Sociology is a Science
“Criminal impulse” is when a freaking white collar criminal like Kenneth Lay screws with his employees’ pensions. But in Brazil’s streets, sometimes a kid has no other option. Unfortunately, they are the only ones who pay for their crimes. The Ken Lays of the world always go unpunished.
It is very easy for someone to type something like “shot the sociologist instead!” from the from the comfort of his/her heated home. They attack science without putting any evidence to prove it wrong… nothing whatsoever, besides the same old garbage about “liberalism is a malady” and “people became criminals by impulse”.
They try to paint Sociology as bogus without presenting any evidence whatsoever to contest it. Well, Sociology is a science, and social disease is a reality. There’re a lot of scientific research to prove that (I would love to see them presenting any valid argument besides the usual Ann Coulter routine to prove it wrong).
It is sad that some people watch a movie like this for the action, and don’t really learn any of its lessons. I am positive that they would think differently if as a kid someone had cut their mother's throat in front of them, murdered all their friends and had to grow up on the streets and in some of the worst juvenile homes and jails of South America.
Sandro’s friends are not doing well... They are miserable and some are still criminals. I happen to have known at least 4 people who were victims of Rio’s violence. Two of them were middle-class guys, but two were street kids... very poor, but good kids. Both were in the capoeira program at the Catholic University in Rio and were shot by drug dealers or the police for one reason or another. People wouldn't be here talking garbage about liberalism, if they had any grasp of such reality or if their childhood was half as bad as Sandro's. In addition to showing the bureaucracy and incompetence of Brazilian law enforcement, this movie shows the dehumanization of a society and the Sociologist’s comments (despite being dull) are correct and help to establish that fact.
People that blame Sandro are the real malady. They are the problem! They are no different than those guys who tried to lynch Sandro, the cops who murdered him or the society that made him invisible.
If everyone did their part, instead of spewing ignorance on the internet, this world would be way better. As someone well said on the comments, the best thing of this movie is that it shows that there’s a lot of gray between black and white. I really hope that human society learns that one day and start doing something useful to change the mess.