Customer Reviews

Discovery Atlas: Brazil Revealed [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very well produced documentary about the biggest country in Latin America. I live in Brazil, so I can tell it's a little bit focused on poverty - it seems it's like a synonym to Brazil despite you can find that in most cities nowadays. The are lots of natural wonders this video missed, such as Iguacu Falls, the Pantanal area (brazilian Everglades), wonderful beaches in the northeast, the german/italian background in the south, the several agro and high tech industry cities in the countryside of Sao Paulo State etc. However it is worth watching.

I have seen all of the Discovery Atlas documentaries, and this one is also a 5 star viewing. The quality of the filmwork, as well as the content covered makes for an interesting, feel-good, learning and viewing experience. I highly recommend not only the Brazil one, but all of the other ones in the Discovery Atlas series. Get them, you will not be disappointed. Great HD clarity.

As in all the countries so far in this series (Italy, China, Australia, Brazil) this is a dazzling look at the culture of a country in superb photography and intimate portraits of the people and lifestyles of the inhabitants. Wonderful education and entertaining viewing.

This will pop your eyes out! This HD-DVD has fantastic color and pin point detail. There's beautiful women on a beautiful beach, awesome cityscapes, jungle expanses,pictures from space, cowboys, carnival, fireworks, martial arts...this disc has it all. If you are looking for 1 disc to keep around the house to show off your HD equipment, this Brazil disc will get straight to what HD-DVD is...you won't go wrong.

I purchased this dvd for my "Brasil" collection. It's an informative dvd, showing Brazil through the lives of 7 Brazilians, and what the Brazilian life is about. The producer could have improved Sao Paulo part, my hometown, but it only mentions how it is the biggest city of South America. It does not mention the melting pot of various ethnicities (Asians, Arabians, Europeans, Africa-Brazilians), and the fact that a lot of Brazilians are multiracial. It also doesn't mention some of the other important regions, such as the central, the Northwest and the Southern part of Brazil( The south region is like the little Europe & the home of the largest & majestic waterfall on earth called "iguacu", pronouced i-gua-soo).
In my opinion, one important information a foreign country dvd "must" include in the video is its food/cuisine.. too bad this one doesn't. The Brazilian cuisine is one of a kind! Over all, I enjoyed this video & its quality overall. There are beautiful sceneries/picturesques, and the narration is as story telling. The narrator talks about one person's life in one region of Brazil, and moves on to another, and then goes back to the previous ones and then back & forth. At the end, she concludes all 7 lives. Most of all, I enjoy Rio de Janeiro, Ouro Preto, and the Amazon scenes... too bad it doesn't include Foz do Iguacu (Iguacu Falls)

p.s. Everyone in here says that there is no subtitle in it, but usually, in my experience, this kind of informative videos don't have any subtitles.

I really enjoyed this. And the High-Definition aspect of it really enhanced the viewing experience here. The colors were brought to life and you could get so much more of a feelign for Brasil and the people and the culture.

Basically, the narrators and photographers give you views of Brasil through different people's lives and experiences. There's the aspiring footballer, the aspiring bull-rider and a child attempting to escape the realities of life in a favela through capoeira just to name a few. Through the stories of the individuals, you get to see more of the country and the vastness of the culture and people and traditions that are rooted from so many other countries and cultures. From the gritty and seasoned river-boat trader (and... to be a little cynical, I gathered that not all of those vases were empty or available for straight trade...) you can see the awesome Amazon river. From the pretty young helicopter pilot, you can actually see more than just one's dreams, but another spectrum of life in Brasil, which is that of the slightly upper-class and an opportunity that may not be available to some of the other individuals highlighted. From the beautiful girl on Easter and the colors of her city, you can see different religious beliefs in the country as well. And from the sad story of the boy that seemed to have no way out & devastated by his family, you can see a story that's unfortunately a little too common in Brasil - but thankfully with a more promising outcome.

Not to give too much of their stories away, I really liked that they didn't just focus on the poverty in Brasil but rather tried to give an account of life in Brasil from several different perspectives to paint a much more colorful picture that's certainly reflective of the country in general. There are so many different people with all types of different backgrounds. I do wish they would have shown a bit more of the interior or the pantanal, but there was only so much time. Still, I'd recommend this. The stories are touching and the photography was stunning. Hopefully they will make another one of Brasil as there are just so many more stories to tell, and places to see there.

Brazil is a very complex country and full of different angles. It is as big as the US, but very misunderstood... and for some it is even totally unknown.

For the great majority of the world, Brazil is still perceived as the country of Pele (the soccer player), the coffee drinks, a crazy Carnival, bananas everywhere, the pretty ladies, and little else.

Well, this DVD will show you something more than just the ordinary by looking into the ordinary of this land. It will show you another side of the Carnival, another side of soccer, a few characters living with their daily chores, the beauty of nature and the abysmal differences of cultures from north to south.

It is almost complete, for it could not fit in some other geographical areas of the country(like the sunny Northeast and the Europeanish South, for instance). As a matter of fact, it'd need a full collection of many DVDs in order to make someone really understand what this big country seems to be.

This is an excellent DVD with amazing images and quality.

Living and working in education in Brazil, found this to be very interesting and spot on with the facts and figures. It really does tell the story of Brazil though her people. Most importantly it does capture the real heart and nature of the Brazilian!

Worth watching if you are interested in Brazil and/or Latin America.

One downside - no subtitles in any language. The dvd itself is all in English, but sometimes with language learners it is handy to have English subtitles at the same time.

Discovery Channel has done a superb job. HD is the way to go going forward for documentaries as it really brings high definition to a whole other level. I can't wait for the Planet Earth to come out on Blu-ray disc in a couple of weeks.

It is a shame that there are people who don't bother to READ what these documentaries are about BEFORE they buy them and are disappointed.

The oft-stated aim of Discovery Atlas is not a history lesson ... it is a unique look at countries through the eyes and personal stories of a select group of individuals.

What better ways to learn the true feelings and emotions than by this manner.

Exquisitely shot, wonderfully narrated, these videos provide a unique look into each of these nations that one would not otherwise EVER be party to.