To most of us Brazilian music is "The girl from Ipanema" and some carnival samba. This wonderful documentary manages to take us through some of its unsung origins, tracing it back to the Indian and African roots so predominant in the country's Northeast. Music is the soul of Brazil, its unifying element and the only true element that connects the country's melting pot of races. Mika Kaurismäki decides to take us through the origin of the music in Brasil and deliberately chooses to leave out the more famous Bossa Nova, born in the late fifties among the country's intellectuals. "Moro no Brasil" takes us through Forrò, Frevo, Samba through the eyes of the real Brazilian people that play the music and live with it their daily lives. We enter the favelas and dance with them. The filming is so sensitive and the camera shots so good one cannot help but feel the strong emotion the Brazilians themselves feel for their music. The social aspect of the music is also analyzed and shown to play a very important role in Brazilian less favoured society. This is a great masterpiece of a documentary. Lets hope Mika Kaurismäki will follow it up with a second part on Bossa Nova.

The comparison of this movie with Buena Vista Social Club is way beyond my level of understanding, I must say... For me, this is a road-movie and a love declaration to brazilian music - that deserves it completely ! Period. Although one can be frustrated by the quick pace of this journey, this is another proof of how diverse brazilian music is ! Ok, some musicians have no real mesmerizing philosophical discourse during their interviews, but I view those passages as necessary - and interesting - steps to music, as it shows first of all human beeings living from and with music, and not cynical professionals as the star system can provide. Kaurismäki concludes its documentary with his decision to buy a bar in Rio where artists play every night. "Moro no Brazil", he says. Lucky man !!!

*Warning: Slight spoilers* Alright, Buena Vista Social Club was a huge success... one most wouldn't have expected. So it's quite obvious for some people to try to get a piece of this success themselves - the sudden appearance of various Latin American music films seems to be the best proof. Unfortunately, "Moro no brasil" seems to be one of these tries. I'm sure Mika Kaurismäki is a huge fan of Brazil music and only made this film to celebrate his love for the country and its music. But having seen Buena Vista Social Club I just found far too many coincidences for just calling it pure chance. Well, apart from the better plot line in BVSC - in "Moro no brasil" the plot is purely based on the journey undertaken by Mika Kaurismäki, which starts with very traditional (and for most European ears unusual) music in the middle of the country and comes to the "common Brazil" sounds of the coast towns at the end. And I must say, the second half of the film was really enjoyable - great percussion music, moving on to Salsa and mainstream sounds and also covering modern aspects like Funk music from the ghettos. IMHO, Mika Kaurismäki tried far too hard being a second Ry Cooder and making this film the Brazil version of BVSC so it lost most of its (possible) charm. In addition, there weren't enough strong characters with interesting stories like in BVSC - or they weren't introduced well enough. Overall 6/10.

This wonderful documentary lets you enter the universe of brazilian original music, from indian traditional music in the northwest to Rio based Samba rhythms and fawela's funk blend. In pictures taken by a hand-held video camera it shows a documentary journey of Mika Kaurismäki to the different regions of Brazil. Throughout all his film, Mika manages to present the special people involved in the brazilian musical traditions. He shows the strength they had to have to go their way and the pride they feel for their musical and social accomplishment. This film shows, what music is able to give. A real "human" film.