Sintonia

Sintonia is a fast-paced series about three young friends trying to make it out of the Favela in one way or the other. It depicts the reality of life in the poorer parts of Brazil pretty well and manages to be entertaining and fun. However the story moves a little too fast at times and there is not enough character development. Things kind of just happen off-screen and it moves quickly from one plot to another without properly exploring the various plot points to their logical conclusions first. This is the biggest drawback of the series and I see no reason why they couldn't have created more depth because there are a lot of scenes that are unnecessarily long and could be cut down in favor of adding more scenes instead. That would really have helped to flesh out the series and transformed it from merely a good series to a great one.

Don't bother with the negative comments. Of course this series is far from great, but is entertaining. You would have some idea of how the things work in favela. In brazil most of people have the "mutt syndrome". It means that these people always find better the things in another country than brazil. For example. Change this actors for some teenage american actors, then change the city from São Paulo to New York, finally change the funk for hip hop and I bet this series will have at least 7,5 on imdb.

7,5/10

Sintonia does a fair job in depicting life in the slums (favelas) of Brazil's largest city - São Paulo. The lives of a young rapper (funkeiro), evangelical and gangster are intertwined in a simple and predictable story. The sad reality is that not many paths exist for those in the favelas. Netflix has my praise for taking the favela to a global public, perhaps the world now know that those in the favelas are are only trying to live a life like anyone else.

"Sintonia" in my opinion is not a bad series, but it lacks depth in the characters, which compromises the experience a little. Although the actors are good, some characters seem poorly written, which affects the emotional connection with the story.

Rita stands out as one of the most realistic characters, along with some less relevant secondary ones, but Doni and Nando fail to convey a coherent feeling with the scenario in which they are inserted. Their choices and attitudes often do not seem consistent with the environment and context of the plot.

Although it has its merits, especially in cultural representation and individual performances, "Sintonia" could explore more the psychological depth of its protagonists to enrich the narrative and emotional impact of the series.

Even though I am not Brazilian I watch the show with English subtitles and read it while the actually Brazilian audio is on. Also this show depicts some of what real people and kids have to go through.