But we discover that all these people are real and the events relayed are true. Kohn connects his rural frog farmer from the opening to a famously corrupt politician Jder Barbalho. He also interviews a string of people about their various encounters with crime in Brazil and how they connect with each other. There's a woman who was kidnapped for a week and had her ears sent to her family. Then we see kids in the street playing "kidnapper" and "victim" and cutting off each other's ears. We also hear from a plastic surgeon who reconstructs ears from a victim's rib (detailed in a particularly graphic surgery sequence). There are also cops, bodyguards and people who want to create GPS chips into people so they can be tracked when -- not if but when -- they get kidnapped. Kohn even interviews someone who presents himself as a kidnapper and criminal. The man claims to suffer absolutely no guilt about any of the crimes or violence he's committed but he also talks about how he helps the people in his village out and that's why they protect him.
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Contemporary Brazil in Manda Bala (City Lights)
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Kohn weaves all his elements together to a snappy Latin beat and while maintaining a darkly sardonic tone. The style undercuts the seriousness of the issues while making it more cinematically engaging. But maybe the tone reflects the only way a sane person can try to comprehend the absurd conditions that people cope with everyday in contemporary Brazil. Some reports place kidnappings at one a day and Mr. X rattles off a list of all the people he knows who have been the victim of kidnapping. Americans may harbor fears about terrorist attacks but those fears seem more imagined than the very real world fears of the Brazilian citizens who risk violence each time they walk onto the street.
Kohn offers some wide vistas showing the tall buildings of Sao Paulo in the background while a vast expanse of shabby shacks fill the foreground. The contrast between the poverty and wealth is striking and helps to explain the high level of crime.
Manda Bala (unrated but for mature audiences) captures the desperation, fear and exhaustion of Brazil's citizen's as they face violence and corruption. Kohn does a good job of bringing grim issues to light in a surprisingly entertaining manner. But maybe with a few more years of experience, he could make those issues resonate more fully.
Companion viewing: City of Gold, Pixote, Todo El Poder -----
