[ Brendu ]For me, the Complexo do Alemao favela is good because I live with my family.
It's not far to go and see my family, we all live nearby.
The bad thing is, when I go to school, there are lots of police on one side
and gangs on the other. I have to pass between them.
They're so close, I’m scared they could shoot me by mistake.
But overall, I like living in Complexo do Alemao.
The police station is right there.
But it’s better to stay away
because you may get shot.
Boys often get it from them! 00:01:14.288 00:01:22.329 -We are in the middle of drug dealers and policemen. It has to be fast. Yeah? Because if it start shooting we’re exactly in the middle. 00:01:25.946 00:01:36.266 -The police station is… -Is there We are in the middle if you realize… I don’t want to get shot, he doesn’t want to get shot, you don’t want to get shot. 00:01:37.973 00:01:50.253 [ Angel ]My name is Angelica Melo but everybody call me Angel. I’ve been filming in favelas for more than 8 years. They trust me, I trust them. I feel at home. 00:01:50.830 00:02:03.591 You guys are strangers but I walk in here like a local. I feel worried about them but I don’t feel very scared because you know in my life I also faced violence when I lived in favelas when I was young. 00:02:18.649 00:02:25.610 You can’t get in in favela. Favelas are dangerous not because of people who live in favela, but because of everything happening there. 00:02:25.610 00:02:36.796 Drug dealers are there, police are there. There is a war… You need someone who knows the area. I have contact in a lot of favelas.
[ Mariluce ]I was born and raised here, I know everyone.
My grandmother was only the second person
to live in this favela.
People trust me thanks to my granny
and father's influence. He once dealt drugs in another favela.
Angel is one of the few who can visit any time, because she’s with me.
You can’t film anywhere because you’d put us all in danger.
We could 'accidentally' get shot, it's not safe.
You might by chance film something I don’t have the right to show you.
Tomorrow, they’d get me for it.
You’ll go back to your country,
but I’ll stay, so I can’t take risks.
Hello! What's up?
Hello! Hello.
The little darling!
Hello, hello.
[ Sandra ]During the Olympic preparations, it was really peaceful.
Now, after the Olympics...
we're at war, nearly every day there's war.
Can I say what happened in my house?
The shooting too?
On Friday evening, a bullet came through here...
Cases are still in the yard.
Me, my daughter, my granddaughter, him, her, her colleague...
We had to lie on the floor.
A policeman was pointing his gun at us.
It was scary.
We had to go in the house and stay put. You can’t even stand in your own door way.
I was praying to God almighty.
I knew that what had happened
was God’s blessing upon us.
My brother died like this.
I’m a bit traumatised.
Trusting the cops is... complicated.
Your mind is back to front.
You don’t know who the good or the bad guys are.
[ Rayane ]We were fiddling with our phones,
and all of a sudden,
they came up here and began shooting.
My mother's still afraid.
We saw that a bullet had hit and lodged there in the door.
Mum prayed and went to the bedroom. 00:05:18.087 00:05:19.007 [ Angel ]We have to get in
- Take a position here. - Ok!
Gunfire, gunfire!
Clear the street!
Get off the street!
Clear the street!
[ Protest ]We speak in the name of our children, in the name of our dead children.
You won’t silence us.
The police are murderers!
All of them.
The police are murderers!
They accuse our children of crimes.
It's not fair.
My son was murdered on my porch.
His brains and blood were spread over the living room floor.
The investigator said it was legal self-defence.
It’s been a year now...
I'm still in pain,
it feels like yesterday.
Just like yesterday.
Burying your 16-year-old son is like burying your heart.
[ Therezinha ]I was leaving home and I saw my son fall and lie there, motionless.
I started shouting, crying for help,
asking to drive my son to hospital.
Then I was told, ‘Your son is dead’.
I looked back. First, I saw a police unit.
There was a military policeman in the front,
I grabbed his vest and said, ‘You killed my son’.
He said, 'I can easily kill you, like I did your son, I killed a gangster’s boy’.
I said, ‘Kill me, you've taken what was most precious to me’.
He put his gun to my head.
He’s two in this photo.
It’s horrible, seeing this and knowing I'll never see my son again…
I firmly believe in God,
and there is Jesus.
Jesus is my true saviour, he never fails.
I’m sure our Lord won’t let the policeman go unpunished.
He must pay for his crime.
It was a barbaric and horrible crime.
What he did to my son, is how he’ll pay.
[ Paulu ]You, leave.
You, go to that flank.
You, to the middle, watch the flank!
