(Man) Rio de Janeiro is often called
the Marvellous City.
And it's not hard to see why.
But although this
complex and beautiful metropolis
has seen its fair share of attention,
there's still a mythical quality to the city
when you discuss it with people
in other parts of the world.
(Man) What do you know
about Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil?
The beach... Just the beach.
Beautiful beaches, beautiful women...
I get this kind of view of a carnival
and a sort of party atmosphere.
(Man) One topic that often sticks out
is also one of the hardest to understand.
Favela.
A big place with a lot of poor people,
and a lot of crime, too.
Favelas are the problem
of Rio de Janeiro.
Drug dealers kill people
inside the favelas.
- (Siren)
- The favela's really misunderstood.
(Man) But despite their
largely negative reputations,
some foreigners are now calling
Rio's favelas home.
These are
the "gringos favelados".
One teabag for two mugs.
Because times is hard, right now,
with teabags.
(# "I Will Always Love You"
plays on distant radio)
It's Whitney Houston.
# ...will always love you... #
Before I came over
to Rio, I did go through a tough period.
I was engaged to a girl
for seven years.
We were trying to start a family.
She ended up cheating on me,
having an abortion, behind my back,
getting pregnant, maybe I was the dad,
maybe I wasn't,
cause she was cheating, so...
That really affected me
in a big way
and I got really depressed.
I was depressed for two years.
I knew I had to change something
quite dramatic about my life,
to pull myself out of the hole.
I had a dream one night.
All I could remember,
when I woke up from the dream, visually,
was looking down over a paradise.
A beach, palm trees, the sea.
When I woke up,
I had a word stuck in my head
and I'd never heard of the word before.
The word was "Ipanema".
Eventually, it was a one-way ticket to Rio
that sorted me out.
My name's Tom Ashe.
I'm 34 years old
and I've been living in this community
for about three years.
What brought me to Brazil,
in the beginning,
and what keeps me here,
was the music.
I was a professional musician
in London
and I'd always listened to different music
from different places.
Slowly, over the course of years,
Brazilian music
started to become the focus
and I wanted to get involved.
I'm a professional musician,
I like Brazilian music,
then, you know...
and, er... yeah.
I sold everything in London,
and just went for it.
When I got here,
I absolutely loved it.
(Trumpet plays)
Bob is...
one of the old-school gringos.
He's got some serious balls.
He's been up there, in Tavares Bastos,
for well over 30 years.
And, er... yeah.
He's a character.
(Pops)
Well, I'm Bob Nadkarni.
I'm English, with a funny name,
because I'm half-Indian.
I have an art-school education.
I went straight out of art school,
into films.
In England,
I worked in films and commercials
I never intended to live here.
Hot, wonderful tea. Oh...
We get the tea from England,
because the tea in Brazil
is absolute rubbish.
What happened was...
my marriage broke up.
I was heartbroken.
I went down to the dock
at Southampton,
and I said,
"Where is the next ship going to?"
My friend had said,
"Don't get on a plane. Get on a ship
"and cry your tears into the ocean."
And they said, "There's a ship leaving
at six in the morning. For Ecuador."
I said, "I'm on it".
We were coming down
the coast of Brazil,
to go round the Horn,
and the captain said, "Engine problems.
We've got to pull into port.
"And it's going to be eight days."
I settled for good, here, in '79.
By this time, I was just thinking,
why did nobody tell me
that paradise existed on Earth?
(Hums)
#...but everything stops for tea! #
So, this is Rocinha.
This is the biggest favela in Brazil.
250,000 people live here.
A lot of noise, a lot of chaos,
but you get used to that after a while.
Great restaurants, great food.
I'm the gringo. I'm a foreigner here.
I do stick out.
A lot of people recognise me here now.
The term "favelado" is...
is a term used to describe
someone from a favela,
normally raised within a favela.
Often, if the term is used
outside the favela,
perhaps by someone
from a wealthier community,
when they use the term,
it's often in a derogatory way.
I've picked up the nickname
"Gringo Favelado",
here in the favela.
It's definitely a term of endearment.
I quite like the nickname
that I've been given here.
Yeah...
(Waves crash, wind whistles)
When he first told us
about what he was wanting to do,
moving to Rio,
the only reservations that we had
were when he told us
that he was living in a favela.
Hi, Wark!
Good morning.
How are you doing?
Being his parents we were naturally...
