The documentary starts with a saying that goes like 'the society prepares the crime and the criminal executes it', in a way, this adage summarizes the film. 'Avenida Brasil' is a road that leads to the city of Rio De Janeiro, which lies alongside misery and abandonment.
There are slums that grew out of badly built dwellings, police stations crowded with prisoners, and kids selling candies at the traffic lights. This is the reality the film chose to portray, although there are important public institutions and polo sporting fields not distant from there. The film is narrated by what it is supposed to be, a DJ from a radio show named 'Alerta Geral', which approaches the reality in a clear and direct way.
The radio DJ brings news of the day-to-day from police, drug users, executers, gays prostitutes, health agents and more. The film decides not to choose one point of view but many. It doesn't engage much on who are the ones to blame, however people are heard and their testimonials are shout out.
It is a one small spot in Rio, located near the road, intertwined by different suburbs, but feels like it is the big picture of Brazil at the end of the 1980s. It is a punch on the stomach, and leaves the audience guessing it couldn't get any worse than that. The film is a glimpse of an era, but it doesn't look like it's the end of it.
