No Spoilers, just a plea for you to see this film

Rating: 10/10 (6 November 2004)

This movie got a lot of publicity when it came out, and is deservedly #23 on the top 250 list here on the IMDb. In the off chance you are browsing that list for movies you haven't seen yet and thus reading this comment: do yourself a favor and go rent/steal/borrow this movie. A "tour de force" {I think that's French for bloody amazing :) } of movie-making, it has to be seen to be believed. It speaks not just to the degradations and hardships of life in a Rio slum, but in any impoverished area in the world. I just now saw it, the same weekend I caught "Secret Window" at the cinema here in Nippon, the 5th Element on TV (again) and "The Core" on DVD... like comparing a diamond in the rough to 3 lumps of cubic zirconium... buried in feces... in a septic tank... : )