0
To many Europeans, Brazil is a place of sunshine, carnival and music.
Stephen Daldry’s new film ‘Trash’ highlights the harsh reality of Brazil, where 20% of Brazilians are actually living in poverty.
Trash follows the lives of three boys; Raphael Fernandez (Rickson Tevez), Rato (Gabriel Weinstein) and Gardo (Eduardo Luis).
The three are best friends living in slum favela housing and foraging landfill to survive.
Raphael finds a wallet when picking the landfill, containing a wad of cash, a photo of a little girl with numbers on the back, and a key to a train station locker. The boys hide their find from a shady police inspector and realise its worth as it belongs to a rich and corrupt congressman running for mayor.
Suddenly the race is on to solve the mystery – the Boys vs the Brazilian police and corrupt officials.
The trio are joined by Hollywood stars Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara who play Father Juillard (Sheen) and aid worker Olivia (Mara).
The film is filled with plot twists, gripping street chase scenes and an upbeat soundtrack that everybody will adore, but the main feature is the teenage trios antics that make this film so well loved.
The young actors are all around 14 years old, are Brazilian-native and are actually non-professionals hired from the real Rio de Janeiro favelas. Despite their lack of experience, their acting has been applauded everywhere with people often noting that their performances carry the picture.
The thrilling drama-comedy has been likened to Slumdog Millionare, both showing raw poverty and torture amongst an adventure where the likable underdogs overcome a corrupt system.
Daldry’s Trash was premiered at Rome Film Festival where it won the biggest award: the BNL People’s Choice Gala Award.
It has already been nominated for a BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film.