11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poorly executed, incomplete, not worth it!, May 19, 2005
This review is from: A Travelers Guide to Brazil (DVD)
I was very dissapointed with this DVD. It is shot with what looks like an outdated camcorder --very grainy images. The under 30 minute video includes footage of Rio, Brasilia, and Inguassu falls, dubbed with some voice narrative, and some watered down samba music. Definately not worth the money, and basically a waste of resources.
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1.0 out of 5 stars
A Traveler's Guide to Brazil - Rent Rather Than Buy, October 7, 2011
This review is from: A Travelers Guide to Brazil (DVD)
How should one begin? I guess I will start on a positive note. It was interesting to experience a glimpse of Brazil from the 1980's that covered the typical two-week touristic itinerary. Now, let us move to some constructive criticism.
First I will comment on the language. It seems that the narration text was originally in German (I gathered this from the German film credits) and translated into English, or more accurately Spanglish (English+Spanish). Or it may have been Portuguese translated into Port-English (Portuguese+English) with key Brazilian terms translated into Spanish. Or, the narrator may be a Brazilian reading a Spanglish script translated from German. At any rate, "samba", an Afro-Brazilian term, is masculine ("o samba"), despite the "a" at the end of the word. The film tells us it is "la samba", which in correct Spanish would be "el samba". We are also told that "la rumba" is Brazilian even though it developed in Havana, Cuba (same hemisphere, different continent). "La Rumba" in Portuguese would be "a rumba". "La lambada" ("a lambada" in Portuguese) is in fact a Brazilian music and dance that became popular in the 1980's. It evolved from "Carimbó" music and has since been relegated to obscurity, replaced by a comeback of several of its predecessors, including "carimbó".
Now let us have our history lesson. The narrator states that the Brazilian capital was moved from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília in 1985. Actually, the Brazilian Federal District officially became Brazil's capital on April 22, 1965 (same century, different decade). The shape of the city is a bow and arrow, paying homage to Brazil's indigenous populations. It has since been compared to the shape an airplane, with the government buildings at the cockpit (or tip of the arrow). The film tells us the original design was modeled on a "cross".
And finally, some comments on the soundtrack. I am curious to know which entry-level vintage keyboard was used to generate the samba riff. It was most likely an electronic instrument that produces generic beeps of various timbres and calls each one by a different acoustic instrument name; with a bank of world rhythms to boot. Congratulations to the button-pressing engineer/would-be film score composer who programmed this sequence of sound events that I hesitate to call music.
I suggest that Amazon make a "negative star" rating option available for occasions like this. I believe negative 2.5 stars would be more accurate than 1. Even so, I recommend that each person experience his or her own disillusionment with the film.
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