Subjective taste is crucial...

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2019)

Rio's favelas are ruled by poverty and the struggle for survival. Teenagers and even children are turning to crime and only the most violent and the most unscrupulous survive. And even then only until someone even crazier comes along to kill them off and replace them. This explicitly brutal film portrays such a life very realistically, at the same time criticizing the state of society and giving a glimmer of hope that it may still be possible to get out of it all. Shocking story with a strong message, superbly shot for relatively little money. The impression is even stronger when you take into account that in most roles are not professional actors, but children who grow up in such an environment and contribute firsthand to the script. The ending, while somewhat expected, further intensifies the story, and I cannot point to any specific flaws of this film. However, it did not emotionally move me nearly as much as is necessary for the highest rating. Maybe it's up to the movie, maybe it's up to me, but I can't go over
8,5/10