- We were a bit worried.
- Very scared.
(Dad) But Jody's far more at home
in the favelas.
For some reason...
(Wark) Let's do it together.
You paint them both.
Oh, we have an expert here.
It sounds a bit strange to say that, but...
it makes life back in England
very grey.
Him and I. Friends.
(Jody's friend)
The favela is an anthill.
Everybody works together,
you know?
The ants are all friends with one another
and work as a team.
When you stop and look
it seems disorganised, but it's not.
Each one has their function.
The great queen of us all
is the favela itself.
(Jody) I work as a favela tour guide.
I take tourists in Rio
to the favela that I live in,
Rocinha.
I conduct a five-, six-hour tour with them
and show them the positive side.
I think the people know
that I work for a favela resident
and a lot of the money
goes towards community projects.
People really...
people respect that
and that helps me...
to become more settled
and welcomed into the favela.
(Jody) Any questions, fire away, OK?
Good evening. How's it going?
(Tom) When I first moved
to Pereira da Silva,
I got the general impression
of the community,
of people knowing each other.
I really warmed to the place
and that got me thinking about
the idea of the music school.
(Cowbell)
(Brass instruments play)
(Cowbell)
The name of the project
is Favela Brass.
Essentially, it's a free music school.
(Shouts)
- (Children echo shout)
- (Speaks Portuguese)
(Tom chants, children join in)
I think that part of my decision
to help the kids here
probably stems back, a little bit,
to where I'm from.
I'm from a town called Doncaster.
The one really good thing
about Doncaster,
was, for me, at the time,
a jazz music project that they have.
(Tom) I know what kind of difference
it can make,
and I know that even in a small area,
even if it's just this favela,
just a small music school
can make a really big difference.
This can be the kind of place where,
if we allow the kids the opportunity,
I think some of them could embrace it
and it could hopefully change a few lives.
(Brass instruments play)
The dream for this year,
is to have them playing
at the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
That's the project's main objective,
and we're just gonna go for it!
(Bob) This place, as I say,
happened... I came up here because...
my maid, the lady who ironed my shirts,
lived up here, and she got sick one day,
I brought her home,
and I looked out of her window and went:
"Oh, my God!"
And I saw, of course, the most amazing,
wonderful postcard view of Rio,
which is right here,
so I ended up living here.
Making my life here.
Making more of than a life here.
It's a painting studio, it's a jazz club...
We sometimes have theatre here.
When I first got to Tavares Bastos,
there were just a few shacks
made of planks and bits and pieces.
400 people, maybe. I was the first
to build a brick building here.
It used to be a farm
where they had cows and coffee.
There's still old coffee plants
in the forest behind me.
It's funny that I'm the English guy here
and you're the Brazilian,
yet you're the one with a London address
on your t-shirt!
(Bob) I decided to build my place here
and everyone said I was crazy.
They said, "The military will just
take it away from you."
The military regime at the time.
People have made huge improvements
to what they have.
The place is expanding greatly.
There are now 8,000 people living here,
instead of 400.
Favelas perhaps have a better living now
than they had
ten, fifteen years ago,
and there's not so much poverty.
But they don't have opportunity.
There's a division
within the administration,
keeping all these people poor.
But then, that's where
we get the workforce from.
(Unidentified man)
My driver, the staff at my house...
some of the staff at my office.
They live in these communities.
They live in Rocinha,
they live in Vidigal.
They live in a place
called Favela do Alemão
My driver, I've been to his house.
His house is clean.
Everything is in order.
He's got what he needs.
His children go to school.
He's got his television.
That's one thing that...
Years ago, I always joked,
in the favelas,
they might not have food,
but they will have a TV.
Besides being a beautiful city,
it has many negative points,
which we need to work on,
you know.
I wouldn't recommend...
I wouldn't go to a favela,
because besides being a poor area,
not that I have a problem with that...
The majority of the people there
may well be quite decent,
but there's a dangerous mix
of ingredients there.
There are escaped convicts and
gangsters. They sell drugs there...
So I wouldn't recommend visiting a favela
to anyone.
I'd never go to a favela.
OK, guys. Just keep passing through.
You might have to give it
a couple of pushes.
(Jody) A lot of tourists that come
on the tours do some research
and they see the reviews and they all say
how safe and friendly the place is.
It's the Rocinha express.
(Jody) The Rocinha express, yeah.
A one-way ticket straight to the hood.
