LatinoNoir

Having watched this in the theatres, I can say that this is the best movie-going experience I've ever had. This is a masterpiece of filmmaking. The recreation of this true story and true to life depiction of life in Brazilian favelas is brilliant. The film is also visually stunning, with great use of color and camera work. Some of the very few detractors claim the cinematography and soundtrack glamorize the tragic events that transpire in the story...but they don't truly understand the filmmakers' message. The highly stylized cinematography and hip soundtrack only reflects the attitudes of the young men who live in these places. This is the best way these young men can look at the world around them. It's a fast and furious lifestyle and that's what the cinematography and soundtrack aspire to help recreate. There's absolutely no sign of glamorizing the violence in this film, however. This film gets my highest recommendation and I urge people to check it out. The region 1 DVD comes out Feb. 17, 2004 and will include a 45 minute documentary of the true story on which the movie is based. I hope it's not too late for the film to at least get Best Foreign Film recognition at the Oscars. If it were up to me, it would win BEST PICTURE, but that's not likely to happen. Lord of the Rings' ROTK isn't anything to sneeze at, unlike last years Chicago, though.

Now, considering myself a serious film buff, I make it a point to not limit myself from any genre of filmmaking. Also being that I'm an aspiring film maker, I tend to push the envelope as far as I can, content-wise and I'm always fascinated to see how far other directors have gone in their films. Of course, this "cannibal" film had me interested not only because of its notorious publicity as a serious "gorehound" movie and as "the most violent movie ever made" but also because it was supposed to have an engrossing morality story to it. So, I rented it and while I realized the influence it had on the overrated yet effective film "The Blair Witch Project" that was the only noteworthy aspect of it. The REAL animal killings, as mentioned by many here, were completely unnecessary and only served to disgust the viewer. Now, I have an ULTRA strong stomach, so I wasn't shocked by it, just angry that a filmmaker would stoop so low as to purposely kill a form of life just to hammer home the point that "advanced" society can produce people who are no more moral and civilized than the cannibal tribe we are introduced to in the story. There are ways to do things. The animal scenes just brought about a double-standard and a sign of hypocrisy from the filmmaker. Of course, I would have had no problems if those scenes were staged, and if Deodato actually delivered on other gore scenes concerning "cannibalism" and human killings (obviously, those would have to be fake as well). However, the film wasn't nearly as gory as others made it out to be as a lot of violent acts occured offscreen. It was mostly sleazy, especially with all the nudity. The rape scene by the male reporters was realistically disturbing, but not convincing in its motivation. Worst of all though, it's "moral" message was delivered unintelligently and I wasn't compelled by the story at all. It didn't help matters that the acting was atrocious and that the dubbing was awful. The cinematography was simplistic, although that was the intention to capture the feeling of a documentary. What I got was a trashy, brutally awful film to sit through, without any redeeming or thought-provoking story behind it. Sure, I've seen plenty of graphic movies that actually entertained me, but that wasn't the intention for this film. I wasn't expecting to be entertained by the movie, but I was expecting its so-called "important" message to be convincingly portrayed. Still, I recommend people to watch...especially film students. Maybe they'll get something out of it, definitely not enjoyment.