There are shows that are “inspired” by true events that actually take place when those true events are happening, and other shows where it truly is an inspiration: The characters, setting and even time period is changed. A new Brazilian miniseries on Netflix takes a real life tragedy from 1993 as its starting point, but we’re not even sure if the show takes place 31 years ago or sometime closer to the present day.
CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH STEPS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Scenes of Rio de Janeiro, and text that says the story was inspired by the 1993 massacre at the Candelária church.
The Gist: “36 Hours Before The Massacre.” Douglas (Samuel Silva) leads a group of his friends — Seven (Patrick Congo), Popcorn (Wendy Queiroz) and Jesus (Andrei Marques) — through a funeral home, looking to see where the man who took him in is being honored. He’s horrified to learn that the man, whom he considers to be a father, is being buried in a shallow grave in a splintering coffin. That’s all the man’s daughter can really afford.
Douglas, though, knows he and his buddies, who sleep among a group of unhoused people on the steps of the Candelária church, have a plan to get some money. They know that there’s a warehouse where a bunch of money is hidden, and they’re surprised to find when they break into it that the warehouse is actually a chocolate factory. However, when they get in there, they see that the money is mostly in the form of checks instead of cash.
Going to the local bookie, Douglas cashes the checks for cents on the dollar. He’s determined to give this man, who saved him from the streets and even bought him a bed to sleep in, get a proper funeral. When he goes to a funeral home to find out how much it costs, the undertaker essentially scoffs at the paltry wad of money Douglas has. He gives the boy a much higher estimate, and that’s before the undertaker even finds out that the man is already buried. Oh, and Douglas also needs permission from the man’s adult daughter.
Douglas goes back to the bookie to make a bet, but instead steals his cash. Then, after an incident with the undertaker costs him that money, the group makes a plan to pickpocket a crowd watching a high-profile wedding at the church, earlier in the night the massacre happens.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Perhaps The Chi, but actually grittier than that.
Our Take: One thing that’s confusing about Children Of The Church Steps, created by Luis Lomenha, is when the story actually takes place. Given that it says the story is “inspired by” the actual events of the Candelária church massacre, its entirely conceivable that Lomenha transferred the time period to something that’s more contemporary. But there doesn’t seemt o be any smartphones around, just minor signs that the story is taking place in the 2020s instead of the 1990s. This could be on purpose, to make the story more timeless and not a period piece.
Anyway, the idea is that the time period leading up to the police-led massacre will be told from all four kids’ perspectives. So there will be a Seven-centric episode, as well as one centering around Popcorn and Jesus.
It gives the show more of a slice-of-life feel than one that has a particular plot. Here, that’s perfectly Ok. What Lomenha is trying to demonstrate is what life was like for these kids in the streets of Rio, where there seemed to be fleeting moments of joy but mostly moments of scraping and scheming to survive.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Douglas is awakened by gunshots outside the church, and everyone goes running.
Sleeper Star: This is a good place to mention Maria Ibraim, who plays Jessica, a member of the friend group who seems to be more above board than the rest of them. Or maybe we just haven’t seen what she’s capable of yet.
Most Pilot-y Line: The scene where the friend group robs the chocolate factory is a bit muddled, because there are a lot of people talking at once in a near-dark scene.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite not being a period piece about the actual Candelária church massacre, Children Of The Church Steps still does a good job of showing the joy and hardships of the lives of kids who lived on Rio’s streets.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Children Of The Church Steps’ On Netflix, A Drama About Kids Who Lived On The Rio Streets And Faced A Real-Life Massacre appeared first on Decider.
