It's almost hard to fathom how unusual a place Brazil has become in the last few decades, but it's study that many other countries would be wise to examine and learn from lest they fall into the same trap. Many of the problems in Brazil, as in similar countries, arise from a disappearing middle class. The haves get more and more while the have-nots struggle and the chasm between the two grows deeper and wider. The problem is that the chasm between the haves and the have-nots is mostly in lifestyle and not always in location. The poor have to watch the rich and the corrupt drive to work every day in their fancy cars and something is bound to give. So, you get what's happening in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where a person is kidnapped, often tortured, and held for ransom every single day. While you're reading this review or seeing the film its about, someone is probably fearing for their life in a kidnapper's house in Sao Paolo. It's a dark corner of the world most people don't know about and festival darling Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) brings it to the big screen in all its ugly nature.

The crime in Sao Paolo has gotten so out-of-hand that there are actually industries growing up around it. For example, a common practice of kidnappers in Brazil is to cut off part of their victim's ear to send back to the family as a warning that they better pay up or get more body parts in the mail. This happens so often that there's a doctor who specializes in and has revolutionized the industry of ear replacement surgery. He's only one of several people that we meet in Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), a documentary reminiscent of some of the early work of Errol Morris and a jaw-dropping portrait of a heavily-populated portion of the world that is almost in a state of total chaos right now.

The ear doctor is only a small part of the story in Manda Bala (Send a Bullet). Like Morris, director Jason Kohn uses interview footage to drive his documentary. There's no Michael Moore-esque figure, no narration, and very little on-screen text. Who better to tell the story of Brazil than the people who live there? Kohn focuses primarily on three stories of modern Brazil - the corrupt political system, the kidnappers, and the kidnapped. We meet attorneys who tried to take down Jader Barbalho, one of the most corrupt politicians I've ever seen in a documentary, if you can believe everything told about him in Manda Bala. The film asserts that Barbalho, one of the most prominent political figures in Brazil, set up hundreds of phony companies and embezzled millions of dollars for his own private gain. His corruption trickled down to help create the system now in place in Sao Paolo. Kohn also introduces us to a businessman who's so scared of crime that he carries two wallets and drives a bulletproof car. The car segment in Manda Bala, where businessmen learn how to drive away in a high-speed chase should they be attacked, is jaw-dropping in its very existence.

I know what you're thinking. So, things are horrible in Brazil, what do we do about it? Kohn seems almost nihilistic about the situation in the country and it lends Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) a depressing, defeatist air that makes it less of a film than it could have been. Sure, we meet a few of the attorneys trying to fix the situation, but it's hard not to leave Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) with anything more than the impression that this country is, for lack of a better phrase, permanently screwed. Kohn is a talented filmmaker and he's tackled a subject not seen before in documentary film, but you almost feel bludgeoned by the depressing state of Brazil instead of introduced to the problems there. Kohn holds back nothing, showing footage of writhing kidnap victims and ear surgeries. He wants to shock you. But it becomes less effective and actually might leave audiences more numb to the issues at play. No one ever asks where we go from here. Kohn doesn't even seem as interested, as if he's throwing his hands up with the kidnapper who thinks he does as much good for the country as the politician. And maybe he's right.