I’ve worked with kids here at the Palmeiras project for six years.
I put my heart into this project,
because I saw children
with prior convictions in the streets.
They seem to be starting to get involved with drugs.
I was in the drug world too,
now I'm free of it.
Juan has a gift for football.
We’re trying to win him over.
It's complicated, but I hope he'll join us soon.
Has anyone from the local mafia already offered you a job?
Or have you yourself gone to them?
[ Juan ]Yes, I went to them.
Really?
What did you say?
I went with some guys who’d already been, they knew us too.
We were just spending time there.
I saw something…
they told us to take a backpack somewhere.
So we did.
Well, I was angry,
because of what was happening,
so I went there to smoke and calm down.
I just chilled with the guys.
How do you feel about...
the police?
I won’t lie, I don’t like them.
He seized me like this, and started to manhandle me.
He threw me into the van as if I was the worst villain in the world.
Inside, it was very, very hot.
You know what they did then?
The van stopped and we sat there for ages,
they kept cramming people in. The van started moving, they rocked it,
so we were all knocking against each other inside.
During my three weeks in prison,
a guy had his hands behind his back,
like this.
Another guy was going like this...
Security saw one doing it,
and punished us all.
They made us all stand in a row,
with our hands behind our backs.
And they...
hit us, in the chest.
- Hard? - Yeah!
It was very hard.
This is my Mum, she’s 43.
This is my sister...
Larisa.
She’s seven.
This is Kaiki, I think he's ten?
- No, eleven. - Eleven?
Eleven, wow!
This is Caio.
He’s eight.
Gabriele, Liche…
- Gabriele, Luele, Carol, all these. - Ten in all...
Ten!
He stopped playing...
because he didn't have any football boots.
They selected him to play in Gavea,
because he's a good forward.
But, to play for them,
he had to attend school.
That’s why he gave up football.
Let's make a pact on camera.
When I see school enrolment papers, I’ll buy him football boots.
You have no other option than going to school.
- Or you want to play for Barcelona at once? - Play for Barca!
Agreed?
Go to school.
When I see you enrolled, Mariluce will find somewhere for you to play
and I'll buy you those boots.
[ Kauanny ]I liked the Para Olympics.
The authorities spent a lot on the Games.
They overspent!
It wasn’t that necessary.
They spent too much on hospitals, clinics,
kindergardens and reconstruction.
There is a shortage of medicine now,
including for Zika.
This is our veranda.
Here's where we dry our clothes.
And over there we keep poultry,
hens and ducks.
The duck goes all over the place.
There is also a water tank...
for them to swim in,
and a there's a feed tub.
They have space to walk around and play.
Charlene! You can’t do that to a duck! I mean this duck, the little one!
Charlene brings the duck home and it goes about pooping all the time.
Get the duck out of here, put it outside!
We also had rabbits...
but we ran out! 00:15:27.183 00:15:28.983 You are pregnant, you’re waiting for another baby! 00:15:28.983 00:15:47.390 [ Angel ]Yeah, she is pregnant. I told her this has to be the last one because in 2014 I came here with a group from Vietnam and she was pregnant and I said – again? I said – this is the last one. And now – this has to be the last one.
So little one, a number two?
When Kauanny was born,
I had to work a lot.
Until she was 3 or 4, she was a sickly baby.
She was always a sickly child,
she suffered a lot.
We had a lot of difficulties to overcome,
which is probably why she had epilepsy.
She had to take strong drugs.
When I was about two, there was no medication,
and I hovered between life and death.
The last time I was really sick was in August.
I was in bed nearly the whole time,
and I'd caught Zika, Zika and Chikungunya.
I’m happy when I go for a walk with my family.
That’s when I’m happy...
when my family’s happy.
Tell me, Kauanny...
What do you need?
I don’t need anything right now! 00:16:51.963 00:17:01.044 [ Angel ]People have so many needs, they always say – I need this, I need that. And you need this kid living here in this house and she says – I don’t need anything
Let me hug you!
Thank you!
[ Robson ]When Kauanny came here, she had trouble controlling her anger.
She’s been with us for a year now. She's back in school.
Loosen your grip a little, now, push there.
Yes, grab her head and pull down.
Violence has been a problem here for a very long time.
That’s why this project was set up with the police.
We want children to see
that you can live without violence, just by communicating,
that's what judo teaches us.
Now... Start.
The idea is to help the kids,
to show them that the police are not the enemy,
despite the cruel image of the cops in the media.
A police officer is a person too, a father or mother.
All in all, together, we can explain a lot
and dispel a few stereotypes.
