Director: Caito Ortiz
Writer: Giuliano Cedroni
Actor(s): Gilberto Dimenstein, J. R. Duran, Jacob Goldberg
Production Co.: Paramount Pictures
Country: Brazil
Year: 2003
Language and subtitle information: In Portuguese, with optional subtitles in English and Portuguese
Format: DVD
[ratings]
Summary: “In Sao Paulo, there are some 250 thousand messenger boys on motorbikes. Three die a day, on average. The film addresses the root of the question and follows along with the day-to-day life of five motoboys. The film also shows the drivers’ point of view. The director says he decided to broach the subject six years ago when he saw the tremendous growth in the number of messenger boys in town: “I realized that this was the result both unemployment in legal jobs and crazy city traffic, where cars always come first. Nothing more contemporary in Sao Paulo than the motoboys. This is a city that seems to crush human beings in order to grow and the motorboys are it.”– www.imdb.com
Supplemental Materials:
“Motoboys: Vida Loca” is a documentary that shows the realities of the Brazilian ‘motor boy’ trend. I think that the documentary did a really good job in illustrating a diverse group of workers. Some of these workers really love their job, while others are forced to work out of necessity. Furthermore, the cinematography of the film is extremely unique and effective in demonstrating the real views of the deliverymen. This documentary is a must-see for anyone interested in this peculiar, yet authentically Brazilian ‘motor boy’ phenomenon.
In this documentary, the lives of motorcyclists in São Paulo are recorded. Different characters show the styles of motorcycling that make a living delivering packages to customers. In the crowded streets, it is a dangerous job and these drivers risk their lives with every delivery. This film entertains us with information about the drivers and their experiences on the road.
This documentary illustrates the difficulty of being an employed motorcyclist in Brazil. Apart from having varying responsibilities to employers, these motorcyclists have to risk their lives daily, maneuvering through tiny spaces between cars in the ever-present Brazilian traffic, and avoiding the possibility of being assaulted or mugged. In Motoboys, a handful of charismatic motorcyclists share their stories, each with a common motivation: to be able to support their households.
Motoboys is a very interesting documentary about motorcycle delivery workers in Brazil. During my time in Brazil, I saw countless “motoboys” and never gave them a second thought, so it was very cool to see their lives from another side in this documentary. The documentary is well made and contains interviews with many different types of motoboys (and even a motogirl) and also city officials and others with valued opinions about the transit system in Brazil. I would recommend this film to anyone interested in urban life in Brazil or in the Brazil’s prominent low wage labor market.
This documentary captures the hard realities of lower class citizens in Brazil through the lens of several motor boys; a job describing a large group of motorcycle-owning individuals that are used to physically transport messages as fast as possible in one of the worst transportation cities in the world due to its extreme traffic: Sao Paulo, Brazil. It effectively illustrates first hand, unbiased experiences in this motorcycle world. It is though-provoking and insightful, and does a good job at incorporating sophisticated camera angles that captures the sense of speed and danger that these motor boys encounter in the streets.