(Jody) Most tourists do come onto
the tours expecting a tranquil tour.
It's safe enough as well, you know.
Perfectly safe.
All right, then, guys. Here we are.
Welcome to Rocinha.
I'm going to take you guys round
the corner, to a nice viewing point
and give you an introduction to the favela.
So follow me.
Everyone's good for the toilet? This is your
last chance for the next hour and a half.
OK? All good? Cool.
Let's try and keep to the side,
so that the motor taxis and traffic
can pass us.
This is my friend.
I love that dog.
I'm a dog lover.
OK, guys. Line up against this wall.
This is the bulk of Rocinha.
This is the biggest favela in Brazil.
The favela started in 1929,
as a small farm.
The word "rocinha" actually means
"little farm".
- (Series of explosions)
- (Jody) They're firecrackers.
They can mean a number of things:
birthday party, a football goal...
If Flamengo's scored,
you'll hear a lot of these firecrackers.
They can also signal
to the gang as well.
Yeah.
You do hear these firecrackers
most days, in the favela.
Sometimes, in the middle of the night,
you get woken up at two in the morning
by the firecrackers.
They're pretty common.
- (Firecrackers)
- (Horn beeps)
Women don't need
to go to the gym, to work on their legs.
They just need to walk home.
It's the rich girls that live in Ipanema
that need to go to the gym,
to work on their bum and their legs.
You can see Ipanema beach
over to the right-hand side.
Lagoa, right in front. The lake.
See Sugarloaf Mountain?
Directly in the middle there?
This is one of the only places in the world
where the poor look down on the rich.
The poor have got the best views.
Lovely.
One, two, three. Lovely.
See these five hexagonal building
below us, here?
This is a private school.
To send a child to this school
costs 5,000 reals a month.
The average income of a favela resident
is 800 to 1,000 a month.
It just goes to show how close
the rich and the poor are.
We could throw stones on the rich kids,
from here.
We don't, but we could.
Have you guys tried açaí in Rio yet?
Do you like it?
It's good, huh?
(Jody) 500 each for him and her.
To get to the apartment
I moved into, a few weeks ago,
you go down that alleyway,
down some steps,
about 30 steps,
and that's my apartment.
Beautiful view.
Stunning view, nice place.
It's the convoy...
You'll see them a lot, on the tour,
the military police.
They're always knocking around
this main road.
Mainly...
- With their oversized guns...
- Yep.
(Jody) When Rio was awarded
the World Cup and the Olympics,
the government knew that they had
to do something about the gangs
and the drug trafficking in the favelas.
So, they've sent in what they call
pacifying units,
the military police,
to come into the favela
and be stationed 24-7.
November 2011,
the guys arrived in Rocinha.
They used 24 tanks and seven helicopters
when they came and pacified Rocinha.
It's debatable...
There are good things and bad things
about the pacification.
Depending on who you're talking to.
I'm Captain Rocha.
I command the UPP of Santa Marta.
The UPP is
the Police Pacification Unit.
It's a programme to implement
policing in the favelas.
Pacification was introduced, here,
in 2008.
It started in Santa Marta.
One special thing that I need to show you.
This wall. As you can see,
we have a lot of bullet holes
in that wall.
Those bullet holes
are from a shoot-out
between the drug dealers...
the drug dealers
and the police officers.
The homicide rate is now zero.
No one has been killed
since the UPP arrived.
Over here, drug dealers used to sell drugs
and kill people that...
are opposed to the drug dealers
or people that use drugs
and don't have money to pay.
The drug dealers put them
inside tyres
and burn them,
and they disappear.
Now, as you can see,
children play football
and there is no more homicide
in the favela.
For us, it's a pleasure.
When the police came into the favela,
they told the gang they were coming,
so the gang did flee the favela
momentarily.
But what the police didn't mean to happen
was for the gang to sneak back in,
which is what they've done.
So now we have the police and the gang
living in the same community.
- So sometimes there’s fights?
- Yeah.
There are a lot more shootings here.
- Erm...
- Before there was no shooting, because...
Before, there were only shootings
when there were turf wars.
Another gang trying to come
and take over the favela,
which would only happen
once or twice a year.
(Bob) I've always had my doubts
about the UPPs in the favelas.
How many war fronts can you control
at one time?
Because there are
hundreds and hundreds of favelas.
A third of the population of Rio
live in favelas.
