Frantic, violent, and depressing

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2007)

Movies such as this present a problem for me in trying to rate them. I recognize the quality in just about every category, but I don't feel that I got a return on the emotional commitment I made to the story, about life in a Rio de Janeiro slum.
There are many who seem to have little patience for slow-paced films, but I had the opposite problem with this movie. The camera rarely stays still for more than a few seconds. Even though that probably set the appropriate mood, given the subject matter, it was too manic for me. On first viewing I was so busy reading the subtitles that a second viewing was necessary to fill in a lot of missed details.
The movie does bristle with creative energy. The telling of the story is ingenious. It starts at a point, moves to several flashbacks, gets back to the starting point, and then moves on. There is a main narrator, but many scenes are woven into the story more than once, each time filmed from a different point of view.
The violence is unrelenting and intense. Just as one example, there is a scene where a gang member is instructed to shoot one of two young boys to prove his manhood, this after both boys had been shot in the foot for amusement. And then one of the boys is indeed killed. So, if you are thinking of watching this movie, that is the kind of violence to expect. The body count is high.
A couple of scenes, like the big dance, hint at a spirited life that is going on behind the scenes, in spite of the grim backdrop. But the emphasis stays on the culture of drugs and violence.
When enduring such an intense experience as this, I hope for some personally redeeming value. Yes, one man does escape from the poverty and hopelessness, but that is but one from many. Based on a true story the film makes a strong point about the pernicious effects of poverty, and we are led to understand that the cycle continues from one generation to the next, becoming more desperate and vicious with the passage of time. Not living in Rio or Brazil, where one might feel prompted to act, the movie left me feeling depressed and powerless. About the only good that I could see coming out of it for me was to increase my donations to the local homeless shelter.