"FAVELA RISING" — *** — Documentary feature about Brazilian musician and activist Anderson Sa; in Portuguese, with English subtitles; not rated, probable R (violence, drugs, profanity, gore).The storytelling in the documentary "Favela Rising" is better than the filmmaking. That's because the subject, Brazilian musician Anderson Sa, is a born storyteller.
He has such a commanding presence that all the filmmakers have to do is train the cameras on him and start recording.
The title term, "favela," refers to hundreds of slums located outside of Rio de Janeiro, which have been overrun by and are, in essence, controlled by various drug cartels.
A one-time drug dealer who saw too many of his friends die, Sa — who calls one of the slums of Vigario Geral his home — now spends most of his time finding ways to keep the young favela population from joining the cartels.
He urges them to join his Grupo AfroReggae, a startlingly original musical combo that fuses hip-hop rhythms, funk and Brazilian folk with the sounds of African reggae. Proceeds from their concerts and album sales go back into educational programs.
However, his nonviolent policies have brought Sa face to face with cartel leaders and corrupt police officials, who are less peaceful.
You do wish filmmakers Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist had thought to include more of the group's music in the movie. Curiously, a couple of the concert snippets are drowned out by Neill Sanford Livingston's soundtrack and by songs from his Brooklyn electro-soul group Force Theory. (What, couldn't they afford to include some actual AfroReggae music?)
And a couple of times the film appears to lose focus. But Sa is there to help it regain that focus — and he's so watchable that you can't take your eyes off him.
"Favela Rising" is not rated but would probably receive an R for strong scenes of violence (footage of police beatings, gunplay and rioting), drug content (references to drug use, as well as the sale of drugs, including marijuana and cocaine), scattered strong sexual profanity, and gore. Running time: 80 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com