Manda Bala (2007)

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Directed by Jason Kohn.

Starring Jader Barbalho, Claudio Fonteles, Helbio Dias, Juarez Avelar, Paulo Lamarao, Mario Lucio Avelar.

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Brazil is a nation where political and economic corruption and violent crime are a way of life for many, and filmmaker Jason Kohn examines some of the more unusual ways they manifest themselves in this documentary. In Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), Kohn's subjects include a plastic surgeon whose practice is dominated by the victims of kidnappers who lost their ears to their captors; a political figure who uses his frog ranch as a cover for illegal business operations which have made him a multi-millionaire; and an auto customizer whose specialty is bullet-proofing luxury cars. Manda Bala (Send A Bullet) won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Put Down That Frog and Step Away
by joem18b in joem18b Blog

hasn't rated it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Before dealing with the end of the world as we know it, which this movie does not explicitly mention but which is lurking there in the unspoken background - before dealing with that, it being a pet peeve of mine, let me mention first an equally annoying pet peeve: many podcasters, the Spout podcasters occasionally among them, use the expression "begs the question" when they actually mean "raises the question." This error of diction has become so common in the U.S. today that it's probably useless to even mention it here, but since I heard it again on FilmCouch recently, let me remind those who might be unaware of it that "begging the question" is a form of logical fallacy in which an argument is assumed to be true without evidence other than the argument itself. Thank you. Meanwhile, back in the day, if you hated documentaries but had to write a paper on one, you could head down to Ninth and Trawler and catch The Nudist Story at the Jewel Box. The Nudist Story is the film where eve ... " [More]

Very good doc.
by Smooth_J in Smooth_J Blog

liked it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"As it was a documentary, I held off from watching Manda Bala for a pretty long time, despite the intriguing cover art and synopsis. I am sort of mad that I held off for so long, since I was surprised to find that it was really quite good. In Brazil, especially the Sao Paulo district, political corruption runs rampant, as do the equally powerful kidnapping and crime rings in the city slums. The film begins by introducing a frog farm owner, who claims he would “never harm frogs in the wild”, but harvests them for various reasons at his business. The scenes and descriptions of how the farm works are extremely well-done, and are the most stylistically done sequences of the film. In the beginning, it’s hard to figure out just where the film is going, since so many different themes are presented, and it’s difficult to tell how they’re tied together (such as a woman describing her experience in being kidnapped in contrast with the frog farm). However, o ... " [More]

FilmCouch #63
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"Let’s talk documentaries. First up, an interview with AJ Schnack, founder of the Cinema Eye Honors, a new annual awards ceremony honoring the craft of non-fiction filmmaking, a genre often judged more on its subject matter than its artistry. Next up, an interview Jason Kohn, director of Manda Bala, the winner of this year’s top Cinema Eye prize. Kohn talks about weaving together the film’s disparate elements, searching for the line between good and evil, and crafting a “non-fiction science fiction film”. FilmCouch 63 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog " [More]

Manda Bala
by lopezdash in Spout Mavens

hasn't rated it.

"Manda Bala Directed by Jason Kohn. Starring Jader Barbalho, Claudio Fonteles, Helbio Dias, Juarez Avelar, Paulo Lamarao, Mario Lucio Avelar. Brazil is a nation where political and economic corruption and violent crime are a way of life for many, and filmmaker Jason Kohn examines some of the more unusual ways they manifest themselves in this documentary. In Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), Kohn's subjects include a plastic surgeon whose practice is dominated by the victims of kidnappers who lost their ears to their captors; a political figure who uses his frog ranch as a cover for illegal business operations which have made him a multi-millionaire; and an auto customizer whose specialty is bullet-proofing luxury cars. Manda Bala (Send A Bullet) won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide " [More]

Tags: politics , brazil , crime , ear , frogs
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