Daily Life in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

SPOILER ALERT

I went to see Era Uma Vez, and was quite troubled afterwards.  I cannot think of a way to properly tell this story without spoiling the ending, so consider yourself duly warned.  I am about to tell you how it ends and how people reacted to this ending.  So if you don't want to know, don't read this until after you've seen the movie.

Consider yourself adequately warned?

*************************************************************************************************************************

Sure???

*************************************************************************************************************************

I don't want any nasty comments about how I'm a spoiler!

Ok so my story starts out a couple of months ago, when a friend and I went to see Sex & The City O Filme (as it's called in Brazil). We tried to go to Shopping Leblon but all its showings were completely sold out.  We then tried the Cinemas Severiano Ribeira (literally two blocks away) and the theatre was half empty.  It seems as though Shopping Leblon is the hip movie theatre to see and be seen, though personally I don't see the draw...

So basically the point of that little side story is that it seems to me that Shopping Leblon is a "status" place to go see a movie.

I really wanted to go see Era Uma Vez, a Brazilian film about boy from favela who falls from girl from Ipanema.  It came out about 48 hours after I left for Canada on vacation, so I had to wait until my return to go see it.

I thought it was well done and it was easy enough for me to understand (being in Portuguese and all).  The couple falls in love and tries to make it despite the differences in their backgrounds. I felt it was more violent than necessary, and it of course freaks me out to see violence (depicted, fictitious or not) happening just blocks from where I live.   But most disturbing of all to me were my fellow audience members. (Admittedly, mostly spoiled little teenage Brazilian girls).  They talked incessently throughout.  The snortled. (If you are a faithful reader you know how I feel about the Brazilian snortle. And if not click here to read about it.)

But worst worst worst of all, the people in our row, the row in front of us, and the row behind us, all LAUGHED out LOUD when the male lead (one half of the couple, the guy from the favela) is shot and killed.  One man said out loud the loose equivalent of it's about time...

Two seconds later, when the "Princess" from Ipanema is shot and killed, total silence.  I guess maybe our fellow audience members sympathized with her character a bit more?

I didn't cry watching the movie, but I had to hold it together walking out as the reality of what I'd just witnessed around me set in.  I wonder what the reactions were like at other theatres... 

Prisoner of Rio

Yet another "Rio/Brazil" related movie that I tried to watch with friends recently (not sure about the rest of the movie but the beginning is so damn cheesy we just couldn't stomach it) is Prisoner of Rio.  it even shared the bank robber theme! Although we didn't get through the movie, I was interested to follow up on what happened to the fellow this true story was about...

Note: if you have some suggestions of good movies involving Brazil - please post them in the comments section! Yes, I have already seen "Blame it on Rio" -but  thanks anyway!

Prisoner of Rio is the story of infamous British bank robber Ronnie Biggs, who turns 79 on Friday, and just this week he was mentioned in an Australian newspaper...

Biggs, among others, was convicted for the Great Train Robbery of 1963 where they successfully stole £2.6 million from a mail train.  Biggs managed to escape from prison two years later, had extensive plastic surgery done, changed his identity and eventually settled in Brazil.  In 1974 he was discovered to be living in Rio, and although Scotland Yard detectives soon arrived to scoop him up, he could not be extradited because Biggs' girlfriend was pregnant with his child.  Brazilian law did not allow the parent of a Brazilian child to be extradited.

As the story goes, he then went on to live openly in Brazil, and even became somewhat of a local celebrity, even performing with the Sex Pistols. Apparently he even had the gall to return to the UK on a few occasions, in disguise.

In 1981, he was kidnapped and taken to Barbados; the kidnappers expected a reward from British Police (there are also theories it was an inside operation), however, the plan backfired and Biggs was soon back in Brazil.

In 2001 Biggs  voluntarily returned to the UK, and was arrested and imprisoned, with 28 years left on his sentence.

He still makes headlines to this day, The Mirror recently reported that the prison he is currently in is spending over £250,000  to change its locks after one crucial key went missing.  There are fears that it could have fallen into the hands of an inmate...

Biggs is the author of an autobiography, Odd Man Out, which is supposedly very well written and entertaining. (Hopefully much better than the film!)

Taxi com Bundchen

Ok so this is not a Brazilian film per se, but it does feature Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen...

I don't know what it is about guys who work too hard but I know a few (and might even be married to one) who after a long day's work come home and occasionally like to tune out, as in turn something on the tv and not really even watch it... as in, if you came into the room and asked them what they were watching, they couldn't really say.  On such an occasion I found Mr. DRL and another super-hardworking friend of the family watching "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" together... get my drift?

On a more recent occasion, Mr. DRL was watching "Taxi" which features  La Bundchen and Queen Latifah. A film with an average rating on IMDB.com of 4.2 stars, about a mostly irritating taxi driver (Latifah) who helps a pretty much inept cop (Jimmy Fallon) chase a quartet of Beautiful Brazilian Bank Robbers (including Bundchen).  Horribly unrealistic plotline, flawed from the casting to the script, but... why did I tune in at all? Besides wanting "quality time" with my husband?

