Brazil: Where a shoeshiner became president
| S茫o Paulo, Brazil
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
With Brazil on the rise, the country鈥檚 charismatic president, Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva, spent much of 2009 adding accomplishments to his considerable political CV. But starting 2010 as the star of a new movie gives him a whole new dimension.
鈥淟ula, The Son of Brazil鈥� opened in 500 cinemas across Latin America鈥檚 biggest nation on Jan. 1, exactly one year before the president will hand over the sash of office to his successor. The film is a dramatic and emotional portrayal of Lula鈥檚 early life. Born into poverty in Brazil鈥檚 impoverished northeast, at age 7 Lula came to S茫o Paulo, where he was mistreated and beaten by an alcoholic father.
He left school to shine shoes and sell peanuts but returned to technical college to get the qualifications necessary to find a job as a metalworker in the area鈥檚 car factories.
There, after seeing his wife and son die in childbirth, he became active in the local union and rose to lead hundreds of thousands of workers in famous strikes at the end of the 1970s.
Taken together, that rise from poor to powerful is 鈥渁 fairy tale,鈥� according to the film鈥檚 director, Fabio Barreto. Mr. Barreto said the two-hour epic had to be both 鈥渕elodramatic and emotional鈥� to do justice to Lula鈥檚 early life.
鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 do this at a distance,鈥� Barreto said. 鈥淭his is the story of many Brazilians who don鈥檛 complain, don鈥檛 feel self-pity, and can never be counted out. They fight to survive.鈥�
Initial reviews have been mixed. A renovated film studio in Lula鈥檚 adopted city of S茫o Bernardo do Campo hosted more than 1,000 people, many of them former union colleagues. Few were disappointed at the saintly portrayal.
鈥淚 was there during a lot of these moments,鈥� said Salvador Feitosa Lacerda, a retired metalworker who served in the same factory as Lula. 鈥淚t really was like that. I thought the film was great.鈥�
