Synopsis
In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
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Cast
- Alexandre RodriguesBuscapé
- Leandro FirminoZé Pequeno
- Phellipe HaagensenBené
- Seu JorgeMané Galinha
- Jonathan HaagensenCabeleira
- Matheus NachtergaeleSandro Cenoura
- Luis OtávioBuscapé Criança
- Douglas SilvaDadinho
- Michel GomesBené Criança - Young Benny
- Jefechander SuplinoAlicate
- 100
Time
The film is seductive, disturbing, enthralling -- a trip to hell that gives the passengers a great ride. - 100
New York Post
Like a bomb exploding in a fireworks factory: It's fierce and shocking and dazzling and wonderful. - 100
Austin Chronicle
A marvelous achievement that refuses to avert its gaze from the poetry and the insane savagery of the hopeless. - 90
The New York Times
As the movie's frenetic visual rhythms and mood swings synchronize with the zany, adrenaline-fueled impulsiveness of its lost youth on the rampage, you may find yourself getting lost in this teeming netherworld. - 67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It takes a strong stomach to sit through its two-plus hours of non-stop brutality (much of it involving very small children). - 60
Los Angeles Times
A potent and unexpected mixture of authenticity and flash -- even if this is what happened on the ground, making it worth our time on screen is just beyond the contortionist abilities of even this most acrobatic of films. - 60
The New Yorker
Meirelles's picture is so keen to brandish its social wrath, and its spirits are so rampagingly high, that the bruises it inflicts barely last a night. [20 January 2003, p. 94] - 50
Boston Globe
Full of action, but no soul.