Cast: Wagner Moura, Irandhir Santos, André Ramiro, Milhem Cortaz, André Mattos, Maria Ribeiro
Nascimento, Fraga, Capt Matias,
Utilises different media as a doc would do… zooming in on security video bank during riot, and hearing a man screaming at a TV news crew and then seeing the rest of the rant on a series of TV screens.
Cutting to recorded TV news broadcast footage – another doc trope
The opening battle is breathtaking, but the ensuing period of the film (where the recent history of the conflict is explained) feels more like an educational video or a diary than a visceral action film.
Is it contrived that his nemesis married his ex-wife? Obviously it is an excellent device for rendering the social situation on a personal level, but it cheapens the complexity of the issues. This couldn’t feel further removed from the gut-wrenching frankness of Bus 174.
Great helicopter shots over the city – reminiscent of the famous opening to Bus 174
Much of the acting is stilted and poor.
It is quite a fascinating story of duplicity and corruption: allowing police militias to run the slums ensures that crime is contained, those involved make an enormous amount of money, and politicians can ensure more votes. Everyone wins… except the millions of impoverished, uneducated slum dwellers who risk murder if they fail to pay up for the militia’s “protection”.
It has that uniquely Liberal willingness to portray the horrors of abuse and corruption in all their brutality. It is faintly unsavoury, and bordering on sadistic.
Surely there is some sort of “other side” to this story. Respectable international journals (Prospect, RSA magazine, Time) report on the recent surge of community-led schemes in Rio; with local police forces taking over from the heavy-handed military police forces that are so cemented into the fabric of South American society. Padilha has a motive, and there is nothing wrong with that. Being staunch and angry can be attractive in an artist or a rebel; but it is unattractive in a respected documentary filmmaker and an important voice for Brazil’s left.
The journalist isn’t just murdered, she is gang-raped and burnt to a crisp; this is just one example of the horror that could have been made more implicit and unsettling, rather than guttural and tastelessly cinematic.
- It is just so deeply unpleasant. Of course Rio is one of the most horrific places in the world for human rights abuses, violence, and corruption; but this feels more like an opera than a documentary.
It is very difficult to believe that the testimony of one disgraced policeman, without any evidence or witnesses, could lead to the arrest of high-level politicians.
The son survives, and Rio is left to rot. Of course there are no answers. But feeding us horror and brutality for 100 minutes and showing us a recovering boy at the end hardly counts as penance. The film would have been better without this trivial and contrived ending.
Nascimento, Fraga, Capt Matias,
Utilises different media as a doc would do… zooming in on security video bank during riot, and hearing a man screaming at a TV news crew and then seeing the rest of the rant on a series of TV screens.
Cutting to recorded TV news broadcast footage – another doc trope
The opening battle is breathtaking, but the ensuing period of the film (where the recent history of the conflict is explained) feels more like an educational video or a diary than a visceral action film.
Is it contrived that his nemesis married his ex-wife? Obviously it is an excellent device for rendering the social situation on a personal level, but it cheapens the complexity of the issues. This couldn’t feel further removed from the gut-wrenching frankness of Bus 174.
Great helicopter shots over the city – reminiscent of the famous opening to Bus 174
Much of the acting is stilted and poor.
It is quite a fascinating story of duplicity and corruption: allowing police militias to run the slums ensures that crime is contained, those involved make an enormous amount of money, and politicians can ensure more votes. Everyone wins… except the millions of impoverished, uneducated slum dwellers who risk murder if they fail to pay up for the militia’s “protection”.
It has that uniquely Liberal willingness to portray the horrors of abuse and corruption in all their brutality. It is faintly unsavoury, and bordering on sadistic.
Surely there is some sort of “other side” to this story. Respectable international journals (Prospect, RSA magazine, Time) report on the recent surge of community-led schemes in Rio; with local police forces taking over from the heavy-handed military police forces that are so cemented into the fabric of South American society. Padilha has a motive, and there is nothing wrong with that. Being staunch and angry can be attractive in an artist or a rebel; but it is unattractive in a respected documentary filmmaker and an important voice for Brazil’s left.
The journalist isn’t just murdered, she is gang-raped and burnt to a crisp; this is just one example of the horror that could have been made more implicit and unsettling, rather than guttural and tastelessly cinematic.
- It is just so deeply unpleasant. Of course Rio is one of the most horrific places in the world for human rights abuses, violence, and corruption; but this feels more like an opera than a documentary.
It is very difficult to believe that the testimony of one disgraced policeman, without any evidence or witnesses, could lead to the arrest of high-level politicians.
The son survives, and Rio is left to rot. Of course there are no answers. But feeding us horror and brutality for 100 minutes and showing us a recovering boy at the end hardly counts as penance. The film would have been better without this trivial and contrived ending.
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