“Notícias de uma Guerra Particular” (News of a Private War) is a brilliant documentary with English subtitles by documentarist João Moreira Salles (brother of Walter Salles, that directed the film “Central do Brasil“/”Central Station”) and Kátia Lund, one of the directors of “Cidade de Deus“/”City of God”. Winner of É Tudo Verdade/It’s All True, the main South American documentary festival, it portraits the violence in Rio, its relationship with drug traffic and how it influences life in shanty towns. It was produced in 1999 but is definitely still valid. It was divided in six chapters to fit Youtube format: Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Heavy, but very enlightening.
This mess will be eternal? Maybe not. Fellow blog The Good Blood highlighted this week an article by the Guardian that says that there is hope for Rio: “Samba replaces sound of gunfire as Rio de Janeiro favela is purged of drug traffickers”.
You might be also interested in the following post:
Jesus.
Are you following the scandal in Rio’s civil police, Regina? The invasion of the Alemão in November was followed by mass looting by the police and several instances of cops collaborating with the tráfico.
That whole “samba replaces gunfire” bit is such a gringo “just so” story it hurts. As if the samba ever stopped on the Alemão. As if the drug dealers actually are no longer there. As if the “security men” didn’t include APCs and armed marines.
This whole thing is p’ra gringo ver and The Good Blood is apparently placidly sucking it up.
I think The Good Blood is radar of how the foreign press perceives the country. Now, the problem is, who can claim to perceive Rio’s situation in an unbiased way? Either you are in the middle of the crisis (that is, living in a favela), and you have lots of inside information, but you can hardly be impartial; or you are receiving second hand info, through all possible filters. That’s why I like this documentary. Showing the many sides of the conflict doesn’t necessarily nails the problem, but at least gives you a broader view of the context. Cappicci?
I think this is so repetitive and not productive at all.
Drugs, crime, favela? Really? Again?
How about someone making a documentary about the MIDDLE and UPPER CLASSES who BUY DRUGS on a regular basis and keep the drug traffic alive and wealthy!!!
Then I will be impressed…
Someone needs to start punishing the root of all evil.
Either make the freaking drugs legal already and let these fools melt their brains at free will or crack down hard on drug users if drugs remain to be illegal.
Now, Keeping it illegal and not enforcing it means sustainability and job security for drug traffickers.
Ray, I live in a region where lots of pot consumers plant their own weed – and are proud they don’t promote dealing. By the way, I just published in my other blog an article about the growing legal pot industry in California – http://pagina22.com.br/index.php/2011/02/maconha-s-a/
I think the US is on the way to legalize it – and the day it happens, Brazil will follow the lead. After all, not legalizing means lots of taxes that could be collected by the government are not.
I couldn’t agree more with your two points – consumers that feed this industry are, probably, the one main responsible for the violence, and liberation is the only answer. Now, my only problem with this concept is: what should we do about heavier stuff (crack, heroine, cocaine)? If you liberate those, you weaken traffic, but how do you keep the use under control?
Finally: Ray, in case you find any documentary that exposes the Brazilian drug-consuming-middle class part in this mess, please, share with us. It would definitely deserve some space here. I remember a soap opera that dealt with this topic very graphically, let’s see if I find something on Youtube.