd rather build telescopes and go to Mars than play his father's beloved soccer. On the same weekend the boy wants to hear a lecture by physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the father sets up a soccer tryout that the boy doesn't want to attend. The action jumps around. A friendly anarchist takes advantage of coworker Wellington's trust, which ends with a bad result. Tercia is pranked by a television personality pretending to be a disgruntled unemployed man. He sets off a loud fake bomb, leaving Tercia to suffer PTSD thereafter. Believing she will be a jinx to her family, she decides to leave town to keep them safe from her bad vibes. As she's leaving, Deivinho breaks his leg and Wellington gets fired, suggesting that superstition is a relevant factor in their lives.
Is It Any Good?
The four leads in Mars One are all talented and convincing actors who draw us in, but the action and direction are messy and confusing. Some secondary plot twists are childishly simple and predictable. It's clear nothing good can come of asking a favor of an avowed revolutionary. When the inevitable happens, there's no surprise. Often the camera closes in on and stays with one character who is either listening to others or witnessing some plot-altering action. It can be difficult to know what's going on as we watch these faces while we hear unexplained events going on around them. This is a good way of keeping a film's budget down, but not a good way of making things clear to the audience.
The filmmaker provides a political context. A far-right extremist has recently been elected and, unbeknownst to the Brazilians, he will threaten democratic rule. And a new left-wing employee at Wellington's job talks of class war and how underpaid workers like him carry the rich people on their backs. "We're exploited," he says. Later he steals someone's TV.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how parents can sometimes wish their kids pursued interests that don't suit them. How do the father's hopes put pressure on his son?
What does this movie try to say about how children who love their parents can manage to break away and live the lives they want to live, rather than the lives their parents would prefer?
Why do you think the father is so hard on his son?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: January 5, 2023
- Cast: Cicero Lucas, Carlos Francisco, Camilla Damiao, Rejane Faria
- Director: Gabriel Martins
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 115 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: January 9, 2023
Our Editors Recommend
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City of God
Powerful, but only for 17 and up.
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7 Prisoners
Gritty Brazilian drama has language, violence.
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Pele
Focused look at soccer's G.O.A.T.; violence, language.
For kids who love family tales
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