Product Description

DVD Special Features:

Audio Commentary with Director and Producers

Additional Scenes: The S.U.D.A.M. Scheme; Tricking of the Frogs, Egg of Columbus; The Complete Ear Reconstruction Surgery; Singing to the Frogs, Bulletproof Glass: A Love Story, The Helicopter Pads of Sao Paulo

Spanish Subtitles

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22543 in DVD
• Brand: WEA DVD
• Released on: 2008-04-08
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Portuguese
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.com
Manda Bala, Jason Kohn's first feature, is a strikingly beautiful and well-constructed documentary about cycles of violence and how it affects both victims and perpetrators. Filmed in Sao Paulo and banned in Brazil, the film consists of segments in which victims of kidnapping, politicians, policemen, and criminals are interviewed about crime and corruption in Brazil. Although it contains nearly surreal content, so shocking is it to discover this rampant criminal activity, its intelligent, cohesive portrayal of the situation avoids morbidity. English translators sit with interviewees, relaying in chilling detail stories that defy logic. Interviewee Christina recalls atrocities inflicted upon her by kidnappers, while footage of her miraculously talented plastic Surgeon, Dr, Juarez Avelar, shows how he helps those scarred. Mr. M, a businessman, enlists in a course about driving one's bulletproof car, while Magrinho, a masked drug trafficker, discusses the Robin Hood ideal behind kidnapping. Though no direct solutions are proposed, Manda Bala points fingers at corrupt politicians, illustrating how their greed leads to civilian poverty, and how this destitution leads to crime. --Trinie Dalton

Review
Breathtaking! --New York Magazine

Review
Three 2008 Cinema Eye Honors Awards: Feature Film, Cinematography and Editing --Cinema Eye Honor Awards

Customer Reviews

Best Doc of 2007
If Tarantino made documentaries, this is what they'd look like. Beautifully lensed, perfectly edited, and laced throughout with a killer soundtrack of brazillian tunes, this movie grabs you from the first moment and captivates till the last frame. Rather than beating you over the head with it's message, or concocting a bogus narrative to tell a specific story, instead, Manda Bala interweaves numerous characters and their various roles in the drama of Sao Paulo's infamous daily kidnappings. These interwoven tales are so expertly layered that the filmmakers intended conclusions appear innescapable. It's a simply brillant piece of documentary work that everyone should see.

WOW!
Normally I don't watch documentaries, but I was sent this one as a screener and it was terrific ! ! It was a winner at this years Sundance Film Festival and features some of the best most honest interesting interviews I have ever seen. It manages to show all sides to the business of kidnapping in Brazil, from victim to perpetrator, to police & prosecutors to the corrupt judicial officials who refuse to convict government officials who break the law of the land.

Well worth the purchase price and the investment of time to watch.

the horrors of poverty, violence and corruption that only get worse
Manda Bala (Send A Bullet) exposes the vast extent of corruption and crime in Brazil. This film is definitely not for the faint of heart; there are some graphic images including reconstructive surgeries. Nevertheless, Manda Bala is strong and it drives its point home very well. Director Jason Kohn has done a marvelous job with this film; and more people should see it. The cinematography is excellent.

In order to expose the full extent of the problem with crime and corruption in Brazil; this documentary has quite a few interviews with people who each explain their views regarding the situation. We meet a criminal mastermind who has his own organization kidnapping people and holding them for millions of dollars in ransom, cutting off their ears to show he's not about to return his victims until the family pays the ransom and the cops stay out of the way. This criminal tries to explain away his bad deeds by telling the interviewing team that he is in fact a modern day Robin Hood who helps the impoverished people in his slum by providing them with propane and medicine whenever they need it. We also get an extensive interview with a man called Diniz, who chose his frog farm over his former wife. Diniz is apparently in cahoots with a remarkably corrupt politician who has held every political office in Brazil except the presidency, Jader Barbalho. No matter what happens people like Diniz and Jader Barbalho always escape any meaningful or long lasting prosecution and jail time. When Barbalho is in fact arrested after a very lengthy investigation, it's only a very short while before another court finds him not guilty and Barbalho quickly returns to public life with his eyes set on getting back his political power.

Of course, we also meet the "good guys." But there are so few of them! Sao Paulo, a major city in Brazil, has roughly 86 cops for the 20 million people living there. Another man, this one an entrepreneur who prefers to go simply by "Mr. M.," states that he only feels safe if he's driving in a bulletproof car and there's even a company that offers courses in how to operate bulletproof cars. "Mr. M." adds that that the only other truly safe way to navigate the Sao Paulo area is to fly around by helicopter. How nice!

One big hero in particular is the plastic surgeon Dr. Juarez Avelar who works tirelessly to restore the look of a regular ear to people who have had their ears cut off by kidnappers. One such lady interviewed goes by "Patricia;" she was apparently operated on by Dr. Avelar. We see him explain how much this means to him although the scenes of his surgeries are very intense.

The DVD comes with a few deleted scenes and we also get an audio commentary with director Jason Kohn and the film's producers.

Manda Bala is a film of great importance that simply isn't getting the recognition it deserves. I highly recommend this film; it's an excellent documentary and very educational as well.