Favela Rising DVD

Advantages: fabulous music, exciting camera work, an uplifting story
Disadvantages: a lack of context, too much about one man

I watched Favela Rising upstairs in a pub sometime last year. It was projected directly onto the wall and the blackout sheets kept falling off the window, the room was too small and too crowded and someone nearly knocked my drink over by sitting on the table. The feeling of claustrophobia and the graininess of the picture - which went slightly round the corner when projected onto the wall - lent the film a little more atmosphere than it might have ...
...of the drugs gangs on favela life. However, as the film continues, it becomes less about the movement, and more about the story of its leader, Anderson Sa. There was a talk given just after the film by a man who had worked with Afro-Reggae and also knew the films' directors, and he explained how, due to events that took place while the documentary was being made, that this switch-over took place. For one thing, Anderson Sa really embodies the movement. ... Read review