I can remember taking a picture of smiling kids participating in the HOMELESS WORLD CUP in Rio in 2010. Their smiles were soooo big and I felt so uplifted, joyful, and proud just to be in their presence. The event was changing their lives. Another event, the WYD which should be for the kids is having attention taken away from its focus which is children, and being used as platform. People are using the combination of the Pope's visit, and this year's 2013 as an opportunity to speak out about the continued social injustices present in a newly powerful country that has the eyes of the world watching.
There are problems and there will continue to be disagreements and protest about how the 90 billion dollars coming into the Brazil for the World Cup and the Olympics will be spent. Do I believe that Cariocas should speak out about injustice? Yes. Do I hope it doesn't overshadow the spirit and heart of WYD? Yes.
This is not the first time that a Pope has visited Brazil. Each time there is fanfare and money spent. IT'S A PREDOMINANTLY CATHOLIC COUNTRY. It is to be expected that it become a huge media event. Things are as they should be, progress is messy. My thoughts are with the passionate people who know what infrastructure changes are being neglected in their country, and want to speak out, are going through. I wonder what I would do in their position. Knowing that the police are going to make an example of the protesters, would I go out and support?
As Patricia one, of my subjects says, I am a spy. I am infiltrating behind the public face of Rio, looking into the goings on, both on the ground in the city central and in the hills of the favelas. Unfortunately, unlike TOM CRUISE'S character in a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie, I can't impact events. I can only document the peoples faces, the things they talk about over dinner when faced with turmoil in their city, and how they manage to go on with their day.
I will return to Rio in August, hopefully to help Patricia with more pictures for her website, and to attend DJ events with Zezinho (the two subjects of my documentary). I'm never sure what Rio I will return be returning to...its a powder keg right now. I don't want to be the person that just takes pictures of protests. I want to try and understand what its like to live in a city/country going through such rapid development. But to share my experience I must take pictures. Like the one below. People are surrounding the project presentation for proposed improvements in Rocinha, the favela where Zezinho lives. I was there I saw the faces, felt the excitement, and later dealt long distance with the news that teachers at the same sports complex where all the promises were being made, were not being paid. Yet there's money for the Pope's visit.
There was a presentation, it resembled a TRANSFORMER's movie, showing how new additions in transportation, both rail, and cable, as well as infrastructure improvements were coming to ROCINHA. I was there, President Dilma Rousseff was there. I have the footage to prove it. How do these people feel now? I'll find the answer to that question when I return.
