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Brazil a patchwork of Cultures and Races

Brazil was discovered by the Portuguese in 1500 .When they arrived in Brazil, they found native Indians living there. After many attempts to enslave the natives, the Portuguese brought Africans to be their slaves. Since that moment, Brazil has become a patchwork of cultures and races. Native Indians, black people from Africa and Europeans have shaped this republic called Brazil.

The influence of these three different continents makes the Brazilian culture very unique. The first influence that makes the Brazilian culture so curious is the country’s huge size. Brazil is the largest country in South America. Consisting of almost half the South American continent (47.3%), Brazil’s territory extends over 8,547,403 km2. Consequently, it has a diverse influence in each part of the country. For example, cities like Salvador, Bahia in the north of Brazil has the African traditions. On the other hand, cities like Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil have the European influence. Moreover, a foreigner can find mixed traditions in cosmopolitan cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

The second influence that makes Brazil such a remarkable country is the way of life of the Brazilian citizens. Sometimes it is very difficult for foreigners to understand why Brazilians are so friendly and happy despite all of the poverty and corruption. That is because of the “jeitinho’’- which means there is always a creative way to deal with some difficulty. Also, Brazilian people have many talents developed by different traditions and culture. For instance, it is easy to recognize a Brazilian person by the way he dances the samba. Foreigners usually have difficulty following this Brazilian rhythm, which came from African traditions.

In the end, Brazil is a multicultural place with many interesting options for foreigners. The difficulties they probably face are only small stones near the ocean of discoveries they can make in this melting pot country. In Brazil, the diversity makes the difference.

Movies

“Movies are made to make us dream or to face reality of life. In this industry, there are two types of movies: fiction as
a kind of entertainment and documentaries to show what is going on the world.The first type of movie that is entertaining is fiction. It is the most traditional manner to tell a story, normally by adapting from some novel or by telling someone’s biography, or it can also be an original script. This style of movie is made to entertain no matter what its origin. For instance, the film TITANIC was based on a tragedy. Thousands of mil- lions of dollars were spent in special effects to show what happened on that terrible day. Then, everybody went to the theater to watch the movie and, in the end, to be entertained by the romantic story of the surviving couple. A true story scattered with drops of fiction just to entertain.

On the other hand, the second type of movie is documentary. Itshows the reality of life just the way it is without any special effects nor intention to entertain, but it gives awareness of some problem that must be solved or at least remarked.For example, the awarded Brazilian docu- mentary BUS 174 tells a true story about a terrible assault that happened in a bus in Brazil to show how poverty affects the Brazilian society. All the footage used on the film was taken on the actual day. There were no actors pretending the reality. Everything shown on the movie was authentic.

In brief, movies are still the best way to be entertained and become aware of the world’s problems no matter what category. In other words, it is always a good way to spend time in front of the big screen.