Favela Rising

I went on a date last weekend with the boy from the last post. Although he didn't do so well the weekend before, he did rather well this time.

He took me to see a documentary called Favela Rising. It really made me think. The filming took place between 1991 and 2004(ish). It's about a man named Anderson Sa who was born and raised in the ghetto, or favela, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After a terrible murder of his brother, the drug trafficker decided he wanted to fight the violence in his favela. He founds a music group with a man by the name of Junior. It revolutionizes not only his favela, but many other surrounding favelas. Gangs dissolve. The number of druglords deplete-all through music and getting kids of the streets. It's an amazing story. You'd have to see it to believe it.

My favorite part of the movie is that Anderson and his group make phenomenal music. An international record company signs them. I'm thinking, "Great. That's the way it always goes. He tries to make a difference, gets fame, and sits pretty the rest of his life. He won't help anybody but himself." Well, he doesn't. He refuses to leave the favela. Many asked him why he would do that, when clearly he can afford a better life. He tells them he can't help his community from the outside. Those are his people and he's not leaving them. All their proceeds go back to the community. Back to the kids. Back to the music.

The living conditions in the favelas of Brazil are far worse than anything I have seen here. I couldn't believe the way some people live. My first thought was how unbelievably lucky I am to be born where I was born in the conditions of living that I was raised in. I take so much for granted. So much. There's much more suffering in the world than I realize. Daily suffering.

My next thought was this; if he can make such a difference in such a hopeless place, then surely there must be something that can happen here. At one point in the movie, the government wanted Anderson to branch out and found a group in a neighboring favela. He explains how he can't. He doesn't know their problems. Music has solved problems in his favela, but he doesn't know the conditions there. He doesn't know the heartache there. He explains how they have to want it. They have to know what to do, then he can go in and help them do it. The solution lies with in. It made me feel somewhat helpless. I don't know their conditions. I don't live their lives, and I don't know, really, what goes on. It has to come from within the community. This change that I seek for them.

At what point do we say "Enough" and change our worlds? Although it's wonderful and truly amazing what Anderson did, he had to wait until all his friends and finally his brother had died before he did anything. What can be done?