People are voting emotionally.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I was quite disoriented reading the four reviews on this film. Only four reviews. Very sad, but I'm afraid that only Hollywood movies get hundreds of reviews, no matter how bad they are. And I say that I was quite disoriented because the only four reviews are from Brazil, and quite severe they are. Could it be true that nobody is a prophet in his own country? it has to be, because I found this movie to be EXCELLENT!!The transition between the boy and the adult Lula is quite impressive, both actors could very well be the same person when the years go by and the boy becomes an adult.Gloria Pires is such a magnificent actress!! and quite contained. The actor that plays Lula's father is really amazing, not knowing him from previous works, one believes that he's really Lula's father, fantastic interpretation!!Everybody is excellent and so is the camera work, the editing, the color photography, etc. As far as I remember I've never been disappointed by a Brazilian movie. I think that Brazilian films are among the best in the world. And the Portuguese language as spoken by Brazilians must be among the most delicious languages to be heard, not to mention their music, absolutely ravishing!! (Do I sound like a fan of Brazil?).

This movie is about the true story of a poor immigrant, syndicate leader, that became the president of Brazil. The story itself is amazing and deserved to be told. However, the execution here is way poorer than it should. There are many Brazilian directors capable of doing it.The movie is at all, really bad. The reconstruction of the period id poor, the acting is bad, the casting is at all misplaced. The preparation of the actors was really poor, the accents are wrong, the set is too bi-dimensional, the history set is shallow, it doesn't account for what was the dictatorial period the movie is set in.At the end, you can't understand or believe in the main character because the director was too much of a fan, or was unable to portrait the man as a real person.As the story is pretty good, It's is only a badly executed movie. It's a pity, hope this story gets to be told more properly in the future.

This movie is profoundly based on the true story of Brazil's President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), beginning at his birth, in the poor countryside of the Northeastern semi-arid Pernambuco State.It is not openly political, once the story ends before his political acting years in the early eighties, but it has produced some controversy in Brazil, once this is election year. Of course, he can't run for President on a third term, though.Apart from that, there is a feeling through the movie that it was meant to show some of the most important moments in his life, so there are some scenes that are short on completion. Viewers may expect something more about the short stories told as facts, like something you'd tell on a conversation.The screenwriters apply the conduct line on the main character's mother, played by Gloria Pires (great), as was done in the other heartwarming movie '2 Filhos de Francisco', but still there is some loss of bond.All the actors give their best, specially the main actor. The photography is well composed. The soundtrack, highly appropriate, though a bit repetitive. The direction, it seems to me, could have been better.Great moments bring the audience to tears, while learning about the past of suffering and poverty that built the charismatic and popular politician. As a Brazilian, I was touched when I found out that a little boy who cleaned people's leather shoes in the streets became my President. All he needed was to be stubborn.

The story is about the life of Brazilian President (2003-2010) Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. But the movie doesn't concern politics, since it ends before he becomes a politician. It is a humanistic story, very sad, based on a true story present on the book with the same name of the movie. It is always very touching to see that someone who suffered that much could end being a president.However, there are some corny scenes, very unlikely true. Moreover, Lula's father is shown very very mean, and Lula has told he was bad, but not that much.The acting of Gloria Pires I found very nice, but the child actors are not well prepared. And the main actor, Rui Ricardo Dias is never shown with his left hand open, which kind of annoys me. I think they should have used some special effects to hide his little finger (which was severed), since it is a production of 9 million dollars, the most expensive ever made in Brazil.When Lula is already a syndicalist, there are some real scenes that were taken from the excellent documentary "Linha de montagem", of Renato Tapajós. But the cinematography is different between these scenes and the filmed now, so it seems a little strange, but it is comprehensible.The one fact that really annoyed me is the credits mixed with the story in the beginning. This irritated everybody in the theater and is very unpleasant.But what matters most in a movie is the story, so how the story is outstanding, the movie is 8 out of 10. The movie "2 Filhos de Francisco" from Breno Silveira is very similar to this, but in my opinion, better directed. And those who likes Lula's biography should also watch the documentary "Entreatos", from João Moreira Salles.