Here is my blog of January 20, 2008:

"Cidade de Deus"- "City of God". Drugs. Brutality. Drugs. Cynicism. Drugs. Violence. Drugs. Always drugs. It's a movie, oh yes. But unfortunately this movie is the truth. Based on a true story from the Rio de Janeiro slum. It's not new, but that doesn't mean the story is "out". This isn't fashion - this is real life. To a huge number of people it's death. I watched the movie last night.

A Brazilian recommended this movie. I took that as a guarantee. And I wasn't disappointed, I was shocked. I couldn't believe what I saw. I sat there watching it for two hours asking myself "is this true - or is it some 'this could have happened in our city' thing?". Then, at the end of the movie it appeared in small types, "BASED ON A TRUE STORY".

I have learned a new word now - favela. The favelas are ghettoes. People who live in the favelas, live in a constant fear of being robbed or killed. But there's an unwritten law against criminality in your own favela. That is, criminality against your own people - you may very well gang up on an intruder, such as a journalist or just some other fool who has "got lost" up there.

The movie shows us the stories of the men - most of them from they were little kids. The girls and women are hardly mentioned. Because this is the men's world. And the boys are meant to grow up and be a part of that world. If they grow up. Many of them don't - they are killed by rivals or they kill each other before they reach the age of 20.

The "City of God" shows us how brutal life is to some people, and one can ask the question "some of these young boys - do they really have a choice..?". When a bad guy turns into "the good guy" because another one is even worse. When the only one who seems to care, is the one who feeds you with guns, bullets and drugs..?

When it was decided that Rio got the 2016 Olympics, we all turned our eyes against Rio. About time! I say. And let us keep it that way! 

I hope that one good effect from the 2016 Olympics will be that the World's Eyes will be directed against Brazil during the next few years. So that now we won't hear the news only if the victim is a Norwegian or a Suede, we will hear the news BECAUSE IT HAPPENS IN RIO.

The inhabitants of Rio and Brazil in general need our attention! The 2016 Olympics is a golden opportunity to get just that. 

Read the comments from my São Paulo friend Marcelo, too – he knows a lot more than I do about this.