Favela Rising
Favela Rising...I first heard about this documentary last year when my friend saw it at the Tribeca film festival. It's about this Brazilian guy who used to deal drugs in his poor neighborhood ('favela' means slum area) and who started a musical revolution to keep young people away from drugs. The setup sounds a lot like "City of God" by Fernando Meirelles a few years back, so I was thinking it was going to be a ripoff. But when I saw it at a screening in South Bronx last week, I was blown away. It's depressing to see how kids exposed to violence very young and made to idealize life as a druglord but then this one Brazilian guy really stood up against that by starting this new musical movement called Afro-reggae (it's like hip-hop, rock and reggae) that really rocks. It made me realize the power of music to change people's lives and give them hope.
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