Most of our police force
live in these communities.
When you don't have enough money
to pay your police force
and your teachers,
it's hard, it's hard.
Everything comes down to education.
Unlike the UPP, most organisations
don't have a presence in the favelas.
We're here 24 hours a day.
So, it's vital,
when there's a UPP
that's going to start working
in a favela,
that they create social programmes
to bond and begin a dialogue with
the community.
Because it's not within our police culture
to have a friendly relationship
with the favela residents,
nor is it common for them
to have a friendly relationship with us.
Historically speaking,
the relationship has been hostile.
Internally, it's still a bit difficult
for the police to understand
that it's possible for them
to maintain public security
and, at the same time, have a pleasant
relationship with decent citizens.
One, two, three, four...
Bread, cheese, bread, cheese...
One, two, three, four...
(Tom) I think the UPPs have had
mixed success so far.
In some communities,
they seem to have been pretty successful
in getting rid of violence.
However, I've got to say,
for example, in our project,
we've got ten children
from Fogueteiro,
a neighbouring favela,
which has a UPP
and there's still
quite a lot of violence there.
They couldn't come to lessons yesterday,
for example,
because there were
intense shoot-outs there, so...
I think it still has quite a way to go.
(Gunfire)
It's normal. Almost every day.
On Saturday, when we came back
from the show, there was a shoot-out.
On Sunday there was a shoot-out,
and the day before yesterday, too.
That's why we didn't come to class.
Our mum was scared to send us to class
because of the bullets.
Stray bullets.
(Tom) When you have a shoot-out
in a favela,
you've got to stay away from the windows,
and the kids end up
having to stay at home and lie on the floor
until it's all over.
They tell stories about
their houses being hit by bullets,
kids turning up to lessons
with a handful of bullet casings,
rifle casings that they've just picked up
off their verandah.
The situation's very hard
for the kids in Fogueteiro.
I don't even know the half of it.
I don't live there.
When you live in a favela,
people consider you a gangster.
It's good to get out a bit
and be a musician. At least once.
Tourists think it's all good,
but the reality is something else.
Rio De Janeiro looks nice on the outside,
but inside it's horrible.
There are no opportunities in the favela,
so you have to search elsewhere,
otherwise, you'll end up
joining the gangsters.
Yeah. It's like he said.
So, we have...
an incredibly convoluted system of, er...
stars and stickers and smiley faces
and coloured cards
that only our teachers
and, hopefully, the kids understand.
So, yesterday's lesson...
If a kid comes,
and they behave themselves,
they get a silver star.
So, Andrés is on nine...
If they don't come,
they lose all of their silver stars. So...
Why are you taking my stars off?
Because you missed class yesterday.
- Have I lost them all?
- Yes.
- You didn't come.
- Just because I missed one class?
Marquinhos missed class,
yet you haven't taken his down.
I think the whole project,
the whole process,
is a life lesson, for the kids.
They're seeing that,
if they dedicate themselves to something,
then they can get a good result out of it,
and that there are possibilities
out there.
I think that what's nice, as well,
is that they see the evolution
of the project.
It's not just about
them learning to play instruments.
They know that we started here
with nothing.
They see it when we manage to get some
funding, to get some instruments.
Curry Club is an Indian dinner
that I do at my house,
the school, in the favela,
every so often.
I invite all my friends round,
cook industrial quantities
of vegetarian Indian food,
sell it, sell drinks,
and we use the profits
to help with the finances
of the Favela Brass Project.
We've decided that what we really
need to do with the project, now,
is to get ourselves out there,
to play in public,
so people can see what we do.
We're hoping to play
at the Olympic opening ceremony.
We're really committed
and we're confident that we'll get there.
Saturday is an extremely important day
for us.
We're going to have a lady here,
who is a friend of a friend,
and she's from the organisation that is
putting on cultural events at the Olympics.
She's going to watch our show
and it could be our big chance
to play at the Olympics.
(Live jazz plays)
(Bob) We have a jazz night once a month.
They come for the music,
they come for the paintings,
they come for the building.
They come for the amazing view.
And also, we do a mean caipirinha.
Nobody believed in me,
when we started.
They said nobody would come up here,
and they did!
Now, you get this happening
in more places.
It's spreading.
One of the side effects
of the setting up of the BOPE
headquarters, here,
special forces, known as the BOPE,
was that people saw an example,
an enviable example.