I was violent, you see.
I couldn’t even play with my brothers, I beat them.
Judo helped me get rid of that.
I use my judo philosophy and when they swear I tell them to stop.
I try to teach them right from wrong.
Sometimes, I leave home in the morning and go to school.
And I’m still afraid...
Here there's nobody, but down there...
there may be police or gangsters.
[ Brendu ]There’s no protection,
not from the police, least of all from drug dealers.
No one feels safe here.
At times, the police wait in ambush right here, in our yard.
- Here? - Yes, right here!
Suddenly, the police were in the house, the yard. I climbed up a wall and then...
shooting started.
We were afraid we'd get shot, so we left.
- Not in the house? - Not in the house, because in there…
we could still get hit.
So we hid there, near the foot of the hill.
Then, a police vehicle stopped.
An officer fell, collapsed right here.
It was horrible, makes me nervous to think of it.
If I manage to get some money,
first of all, I’ll get my family out of the Complexo do Alemao favela.
I’ll have to wait,
but I will definitely fulfil that dream.
Where would you like to live?
I say what I tell my Mum.
It doesn't have to be anywhere fancy,
like Leblon or Copacabana.
Maybe Meier or Pavuna... not far from here.
[ Daniel ]During the first day of the operation,
seven murder victims were found in the neighbourhood,
but they weren't casualties of the operation.
When the first fights took place,
it was thanks to the military police that eight people were arrested.
Civilian police took part too.
A normal search warrant is only valid for a particular address,
but this collective warrant covers a whole district.
No to favela resident discrimination!
And so, if the police were told about possible drugs or arms, or about a drug dealer,
they could conduct a search.
It would cause local protests, we were told about them,
but our priority is to protect people and public transport.
Respect us!
Stay away from our doors!
We demand respect and no more!
Stay away from our doors!
On Friday night, my daughter was at home.
Suddenly, they broke down the door, and turned everything upside down!
It began when the judge dropped the charges. On Saturday, they raided!
Because we live in the 'City of God' and we’re poor.
But we work here, we’re decent, we’re proud of the 'City of God'!
Go on! Go on!
Well done! 00:22:30.348 00:22:38.669 [ TV ]From Rio’s favelas to Olympic triumph. Brazilian judo champion Rafaela Silva says, winning a gold medal is a dream come true. 00:22:38.669 00:22:51.803 Rafaela Silva grew up in the infamous City of God slum, one of Rio’s poorest neighborhoods. Her father enrolled her in a judo club when she was 5 to get her away from the violence and the drugs.
[ Rafaela ]My Mum worked in a small shop selling gas tanks.
I helped her carry them.
Sometimes, they were so heavy I couldn’t lift them.
Very often, we didn’t even have food in our home.
So Mum had to quit her job to help my Dad.
We were given basic food free, so I didn’t stop training.
Sometimes, we couldn’t work out because gangsters blocked the favela.
We couldn’t go outside because of the gunfights
and we had to miss school lessons.
Hello!
This is Kauanny and her suitor. Let's have a photo together.
Hug Rafaela!
They’re so proud.
I bet their hearts are beating fast.
It’s much easier to take up arms; gangs will even pay you for it.
But in under two years, you will hit rock bottom.
I trained for 16 years before fulfilling my dream of winning an Olympic medal.
Commit yourself to a labour of love.
It may not happen at once,
but nothing's better than realising your dream and living as you want.
Now, I buy the clothes I want, I buy Mum and Dad the clothes they want.
The dream really is worth the sacrifice.
I love her very much.
I could say I do judo because I once saw Rafaela with her students on TV,
and everyone was shouting...
‘Come on, Rafaela!’
I just remembered.
And the ball was right there, the guy took a shot!
I was in defence and went like this...
and the other guy missed the goal.
OK, let's go!
- What was it like when it opened? - I don't know, I was little.
Why doesn’t it work now?
The crisis, you've heard of it?
They couldn't pay the employees.
So they quit.
You must pay but no one wants to. The Mayor’s office had no idea
how much it would all cost. They couldn't pay the staff.
Yeah! And some locals have to walk from the hilltop to work, imagine!
Many locals need this cable way, and it’s not working.
[ Brendu ]My dream is to get a black belt and become a judo trainer,
to introduce street kids to sport, the children who lost their way...
who don’t go to school.
When I'm an instructor, I’ll make children go to school.
I’ll make them show me their grade books at the end of the year
so I see their results.
That’s my dream.
Oh, and, taking part in the Olympics,
winning medals
so my family will be proud of me.