Sintonia

Sintonia does a fair job in depicting life in the slums (favelas) of Brazil's largest city - São Paulo. The lives of a young rapper (funkeiro), evangelical and gangster are intertwined in a simple and predictable story. The sad reality is that not many paths exist for those in the favelas. Netflix has my praise for taking the favela to a global public, perhaps the world now know that those in the favelas are are only trying to live a life like anyone else.

It's written like a regular Brazilian Soap Opera, there is a classic storyline, the actors are not great but not terrible, there is a little bit of spice to it, maybe because its a "favela" centered story I was expecting something extraordinary. Still would watch it before going to bed though. About the slangs, I'would much rather have this many slangs than actors speaking proper portuguese, no one speaks proper portuguese specially in a poorer neighborhood. Wouldnt be able to tell if it's closer to the real life since i've never been allowed inside a favela once.

If anything, I would want to see more spice to it, and remove the red and blue filter in every scene.

"Sintonia" in my opinion is not a bad series, but it lacks depth in the characters, which compromises the experience a little. Although the actors are good, some characters seem poorly written, which affects the emotional connection with the story.

Rita stands out as one of the most realistic characters, along with some less relevant secondary ones, but Doni and Nando fail to convey a coherent feeling with the scenario in which they are inserted. Their choices and attitudes often do not seem consistent with the environment and context of the plot.

Although it has its merits, especially in cultural representation and individual performances, "Sintonia" could explore more the psychological depth of its protagonists to enrich the narrative and emotional impact of the series.

This series started out great with interesting stories and characters. What ruins the series is all the religious nonsense. They should have made a much better path for "Rita". They clearly show that the church and priest is all about the money, but there is nothing more to it... "Rita" is portrayed as smart, but she still falls for the religious nonsense and that is just wrong

Even though I am not Brazilian I watch the show with English subtitles and read it while the actually Brazilian audio is on. Also this show depicts some of what real people and kids have to go through.