When the
stylish Brazilian slum-drama City Of God was
released in 2002 it caused an immediate impact around the world. Nominated for 68 awards including 4 Oscars
and currently say at #21 in the prestigious IMDB Top 250 – it is fair to say
that it is massively critically acclaimed.
But what became of the dozens and dozens of young cast members that
starred in the film? What did they get from starring in a movie that such a
global impact? City Of God:10 Years Later
sets out to tell some of their stories.
This
documentary interviews dozens and dozens of cast members from the original film
(who were almost all non-actors who really lived in such harsh conditions) and
allows them to tell their own story of how City
Of God changed (or didn’t) their lives.
These range from the positive, such as the young people who ended up on
TV or with music careers, to the tragic, as in the children who were exploited
by their parents because of this new inflow of money.
Most of the
cast remember being given between R$3,000 and R$10,000 (around £820-£2725),
many of them choosing this over a percentage of any potential box office
returns (an estimated $30million worldwide).
However, regardless of the actual number, it was always going to be
difficult giving so many teenagers from a dangerous slum so much money – it was
never going to be invested or used to set up trust funds. Some say that a lot of the money was more of
a curse than a benefit…
The tone of
the film seems to lean towards accusing the filmmakers of exploiting the people
who lived in the notorious favela, but then most of the praise that was heaped
on the film was for how ‘authentic’ it was in highlighting the plight of the
inhabitants. It would have been far more
exploitative for professional, privileged actors to attempt to recreate the
lives of those in poverty – it would have completely missed the point.
The latter
half of 2014 is an interesting time for the film to be screened, as the memory
of the Brazilian world cup is still fresh in the mind. Given that almost zero coverage in UK press
and current affairs is about South America (except for Chilean miners), audiences
who read up around the competition got used to seeing images of utopian
beaches, carnival and samba dancing and finding out that underneath all of the
gloss there is a country of vast inequality and racism.
10 Years Later is hard to follow at times as there are so many characters and would have worked better with a voiceover (as observed by Corrina Antrobus in our post-movie chat). But it speaks openly about this
ethnic and economic inequality in the country and for that reason, regardless
of whether audiences have even seen the original City Of God film, the documentary serves as an important reminder
that South America has deep institutional problems and isn’t all bikini lines
and Caipirinhas…
No comments:
Post a Comment