This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Murilo Benecio is a young Brazilian actor who just keeps turning out fine, solid and very different character roles. As the leading character is this well made film by director Jose Henrique Fonseca from a script written by his father Rubem Fonseca in turn based on the novel 'O Matador' by Patricia Melo, Benecio molds a memorable portrait of a man of low self esteem who is strangely and inadvertently raised to the level of hero in the most bizarre of circumstances.The setting is Rio de Janiero and Maiquel is a loner looking for an identity. On a bet he decides to have his dark hair bleached by the beautiful beautician Cledir (Claudia Abreu) and finds that as he steps back into his world he is the object of notice. After a cruel teasing by thug Suel (Wagner Moura) he buys a gun and almost unwittingly kills Suel who dies in the arms of his girlfriend Erica (Natalia Lage). Despite Maiquel's fears of his arrest he finds that the neighborhood rewards him for ridding them of a criminal and Maiquel becomes a hero. Not only is he rewarded with gifts (including a pet pig he names Bill after watching Bill Clinton's visit to Brazil on TV!), he is also given free dental work by Dr. Carvalho (Jorge Doria) in exchange for agreeing to kill an enemy of the dentist. More and more people ask Maiquel to whack bad people making Maiguel's new blond persona a hit man and man of the year. How he ultimately begins to spiral downward when his life is complicated by a marriage and family and holding a regular job forces him to initiate his own choices of violence and return to his original hair color to alter his destiny! If the story sounds odd, it is really a depiction of life in the city of Rio where the police are impotent to control the violence that prevails. Maiquel becomes the Robin Hood/Batman type who brings a degree of safety to his community. Wisely Benecio holds our attention and our compassion as he performs his many murders, creating a man in whom we can believe and applaud despite the grim things he does.The cast is uniformly fine and the cinematography by Breno Silveira and the musical score by Dado Villa-Lobos (an important guitar player, relation to composer Heitor Villa-Lobos unknown!) is classy. This is yet another fine film from Brazil, in Portuguese, and one that deserves wide attention - especially for Murilo Benecio's superb performance. Recommended. Grady Harp

Did anyone count the cans of coke in this movie?Non-spot advertising, like in-script sponsoring, is a huge trend. Examples are when you see someone work on a Mac with the Apple logo real clear on screen, or someone eating Ben & Jerry's ice-cream.The big brands are choosing for non-spot more and more. The choose to show us the brand in it's natural environment instead of putting it in the spotlights (e.g. like in radio en television commercials.)When I watched this movie last night I really was disturbed by all the cans of coke that kept coming. Did anyone else notice this?Non-spot: Yes, but in small amounts please! Don't give us an O.D. of advertising which will spoil the movie! I really don't understand that big enterprises, like Coca Cola, don't rails that 'too much' will only have negative effects on their corporate image.

...and my x-girlfriend and that guy that bumped into me on the train. he was a cool, young, good looking dangerous guy and climbing to the top of a Brazilian ghetto. it was amazing how all the people swarmed around him, wanting to be with him, wanting to be friends, partners and lovers with the killer. it seemed like he was doing a service to the community at first, killing all these bad people. but quickly turned into a gun for hire. the only sign that he had feelings was displayed upon his pet pig and look what happened to him. if a guy like this enters your life...things will go really good for you for a time, but you'll be guaranteeing yourself a premature death too. and god bless the beautiful woman of Brazil. i still can't figure out who is prettier, Claudia abreu or Natalia lage. this is the first film i got through Film Movement. it's so cool to get these indies delivered to my house. i liked this movie a lot. i got to see a part of Brazil i will never know in real life.

I stumbled unto this film by mere coincidence. I had no idea what to expect, not being acquainted with the director, or any of its excellent stars, although I've seen quite a few Brazilian films. Director Jose Enrique Fonseca works miracles with this movie and in the process gets amazing performances from all of his cast.This is a film where there is a lot of violence, but it also works as a moral tale. When all seems to be lost in the Brazilian society, we get a sort of paid avenger that will get rid of the bad element terrorizing the 'hood. This is the underlying theme of the film. Maiquel, as played by Murilo Benicio, is a cool cat with no apparent scruples. Deep down, he strongly believes he is doing the right thing in helping people get revenge with what the inept police doesn't even bother to do. Mr. Benicio gives a controlled performance with funny moments. His relationship with the pet pig he receives from a satisfied customer, gives comic relief from his otherwise well known underground activities.Claudia Abreu, a beautiful actress plays Cledir who eventually will marry Maiquel, the man she helped to give a "new blond look". Also in the cast, Natalia Lage, another gorgeous young woman who reappears in Maiquel's life only to transform herself when she discovers religion and wants him to join in the evangelical movement, something he never does. Some people have compared this film to "City of God", and frankly, there is no basis for the comparison. While the latter film showed the life in the poor favelas, the characters of this film are lower middle class people with a different set of values in life. They're not completely destitute, or as hopeless, as the poor young people of the other film.Mr. Fonseca, the director, shows great promise. We look forward to his next film.