We even had
people from the middle classes,
who were going through a rough time,
not able to pay their condominium fees
or their kids' school fees,
come up and start buying up here.
Because it was safer up here
than down there.
And they could buy a place here,
very, very cheaply,
at the beginning.
Now, that's where a little bit of
gentrification, as they call it, starts.
It's a normal process,
because a city builds like that,
and all the rich people keep together
and they send the poor people out there,
out of the way.
And then, the city expands and expands,
and then, one day,
it bumps into something
and they go, "Oh, God.
Nasty poor people!"
(Imitates groan of horror)
...and that's when the friction starts.
(Dog barks)
The community is pacified,
we used to see armed gangsters
around our houses, in front of our kids.
It's got better,
but the gangsters haven't left the favela.
They're still here,
but with less power.
This feeling of security
helped Vidigal to gain visibility.
That's when foreigners
started to appear.
They started to feel safe here,
with the pacification programme.
Suddenly the price of everything,
around here, shot up.
If you had a house like mine,
they'd offer you 50,000 reals for it.
People thought that was a lot of money.
They sold up, but they couldn't use
the money to buy anywhere else.
We began to feel threatened.
We were being displaced by the whites.
Soon foreigners will have bought
everything up and left nothing for us.
My songs are very realistic.
Sometimes, it's better to sing about things
rather than speak about them.
# Oh, how I miss dinners
on our little beach
# Going to our rock by the seashore
# We used to be so united
# And now, Vidigal is being invaded
# We only see gringos
# And many people have lost their homes
# And now, Vidigal is being invaded
# All we see is gringos
# And many people have lost their homes
# Oh, how I miss the look of respect
in people's eyes...
I don't want anyone
to have to leave or anything...
but it's an economy
and when people notice
that a location
has the potential to increase in value,
they're free to sell it if they want to.
The first time
I told my friends and family
that I was going to build a hotel
in a favela,
they thought that it was
a completely crazy idea.
It took them a long time to feel
comfortable enough to come and visit it.
And now they've begun to like it.
We sell the experience.
Coming to a place that is safe,
but it's a favela,
where you can stay in a good hotel,
go to a good party,
and live like a real Carioca.
Can I have the key to room six,
so I can show it to them?
I'm going to show you our best room.
It's called the Deluxe Suite.
It's room number six.
There are ten rooms.
They all have an ocean view.
This one is the best, though,
because it's a corner room.
Here it is.
You can see...
You can see most of Zona Sul
Leblon, Ipanema, Copacabana beach,
and Lagoa.
The view speaks for itself.
Three or four parties a month
are held here
and they're a big success.
People get a kick out of
being next door to a favela,
and knowing they're going to be safe,
and it's really cool.
It's my first time here.
My bridesmaids brought me.
We're not from Rio, but we've heard
so much about Vidigal and the view.
- And how beautiful it is.
- Plus we wanted to see a favela.
It's exciting, coming up here.
It gives you an adrenaline rush.
We're curious about this place,
but at the same time, we're a bit scared.
It's a bit strange, coming up here.
You have conflicting feelings.
We want to get to know it better,
but we're a bit scared.
Ten years ago,
I'd never have come here.
The gentrification that happened,
here in Vidigal,
is exactly the same as what happened
in Berlin, New York, or LA.
Basically, the only difference
is that Vidigal, like other favelas,
is densely populated.
This is what usually happens
to favelas in privileged areas.
Basically, that's the only difference.
(Unidentified man)
My name is Luiz Baltar. I'm 45 years old.
I see my photography
as a form of political activism.
For me, it's a form of protest.
Since 2009, I've been photographing
the subject of removals and human rights.
Really,
when you bring the UPP in,
with the intention of providing security
for the middle class,
in reality,
you're evicting people
and bringing real estate development
to deprived areas.
The Olympics and the World Cup
provide the perfect excuse for this.
Various legal and social obligations
are shunted to one side
to make sure these contracts get signed.
And so it is that people are pushed
further and further onto the periphery.
It's really sad, going to one of
these areas that have been cleared.
It's like witnessing scenes
from a war that never happened.
The whole political system
is just at the mercy
of certain people's own special interests.
That's what favelas are.
It's what's left over,
after the special interests
have had their way.
Welcome.
This is the first favela in Latin America.
It used to be called Favela Hill.
Then it became Providência.
In my opinion,
it's the best community.
