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MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET)
**** out of ***** Reviewed by Mike Cavanaugh Screening in the 2007 New Zealand International Film Festival
Back to KP's Film Fest Coverage  Genres
Crime
Documentary
Politics
2007
Directed by
Jason Kohn I wouldn’t have thought that frog farming, corruption and kidnapping make for three riveting documentaries, let alone one weaving through them all. I mean, frog farming would not seem to go hand in hand with political corruption, but Manda Bala works. Manda Bala starts off covering a wide number of topics including the biggest frog farm in South America, frequent kidnapping and escalation of crime in Sao Paulo, and corruption in Brazil. Jason Kohn spins these tangled webs of narratives in his attempt to expose the nature and extent of the corruption of Jader Barbalho, one of Brazil’s most charismatic and powerful politicians. The result is a convoluted if not dark and entertaining journey. Barbalho is alleged to have stolen millions of dollars of aid funds, most of which ended up being laundered through numerous frog farms. But this isn’t necessarily made clear until well after the introduction of all Kohn’s elements. In fact, Manda Bala tends to flip between all the threads  without making any connections at all – there’s no real explanation for why Kohn’s attempting to bring light to this corruption as well as focusing on crime in Sao Paulo in general. Sometimes it really does feel as if we are watching three documentaries. Patience, however, pays off. That’s not to say Kohn doesn’t cover all these threads well. In fact he does. The dark humour with which we face crime on Sao Paulo streets is great: there’s something about Mr X rattling on about his bullet-proof Porsche, the two wallets, and his now irreverent attitude to crime that drives home Brazil’s acceptance of their innate and insipid crime. The kidnap victim accepting of the crime against her is harrowing with her detached retelling; the gleeful doctor basking in his graphic descriptions, and demonstration, of how ears are replaced. It’s all very darkly humours with Kohn. While this is all enthralling, and very entertaining, it doesn’t save the documentary from being a tangled web that is never really sorted out by Kohn. The film ended and I didn’t know what to think. It was really only a couple of hours afterwards that I realised what he had done: It really is up to us to figure out what to take from this. For what it’s worth my personal reaction is that crime is a way of life in Brazil, everyone is  affected by it, and it means everyone becomes insulated against it. A scary prospect indeed. Maybe that makes Manda Bala a great documentary - we are presented with a number of narratives, and we are the ones that need to see how they all connect. That is precisely what documentaries are supposed to do in my mind – engage the audience and make us think. What better way to do so with cynical, dark witted stories that stay with us days afterwards. Just have an open and patient mind. This film will screen in Wellington at The Paramount on July 25 at 6:30pm and on July 26 at 4:15pm. Please refer to the Film Fest homepage for more information on screenings in other parts of the country Back to KP's Film Fest Coverage |
