The Sun Rises in the East, but the Favela Rises in Brazil
Reviewed by Jonathan Wong
March 3rd, 2008
An insightful documentary, this is an expertly created film that raises the hair on the back of your neck with its intense filming and conflict. It follows an inspirational story that has at some times supernatural overtones, but all too real challenges at others. Watch this if you are looking to pass time without realizing it, for Favela Rising will undoubtedly enthrall you.
In our culture today, what difference is it when another when another music group makes news headlines for some crazy feat? According to Favela Rising, an intense documentary set in the drug-ridden slum of Vigario Geral, apparently quite a difference. This film follows the story of one man, Anderson Sa, and his travails, centering upon the unlikely development of a community instigated by a few, inspired members. Its hopeful message and touching story are supported by active, engaging film techniques employed by co-directors Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist to create one of the most memorable documentaries of the year, sure to leave an impression in viewers’ minds.
The conflict that is the favelas (the name for Brazilian ghettos) permeates the film in its entirety as the filmmakers use powerful visual cues to touch the audience in what could be quantified as a “shrink-away factor”. Violence, drugs, and killing pose as the central antagonists with drug-lords and corrupt police proving to only be additions to the despair for the people in the favelas.
Anderson Sa emerges as a sort of Gandhi figure in all the discord, rising above the troubles and advocating a peaceful solution through art forms. He comes from the favelas and is well acquainted with the culture ruled by drugs, idolizing dealers in his youth and dreaming of attaining that high position one day. Yet, like his godmother says in the film, Sa was a special man meant for special purposes and he got out of the business after a series of horrifying deaths, notably his brother’s.
In his attempts to find a solution to end the violence, Sa and his like-minded friends stumble upon the answer in the cultural Brazilian arts, using their musical talents to form the organization behind which they have facilitated so much change, Grupo AfroReggae. Thoroughly imbued with a religious feeling, the film traces the path of this group from idea to implementation, attracting thousands of members in around ten favelas, according to the film.
Lacking any narration and depending primarily on text tracks and a series of darkly lit recountings by Sa himself, the film holds to its expository nature throughout, breaking the pattern only once to show a translator’s anxiety at the things an interviewee is exposing about the drug-traffickers. The style of the filming is somewhat like a better version of Cloverfield, using on the spot television footage to give the audience the illusion of presence and making the events that much more stirring.
A film like this is one that everyone can enjoy, and perhaps even get something out of. But like so many other touching stories, Favela is a presentation of the same general theme—rising up to overcome obstacles and challenges that lie in the way of an ultimate goal. Its description of this pursuit seems to be a film version of stories like Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In that book and in the film, for the protagonists, everything is subordinated to achieving a final purpose, safety and survival becoming less important in comparison to finding self-esteem, hope, and the right place in the world.
Of course, in any example of a nonfiction work, the authenticity and validity of the claims propagated in the film have to be evaluated. It is pretty noticeable to find that no police officers or other community leaders are interviewed, casting some slight shadows on the terrible picture painted by the film. But like Caged Bird, where many of the same issues can be brought up about the validity of the writings, it is not so much the particulars about the film that make it worth watching but rather the overall feelings filling the film. Despite perhaps having different purposes for their creation, both these nonfiction works are powerful in the sense that each is based in reality and portrays the darker side of life that people would prefer to ignore.
Favela Rising sets itself apart from other films in its combination of provocative images, its flowing narration, and striking musical undertones. It presents a reality unbelievable to many, but it earns the label of documentary over and over again in making the reality believable for the audience. Other works may pose similar views, but the film really incites unique questions with the startling numbers in its text tracks and an overall sense of miraculous events occurring in the Brazilian ghettos. It is strange to see how the film draws such admiration to a group of people who should be hopeless but are not, and even stranger to walk away from the movie into daily, American life again.
