The thing about Rocinba is that it succeeds in being somewhat beautiful, even though it's a slum. How many slums can you say that about?
Parts of Rocinba remind me of Montreal's "Habitat (above)." Both make high density living seem appealing, at least from a distance.
Back to Rocinba: here Von Deisel (above) tries to elude the police by taking a shortcut through what may be the community's drainage. Do you see what I mean about the place being good looking? Sure, it's toxic and decrepit, but if you had to live in absolute squalor, you could do worse.
Imagine what it's like to climb these hills every day if you don't have a car. Come to think of it, it couldn't be that easy even if you do have a car. I think a lot of people have motorcycles.
In real life the place (above) is run by drug lords who provide some electricity and water in exchange for loyalty from the people who live here. Every once in a while the drug people hold big late-night block parties which attract the rowdiest people around. They fight with each other and lots of people end up getting killed.
It looks like some of the buildings (above) have been given a paint job. Rio is trying to clean up the slums in time for The Olympics and the world soccer championships.
In November there were pitched battles between the drug gangs and the cops.
The people who lived there, including some of the children, were so used to violence that they casually went about their business, oblivious to the machine gun fire and exploding grenades all around them.
What a city of contrasts! Beauty and ugliness side by side!
A YouTube video claims that there are 50,000 murders a year in Brazil! No wonder that country wins so many of the UFC martial arts championships!
Here (above) a couple runs along the rooftops, trying to evade the police.
They have no choice but to jump down onto a distant roof of corrugated tin fragments. What a view!
4 comments:
Have you seen "City of God"? It takes place in a slum outside Rio as well. The film does a really good job of making the slum both beautiful and terrifying. It's a great film.
It reminds me of the Walled City of Kowloon, a pretty fascinating and terrifying place that is now a park.
http://lifeinasiaandthamuang.blogspot.com/2009/05/city-of-darkness.html
Adam: "City of God?" Thanks! I'll order it from Netflix! I remember a film called "Pixote" delt with a Brazilian slum, but it may not have been Rocinba.
Jules: Thanks for the Kowloon link! I was thinking about that place the whole time I was writing about Rio. What a pity we couldn't have seen Kowloon before it was bulldozed!
Hello from Brazil, Uncle Eddie!
Fast Five might be fun, as many others movies depicting Rio and Brazil.
But, if you want a much more realistic view of our situation, you should watch not only City of God, but also Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enenmy Within. There's great story and acting on these, although I found myself a little depressed after watching them.
I'm a great fan of Theory Corner.
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