rio de janeiro Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The name is Rio, but in José Padilha's Elite Squad, it doesn't look like anyone's dancing. The city has been the source of ever-increasing crime, and this turmoil has inspired the director to film an action movie that digs into Rio's underworld. Elite, said to be based on facts, is about a special forces operative who is fighting against Rio's drug gangs, but it isn't a simple case of crime and punishment. The movie includes graphic scenes of torture and execution, which have spurned unrest by Rio's officers, and found itself in a flurry of pirating, as thousands of copies have hit the streets before the film even gets released -- according to The Guardian.

Rio police tried to ban the film from cinemas, but it was backed by the judge who rejected the case, saying that the feature portrayed the "day-to-day reality of a good part of the people living in this city," and even Rio's governor, Sergio Cabral said that it is "faithful in uncovering the serious problems that we face in terms of public security." The city's problems have spurred Bope, the Special Police Operations Battalion to battle the city's enemies "at whatever cost," and in the film, this includes executing drug traffickers with a rifle shot to the head. Obviously, this isn't the feel-good story of the year, but something that'll probably weigh on moviegoers for a long time when it premieres next month in Brazil. Padilha hopes that "people will watch this and say: 'Hell, we have to change these rules. We hope to generate a debate.'" Now we'll have to wait and see if the film gets overseas distribution, and what sort of debate it inspires for world-wide audiences in the wake of Abu Gharib.

When Jeff Zimbalist got a call from from his good friend Matt Mochary, he didn’t know his life was about to change. Mochary was calling from a favela (slum) in Rio de Janeiro to tell Zimbalist he had found a story the two of them had to make into film, about a movement in Rio called Afroreggae, and the two men behind the movement, Anderson Sa and Jose Junior. Zimbalist quit his job and flew to Brazil, and the two friends spent the next two years filming the story of the Afroreggae movement. The resulting documentary, Favela Rising, is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary and shared International Documentary Association top honors with another film. Cinematical interviewed Mochary and Zimbalist recently about their film, the Afroreggae movement, and how making Favela Rising has changed their lives. This is Part One of the interview, with Jeff Zimbalist. Part Two, with Matt Mochary, will be published tomorrow.