Belem is the capital of Para, an Equatorial Brazilian State, with a population of almost two million in its metropolitan area. I have been there on a trip from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where I joined a ship bound to Belem for teak and mahogany, bought by a French contractor. Numerous strikes made us stay for almost three months. I liked it even if I know that the guy who chartered our ship wasn't that happy. One rents the ship with a daily fare which varies according to its capacity. Ours was … [Read more...]
City of God
City of God is the most famous Brazilian movie outside this country. I have reviewed in this subcategory, other two related Brazilian movies, Tropa de Elite and Elite Squad II: The Enemy Within. This last one, is the greatest Brazilian box-office success ever, it surpassed the adaptation for screen 1n 1976, of Jorge Amado’s Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. This is by far the best Brazilian move I have ever seen and one of my favorite movies anyway! [source] The tagline is epic: “If you … [Read more...]
Elite Squad 2
Elite Squad 2 (Portuguese: Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo Agora é Outro; literal: Elite Troop 2: Now the Enemy Is Another One) is a 2010 Brazilian film directed and produced by José Padilha, starring Wagner Moura. The other actors appeared somehow in the other film as well, some are new here. It is a sequel of the 2007 movie The Elite Squad. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within is a continuation of the semi-fictional account of the BOPE (Portuguese: Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais), the Special … [Read more...]
Tropa de Elite
Tropa de Elite or Elite Squad, as sounds the English translation, is a Brazilian action movie, one of the best ever made. The international critic is almost for the first time in agreement. It has an 8.0 imdb rate, a very big one. The Elite Squad was an outstanding commercial success, and became a cultural phenomenon in Brazil. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Its sequel, The Elite Squad - The Enemy Within, released in Brazil on October 8, 2010, holds industry … [Read more...]
Brazil, How?
“The monetary system of a people reflects everything that the nation wants, does, suffers, is.” Joseph Schumpeter It's astonishing how a country with a record debt to IMF at a moment in time, quite recent, not a century ago, can become the seventh economy in the world, with the prospect to overtake Britain by becoming the sixth largest economy in the world in 2012. Now, I read in various economy magazines that the established civilized world may be afraid of the exotic emergence of four … [Read more...]