Too much violence and blood

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2004)

I keep mixed feelings about this movie. Generally, I would say it's just too violent for my taste. All you get to see is guns, drug trade, corruption... Not that this isn't a feature of Brazilian favelas, but I mean, there's much more pretty things to be portrayed in a movie, like the kindness and friendly spirit of the people down there.
On the other hand, I think that the very idea of social mobility (a black young reporter making it to be big leagues of journalism, plus getting sentimentally involved with a white girl) is a nice touch and I think it does exemplify some of the finest traits of the Brazilian soul in that things would eventually get better.
I'm happy for Brazilian cinema that a product of theirs is getting that much Academy attention... But we also know that Oscar nominations are subjective to say the least. Some scenes of this movie reminded me of Pulp Fiction; it has indeed something very "Tarantinesque" or "Tarantinean" to it. Personally I regret all that violence and nonsense blood in this movie.