The price of freedom?

Rating: 8/10 (1 October 2005)

This is a very interesting presentation of the ongoing war among drug dealing gangs in Rio de Janeiro and between all of them and often corrupt government authorities. Much emphasis is placed upon the involvement of children, both as victims and perpetrators of the violence, and as beneficiaries of the large drug profits. I thought the treatment was unexpectedly evenhanded. As children have been excluded, by "modernizers" and other "do-gooders," from the legitimate economies of very poor countries, those who are unwilling or unable to bear the second-class status of dependents have been forced more and more into crime and/or soldiering to attain a status of respect. Of course total rejection of the very thought that any child might be conscious of or desire respect and self-sufficiency is itself an integral part of the disrespect to which they are subjected. It should be noted that the DVD includes also an actual documentary, almost as long as the movie.