Hello, darling.
Oh, you like samba!
Us black girls love samba.
Come on in
and let me give you a tour of my house.
My house is my pride.
In the beginning there were rumours.
Just rumours.
"Oh, the council are going to come
and renovate our homes."
It's not the most amazing house,
but it's my pride and joy.
This is my living room.
We were like, "OK, let's do it!"
We were excited, you know?
Check out my doll.
I call her Amy Winehouse.
Look how pretty she is!
I love dolls.
So, that's Amy Winehouse.
She's being punished.
Eventually, they sent some nasty letters.
"This building has to be torn down."
I was, like, "What?"
"You have to vacate the premises.
We're building something else here."
I was, like, "What?"
Just look at my view.
Keep filming.
Why would I give up this amazing view?
Why would I do that?
So, then we began our fight.
"Oh, no, you don't We want to see
the plans. We want to see everything.
"This isn't happening.
You want to kick me out?"
They wanted to build somewhere
that I wouldn't be able to live.
We call this the tree of happiness.
I'm a happy woman.
This is my world. This is my life.
The name speaks for itself.
"Providence".
If we have to look after something,
and fight, we will.
Bring it on.
Hello. How are you?
All good?
(Jody) I'm going to show you
how the mailing system works, in a minute.
I think the Olympics will run smoothly,
in Rio, yes.
I'm not too sure what the situation will be,
regarding the pacifying police,
after the Olympics.
I don't think anyone knows.
You see the blue,
green, and yellow buildings, just here.
Behind there, at the corner of this road,
the road goes down.
And then, behind that,
the housing over there...
That's where
the majority of the trouble happens.
Further down this road. Up against
that far edge of the favela, basically.
The military police patrol
these main roads a lot.
So the gang is further away
from the main road.
They're up on the edges of the favela.
I see them pretty much every day, but...
to me, they're just ordinary people
doing their job.
They're nothing to do with me.
I don't really have
much interaction with them.
I don't feel threatened by them.
They're doing their thing
and I'm doing my thing.
That's the way it is.
Are you interested
in a little game of football with the kids?
- Now? Yeah.
- OK, cool.
- And you?
- I'm in.
- You?
- Mm...
- Come on!
- I'll watch you.
Go, Brazil!
(Jody) The tour I did a few days ago
was a little bit different,
because halfway through the tour,
a shoot-out happened
and quite a few shots were fired.
(Gunfire)
The shots were quite far away,
but because of the echo that you get
in the favela,
it sounded quite near.
It was a little bit scary
for a couple of the tourists.
There's a shooting, down in the alleyway
where we normally take the tour.
So I'm going to have to go
back up to the road
and go around the shooting.
This doesn't happen very often, actually.
It's dangerous. There's a shoot-out.
Is better to go this way or on the street?
On the street. Second Street?
OK, thanks. See you.
(Jody chuckles)
When this happens,
are people mostly shooting in the air?
Or are they shooting at someone?
No. They'll be shooting at each other,
for sure.
- Not, like, warning shots?
- No, no, no.
They'll always be shooting at each other.
The gang and the police.
We won't go too near it, though.
I kind of know where it is.
So, I'm taking you around it.
(Siren blares)
(Jody) Sometimes, when I'm at home,
I can hear gunshots in Rocinha.
I will, sometimes, grab my camera
and record.
(Intense gunfire)
(Jody) The police aren't doing a good job
there.
They're just making life more dangerous
for the people there.
They're not going to get rid of
the gangs. That's pretty evident.
(Jody) We're here. We can go
and sit down now and rest our legs.
We'll meet Zezinho
and see the DJ school.
Yeah, I love working for Zezinho,
having that connection with the DJ school
that a lot of the tour money helps to fund.
(Smooth bass beat)
(Man) My name
is Renato Jesuvaldo da Silva.
I was born in Rocinha, I live in Rocinha.
I work as a tour guide.
We have a free DJ school here
called Spin Rocinha.
I don't like to say you get used to it,
but in a way, when you live here
and you hear gunshots, you're like,
"Oh, yeah. The police and the bandits
"have decided to have a conversation."
It's a conversation, you know?
I don't think drug dealers should be
instituting a law in a community.
But I don't think there should be...
corrupt police abusing people, either.
Pointing guns in their faces
and being physically aggressive with them.
We want policing,
but we want respect, you know?
We just want to be treated
like basic citizens, like everybody else.
