A startling documentary set in the incredibly poor and often violent favelas of Rio de Janeiro. One gets to see what it is like to live in this different reality, a universe on the margin of the conventional civilized world, an inside out vision.

Two Portuguese brothers (director Mário Patrocínio and cinematographer Pedro Patrocínio) moved for three years into one of Rio’s most feared slums (favelas) to document the lives of those forced to live there. Seen is a world of crushing poverty and violence as well as a community of people determined to eke out a living any way possible. We witness repeated gunfire; gun-wielding policemen; the favela’s biggest criminals who speak freely of their life and drug trafficking business; a struggling mother clings to religious beliefs to get her through; an artist who has witnessed a life of violence; and even a local politician who fights for the community. Through action and word, each character adds a piece to a gigantic puzzle that reveals the daily favela life. A film that plaintively asks and answers, “How is it to survive in this reality?” (Portuguese with English subtitles)