This is an amazing show-a tour de force of writing, acting, directing, filming, story-telling. The plotting is remarkable, in that it unfolds as it must have had to, but is surprising at every turn. It is a series fully aware of itself in the history of such movies as it mentions-Dirty Harry, Carlito's Way, even Matrix-but never derivatively. It's rammed with life, history, local and world culture. It's wicked and delightful all along, and every single performance, every line of dialogue and voiceover narration, hits home with the viewer and with the characters in the action. It's themes of poverty, the will of God, and the motives that animate the human condition suffuse every scene and shot and situation. Great too is the the use of language-Portuguese, Italian, English-and of the actors who move in and out of them as they work out their fates.
