Favela on Blast
January. 01,2008
For 20 years, a subculture has emerged in Brazil under society's radar. It is the culture surrounding 'funk carioca', a musical rhythm which mixes the American electronic funk of the 1980s with the most diverse influences of Brazilian music. 'Baile funk' is one of the most interesting musical movements in the world, but it comes from what is at times one of the most violent and poorest places in the world: the slums of Rio de Janeiro (favelas). This music is the personalization of the raw element. Bombastic rhythms coming from the American Miami Bass and samples are fused with powerful rap vocals using Brazilian slang. This documentary tells stories of sex, love, poverty, and pride among Rio's marginalized people. They have their own language, style, and heroes. It's a film that's fast, heavy, and violent like the city itself.
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Reviews
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
This documentary is great and even more if you complement it with the famous Cidade de Deus by Meirelles.The documentary is about the denominated "Funk" movement in the lower class Brazilian neighborhoods known as favelas. It is basically a documentary about music an indirectly a film about society and violence in those places.The music those Mc's play is absolutely great. I'm not Brazilian, but I could define it as a mixture of break beat (elements of drum n' bass) with elements of Brazilian dance music (basically samba). The fusion of these genres results an explosive music that inevitably makes you move. The rhythms (spiced with the lyrics) turns it into an aphrodisiac and one of the most sexual things I've ever seen.As of the social content, all the shameless violence that the people lives with in the favelas, is shown here in it's human face. It's significant that most of the film takes place in the Cidade de Deus, the same favela filmed immortalized by Meirelles.The violence here is never denied. Even in the music, the violence seems to be a very natural part of people's lives. This is particularly appreciated in the song's lyrics. "Just open your legs and relax", or simply "I wanna fck you" are just the introduction to what the composers express in front of hundreds of people. There is an impressive song that talks about how to plan an invation in the common battles that takes place between gangs of the favelas.More clear: the music those people play is absolutely explosive and grasps in the most primitive and visceral parts of the human being. As one of the MC's says, one is just waiting to see this underground music conquer the entire planet.9 out of 10. Highly recommended.
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