Opening on the dead-serious, sneering audio of a kidnapping before rocketing into a kaleidoscope of corruption and tropicalia-scored crime-flick-cool, Manda Bala asks less how Sao Paolo, Brazil became a world capital of violence, and asks more who is capitalizing on it. From a clandestine frog farmer to a celebrity plastic surgeon famous for replacing ears excised at the hands of human traffickers, the film is a ride in a bulletproof Porsche through a city built on violence. 2007. 85 min.