5x Favela, Now by Ourselves (Amaral, Barcelos, Bezerra, Carneiro, Felha, Novais, Vidigal, 2010): Brazil

Reviewed by Jim Burns. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

5x Favela, Now By Ourselves is a series of five very different stories showing what it is like to live and survive in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Each of these shorts was filmed on location in the slums of Rio, and all tell a very interesting tale of survival and give a very realistic depiction of what life is like living under these conditions.

In the first film, a young man from the favelas is the first in his family to be accepted into college. Early in his first semester, when it is learned where he is from, he is approached by a more well to do student who is looking for drugs. The young man is having a hard time financially and eventually succumbs to the pressure and eventually becomes a known dealer in order to attend school and study law. We follow the young man up until his graduation as he struggles with what he knows is wrong, until a near fatal tragedy leads him back to the right path.

The second film is a story about a young boy who is determined to earn enough money to buy a chicken for a birthday dinner for his father who is tired of always eating beans and rice. The boy and his friend earn the money needed, only to be robbed by older kids who see them celebrating and waiving their newly earned funds. The boys eventually end up stealing a chicken from a crazy local butcher and it is revealed during the dinner that the father had a bad experience as a kid and doesn’t eat chicken. The boys return the following day to replace the chicken without being prompted. This was a story about the strong bond between father and son and the son’s desire to impress his father.

In the third film, the director uses lots of flash backs to establish a childhood friendship between a cop on the take and a known drug dealer and his long time girlfriend. A rival drug lord pays the police officer life changing money to look the other way as he takes control of the favela and plans to kill the cops friends. This was the most violent of all the films and included very graphic torture scenes depicting the horror of life in the favelas. This was a tale of survival and betrayal.

The fourth short was about a kid who loses a  friend’s kite and is forced to cross the bridge into a rival favela in order to retrieve the kite. The camera follows the teenager on his journey into enemy territory where he realizes that life on the other side isn’t that different from his own.

In the fifth short, families are gathering in the favela for a Christmas celebration, only to learn that there is no electricity for the day. When the local worker from the electric company is spotted trying to leave the neighborhood, the residents hold him captive for hours, only to learn that the problem can not be fixed without a replacement part. After hours of failed attempts, the worker figures out a way to light up the neighborhood that might cost him his job. This was a story about the importance of family and  the common bond of a community focused on helping one another.

5x Favela, Now By Ourselves is a collection of wonderful stories shot beautifully in the favelas of Brazil. Each film had an element of realism that made it easy to imagine what life would be like under these extremely dangerous conditions. These films were all great stories and the cinematography by Alexander Ramos was amazing.