Abuse of Stereotypes *** May Contain Spoillers***
Hollywood movies are indeed full of stereotypes and smart educated people will agree that this one abuses that trait. I think people understand that southerners don’t make love with their sisters and that Brazilians don’t live in the Stone-Age.
The bus at the beginning is indeed insulting. Interstate bus lines in Brazil can be as comfortable as Greyhound; drivers are clean and well groomed. Tourists usually stay in 5 star hotels or in resorts such as Club Med. Crime rates are indeed high in big cities — as it used to be in some areas of Manhattan back in the 1980’s — but not in small villages (the one in the movie looks like an inner-city slum rather than a countryside town).
Honestly, I don't think Brazilians are outraged because of all the bad guys displayed in this movie. What upsets them is that you have American tourists in a slum, that the women are presented as whores, that an interstate bus is crap (and so is the road) and that virtually every single Brazilian (even the kids) is portrayed either as a criminal or as a scumbag who drives as a maniac and cleans the interior of his nose with his fingers.
If you decide to visit Brazil, just follow the guidelines given by the Brazilian consulate when you get your visa and you should be out of trouble. I never heard of a single American or European tourist murdered in Brazil and if you find an article about that I would love to see it (millions go there every year. A few are mugged simply because they don’t play safe).
A Hollywood slasher will never show a white Brazilian living in a 3 million dollar apartment in an upper-class area of Sao Paulo or Ipanema beach in Rio, as that doesn’t sell tickets. People crave for the bizarre and the exotic. We like to see foreigners shown as ugly, monsters, animals or idiots, because we want to maintain our jingoistic superiority complex. That’s why you don’t see many American movies shot in Belgium, Denmark or Norway.
The underwater scenes have some good suspense and are the best part of this movie. In spite of the stereotypes, think it is better than the average picture of this genre.