If we could pay the police officers
a better wage,
we would have less corruption.
Can I blame our police officers for
going corrupt? I'd be a hypocrite.
When something negative happens,
like torture or corruption,
it harms the police, because...
the press feature these stories
with more intensity.
This demoralises them
because they think all the positive things
they've done in their career
have been in vain.
These isolated acts, carried out by a
minority of policemen, must not reflect
on the entire programme.
(Explosions)
I've been with UPP Borel
for about three months.
and the reason I'm here
is to implement some of the initiatives
from Santa Marta,
here in this community,
which is bigger
and more violent than Santa Marta.
On Saturday, the police and the gangsters
had another shoot-out,
with three gangsters being shot
and one getting killed.
We'd received an anonymous tip-off
that they were planning to ambush us
as revenge for the death of a gangster.
We're definitely at risk of being attacked.
After the Olympics, I don't know.
A lot of people in the favelas
are saying the police will probably leave
and how we'll probably have a war
between drug gangs for control
of the places where drugs are sold.
My perspective on Rio,
during the Olympics,
is that the UPP will continue to grow.
But we need to re-evaluate the project
if it is to remain effective.
(Tom) For us, as a project,
the Olympics is fantastic.
I have to say,
I do worry that...
for the city as a whole, the Olympics
may be a kind of pyrrhic victory.
You have to ask yourself,
is planning this huge amount of spending
around one single event
a good way to plan a city?
Let's practise the rules, OK?
Rule number three:
Raise your hand
for permission to leave your seat.
The big challenge for us,
with this Olympic thing,
is to reach the people
who make the decisions.
The people who could
get us into the Olympics.
We have to network
and try and find a way
for the right people
to see the project.
Rule number five?
Rule number five is
to keep your beloved teacher happy.
That's the most important rule!
(Children giggle)
(Tom) We had a great breakthrough
when...
we were contacted by...
a lady who works in the company
that is organising
the Olympic ceremonies
and the cultural side of the Olympics.
When she said
she was coming to the market
to see us play,
that's just an amazing opportunity for us.
(Boy) The show was cool...
because we practice three times a week
and we know the entire repertoire.
I came here to see the show
and it's the first time I've seen this project.
I was really surprised
at how talented the kids were.
They've reached a very high standard
in a very short space of time.
(Tom) We really need the light
to shine on our project
and achieve what we want to achieve
with the project,
which is to establish a long-term tradition
where the kids turn into the teachers
of the project.
(Boy) I'd like to have
a career in music
in this city, this country,
and the world.
If the kids get to play at the Olympics,
that's going to be something
that they can be proud of
for the rest of their lives.
They'll always remember it.
(Bob) I think I was never
meant to be British.
My wife tells a story.
She says...
What happened is,
the stork was delivering babies
and every time he delivered a baby,
the parents who were happy
gave him a drink.
So the stork got completely drunk.
He had one last baby to deliver,
which he was meant to deliver to Brazil.
As he was flying out of Denmark,
over England,
he got the hiccups
and the baby dropped into England
and I got stuck there.
But I was meant to have been here.
In a country where so many things
have gone so wrong,
that's something that has gone right here,
the music.
For me, as a live musician,
this place is absolutely great.
I play on Friday nights
at the Pedra do Sal.
It's an important cultural centre
for black Brazilian music.
They've accepted me.
Even somewhere as sacred as that,
within samba music.
(Samba plays)
I absolutely loved it. Being plugged in,
in the middle of that experience.
There's a Louis Armstrong quote
that I like,
which is,
"What we play is life."
(Whooping and cheering)
Today, I'd like to announce
that these kids have been selected,
and we're going to play on
the cultural stages, during the Olympics.
So a huge "congratulations"
to the kids.
(Cheering, applause)
I just wanted to be able to pass that on
and to give the kids here
that opportunity.
(Jody) I think about the dream a lot.
What if I hadn't had it?
Where would I be?
Maybe I'd still be depressed in England.
Who knows?
I think about it a lot
and I'm just really thankful
that I pursued...
the dream, and just went for it.
Regarding the future,
I certainly see myself living here for...
a long time.
In Rio, probably for the rest of my life.
I absolutely love it.
In my eyes,
Rio's the most beautiful city in the world.
(Samba plays)
Yeah... Rio saved my life, so...
I'm, er...
I'll be here for a long time.
