Rio & Rio 2

Gente, let's start off with a fun topic that was an original favorite of mine, when I was first visiting and learning about Brasil – the Rio franchise movies! While there are plenty of people, Brasilian and not, who will no doubt disagree with me, I found these movies to be very fun and to capture a lot of the spirit of Brasil and its people. Although it's true that not everywhere in Brasil is Rio de Janeiro, where the movies largely are set, the warmth and vibrancy these movies capture and communicate are, in my opinion, as quintessentially Brasilian as pão de queijo with a cafezinho.

One of my favorite scenes in Rio 2, with music "Voce Chegou" (You Arrived) by Brasilian band Barbatuques. It is very fun to hear as you touch down on red Brasilian soil, free and excited for fun in the sun.

Both movies do a great job of capturing the incredible scenery you will find in Rio de Janeiro, with Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain) or Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer statue), looming over the panoramas of sun-soaked beaches and city streets. Additionally you will see the variety of people and backgrounds that make up Brasilian life, with not just the stunning and wealthy southern zone of the city as a setting, but also some of the favelas perched on the precipices overlooking the city proper, much like the inhabitants are equally perched in a place of privileged views yet impoverished realities. Brasil is a country of contradictions and multitudes where the rich and poor exist side by side, sometimes so severely juxtaposed as to shock one. One thing that is certain though – differently than in some countries that manage to disguise their inequality, Brasil's, for better or worse, is on full display. I personally prefer to know what we are dealing with, though perhaps that's just me. When the movie moves back down into the city proper we get a glimpse of Carnaval in Rio, in all its glory. Yet again this is where the movies shine, marrying scattered details about nature in Brasil in the form of the wildlife characters that appear in the movie with various scenes that are so Rio, so Brasil. Carnaval is a big-time celebration in many cities, and even where it isn't, it represents an important holiday break off of work. Rio the movie manages to show this even as its characters careen through the becos and streets, showing people enjoying the time off and embracing life. Life seems to move slower in Brasil, with Brasilians taking time to savor it.

While the movies appropriately, as family pictures, remain rather childlike in their approach to Brasil and its peculiarities and wonders, that is not an entirely poor choice to start learning about Brasil. After all, didn't we first learn about our own native countries as children, too?