Exploring Toll (Pedàgio): A Look at Carolina Markowicz's FIPRESCI Prize-Winning Film

The shared affection between a mother and her child, no matter their age, along with their friendship bonds, is an undeniable value.

 “Caminhos do cinema português” means the “paths of the Portuguese cinema”, very rich and diversified. The FIPRESCI jury discovered this year the features providing mostly from Portugal, but also from Brazil and the ancient Portuguese colonies. The prize was attributed to Toll (Pedágio) by young Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz. Markowicz, born in Sao Paolo likely in a Polish family living in Latin America, has already made her feature debut Charcoal (Carváo) and several short films, including The Orphan (O Órfao) which won the Queer Palm in 2018 at the Cannes International Film Festival. 

Considered a rising star in Brazilian cinema and often classified as a representative of the LGBTQ+ movement due to the issues she raises about sexual identity and the price one pays for choosing the own life path, the director appears above all as a keen observer: not only of life’s twists and turns, but also of the relations prevailing in the family, which, like in a distorting mirror, reflects the social and moral changes taking place in the society. Not only in the Brazil one, although, of course, it remains the most important reference in the director’s work.

Toll is above all a film about a mother – as another Portuguese film from the festival beautifully said – “when God saw that there was too much to do in the world, he created mothers”. This is a story about a mother raising her teenage son alone (excellent performances by Maeve Jinkings and Kauan Alvarenga) and who does everything, at least from her point of view, to provide him with a “normal life”, supposedly better than her own. Suellen lives in a distant suburb of Sao Paulo and works at the toll on the highway leading to the city – her every day is like the previous one, if we don’t consider her distorted relationship with her lover making his living from shady deals, and her few friendships, mainly with her work colleagues. 

The only real joy and, at the same time, the biggest problem of this still young and attractive woman is her 17-year-old son Tiquinho, who likes to dress up as drag queens in social media videos and doesn’t hide his homosexual tendencies. The initial struggle for economic survival will soon turn for Suellen into an obsession as to as the sexual orientation of her only child – beloved, but too different from others.

 Brecht’s Mother Courage transforms herself into a fighter for the preservation of a world in which women and men build families. Each of us – says Markowicz, has several faces – Suellen will be “helped” by her erotomaniac colleague, in her another life a devotee of the guru Isac ( Isac Graça ), who runs courses for a lot of money to return to the correct sexual orientation. 

The director’s black sense of humour appears in these sequences – the guru’s lessons, looking like Jesus from the paintings of Renaissance masters, and practical exercises involving modelling genitals from plastic mass are both grotesque and pure nonsense, but also remain an obvious warning against all forms of indoctrination. 

Intertwined with these brilliantly filmed narrative threads is a criminal story: to obtain funds to pay for her son’s “treatment”, Suellen develops a plan to rob the highway’s drivers with the help of her lover and his mafia friends. However, she will be deceived and betrayed – only women in contemporary Portuguese or Brazilian films are strong and capable of sacrifice – It cannot be said about men. 

The love and bond between mother and son will reveal stronger than the drama and the separation – after being released from prison, Suellen will silently accept the fact that her son is living his own, different life. It doesn’t mean an outburst of joy – the most important thing is that their bond hasn’t been destroyed. 

This very human and profound film is in fact a meditation on the world around us with its kaleidoscope of social differences, the pressure exerted on individuals who don’t live according to established formats and codes, the price of personal freedom and women’s emancipation, still living homophobia and the tendency to reject everything different and alien. 

The mutual love between mother and child, regardless of their age and the links of friendship, remains an indisputable value. The only thing that counts in life is a feeling of connection and belonging: this theme was regularly exposed in this year’s Caminhos competition selection, including Diogo Costa Amarante’s award-winning title We are on Air (Estamos No Ar).

The FIPRESCI Jury decided to attribute its prize to Toll for: tackling themes of motherhood, family relations, sexual identity, and acceptance of differences. With an amazing balance of black humour and heartfelt drama it sheds light on the challenges of understanding others’ life choices while celebrating individuality and everyday resilience – said Jury in its official statement. There is nothing to add.

Joanna Orzechowska- Bonis
Edited by Rita Di Santo
© FIPRESCI 2024