The Portuguese parts of course...  how often does a mainstream movie feature Portugese??

Os Normais

Ok so I watched about 4 episodes last night and found it to be well done, the physical humor is very funny (dancing around, etc.) but I must say that they speak so fast that it is hard to follow! And there are not any subtitles, we were hoping to read along in Portuguese to make it easier. Help! Does anyone know of a website where I can find either a transcript of each episode or even a brief synopsis of each one. I figure it would be best to watch each episode "cold" then read the synopsis/transcript to catch some of what I missed, and then watch it again...

I'm also a bit confused by the premise of some of the episodes - do these people pretend to cheat on each other? Or do they cheat on each other? Are they making fun of cheating on one another? Is it an open relationship? Between the language barrier and then potentially some cultural ones as well, I am having a bit of trouble following.  But it is definitely entertaining!

Movies in Rio

So I went to the Sex & the City movie last night - and although I enjoyed "catching up" on the last few years of what's been happening with that fabulous foursome and was entertained, I do have some issues with the main plot of the movie, which I feel was flawed... I think they could have thought of something better.  I think that I could have thought of something better. But I enjoyed it just the same.  Probably mostly because I am a die hard SJP fan, have been since the days of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - my favorite movie as a child... haha!

Interesting to note: although the shows were all fully sold out in Shopping Leblon, a little theatre about two blocks away was only about half full.... hmmm...

A preview was shown for the "Incredible Hulk" movie, some of it was shot in Rio.  It actually looked really cool, until I realized it was the Incredible Hulk movie.  Darn it!  The favela scenes seem interesting though so I did a little research and it turns out that it was shot in a favela called Tavares Bastos which is considered to be safe, free of drug traffickers, frequently used for filming, located near Centro/Lapa. Seems to have the best views in all of Rio, too... the photo on the left was taken from a B&B in the favela called "The Maze" which also has a jazz club of some sort. Here is an article about the filming of The Incredible Hulk in the favela, if you are interested.

Cultural Differences with the Help

Although if you read my previous post about the maids and how demanding they are when it comes to cleaning products (they sure seem to have their favorites!), believe it or not I do sympathize with them. Although I am happy that we are "being good citizens" and employing many people, and supporting the Brazilian economy while we are here, I tend to feel guilty when other people are doing things for me, it's taking some time to get used to this.

I feel guilty for having a driver or chauffeur wait while I run errands. This is one of the many things I wonder if I will ever get used to - and one of even more things I don't want to get used to because what kind of person will that make me, I wonder?

Then I think about the alternative for these people...  jobs can be hard to find.
You don't understand gratitude until you live in a developing country, at least I don't think I fully did.

Locals do not seem to have the same attitude towards the help.  I have encountered many who are rude publicly to the help, and to service people in general.  Of course, this does happen in North America as well. But here it seems borderline abusive. There aren't many thank you's either.

I think it's fear.  Fear of acknowledging their presence, fear of becoming them by acknowledging their existance as a human being.

When we were in the aparthotel, we had daily maid service. Every day when she would come, I would wonder why I was so lucky to have the life I do.  And feel guilty for wondering if she took my lululemon capri's that mysteriously went missing.

I often wonder what if I had been born elsewhere, like here in Rio for example.  I think some of the locals are acutely aware of how lucky they are too but instead of expressing it as gratitude choose to separate themselves from it by trying to elevate themselves to a higher level above these people in every way. 

Difficult for me is finding a balance between enjoying this time and everything (the perks) that come with it and not being consumed by the guilt I feel for it when constantly faced with those much less fortunate.  I also don't want to turn my back on them, I want to help and I intend to help.  Where to start is the question.  I am alternately tempted to buy expensive beautiful furnishings for the house and to not buy anything and fill the house instead with poor little brazilians to take care of while we're here.

To live the glamorous Rio life, and to fully enjoy it one must first acquire the skill to at all times turn a blind eye.  At least, if one has a conscience to begin with.

Other notes on this subject - drivers are not considered to be a luxury. Some of them even seems scared: eager to help but remind me a little of (stock) broker's secretaries who are scared there is to much mayo on their asshole boss' sandwich and he is about to throw it in her face one piece of bread at a time in a fit of rage.  They seem scared to make a mistake (it is easy to take a wrong turn in Rio, let's face it) and meek, used to being screamed at or something.  I feel sorry for them!
And there does not seem to be an expected start-end time. The day I bought appliances I was acutely aware of the effect that the ungodly length of time it took might have on my driver - was he missing his daughter's ballet recital so I could get that fridge I really wanted? I'll never know.

Then you see the Brazilionaires as I've taken to calling them, luxury penthouse appartments, helicopters, live-in help galore.  I saw a bus of kids the other day, a luxury bus in fact with individual  tv's, curtains, blankets, the works.  The kids could not have been more than 7 yrs old each and came about halfway up the seat.  The bus was behind a city bus so crammed that people were pretty much smooshed against the glass of the windows.

So despite my frustration with the apparently still-growing mountain of cleaning products (many many more than I have ever owned before, I tell ya!) I am still grateful for the help and can't imagine treating them the way they are apparently accustomed to.