0:00:03 > 0:00:08Rio de Janeiro - beautiful city, beautiful people and beaches.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14MUSIC: "The Girl From Ipanema"
0:00:14 > 0:00:18The city where a poet and a composer sitting in a cafe
0:00:18 > 0:00:23admired a gorgeous girl and wrote The Girl From Ipanema.
0:00:26 > 0:00:33If anything fulfils all our fantasies and stereotypes about Brazil,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37it's Rio and its citizens - the Cariocas.
0:00:37 > 0:00:44In this programme - soap stars and cinema stars in Brazil's artistic capital,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47catwalk fashion from gun-law ghettos,
0:00:47 > 0:00:53the baroque art of Minas Gerais, funded by the biggest gold rush the world has ever seen,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and the humble maid who becomes... the belle of the ball.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34Rio de Janeiro, it is often said, is a city of contrasts.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39In particular, there's a huge gap between the rich and the poor.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44Because of this, the rich and the middle class
0:01:44 > 0:01:49can nearly always afford to have domestic servants - maids.
0:01:51 > 0:01:59Maids is the title of the film by Fernando Meirelles, probably Brazil's leading film-maker.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27MEIRELLES:
0:02:45 > 0:02:49There are at least three million maids in Brazil.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55I wanted to get to know a real one, to see if her life matched Meirelles' vision.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58I'm in Copacabana. It's not just a beach.
0:02:58 > 0:03:04It's the most densely-populated part of Rio, where rich and middle class people live.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08But looking around, most of the people you see are actually poor -
0:03:08 > 0:03:11the workers, the janitors and the maids.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14KNOCK ON DOOR
0:03:14 > 0:03:17DOGS BARK
0:03:17 > 0:03:20- Hello! - BARKING DROWNS OUT SPEECH
0:03:51 > 0:03:58Teresa is a good employer to Carla, but the set-up still made me feel uneasy.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35THEY SPEAK PORTUGUESE
0:04:38 > 0:04:41CARLA:
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Meirelles's film satirises those
0:04:59 > 0:05:03who seem incapable of looking after themselves without a maid.
0:05:54 > 0:06:00Meirelles is interested in social exclusion and the tension that it causes.
0:06:00 > 0:06:07The maid is one of the only human links between the world of the poor and the world of the rich.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46By day, she may be a humble maid.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50LATIN MUSIC PLAYS AND MEN SING
0:06:50 > 0:06:55But, by night, Carla is a carnival queen.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00She's an important member of her local samba school - Villa Isabelle -
0:07:00 > 0:07:05which works all year preparing for the big carnival parade.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Carla the flag-bearer - the star of the show.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31MUSIC AND SINGING CONTINUES
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Being flag-bearer is an important role.
0:07:56 > 0:08:03Carla is the symbolic leader of nearly 4,000 people taking part in Villa Isabelle's annual parade.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09It's a community responsibility, too. Not just on carnival day.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Main rehearsals are watched by scores of fee-paying spectators
0:08:13 > 0:08:17who come for dinner, a show and a good night out.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21But the thing that's the most important is the flag.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48The carnival is actually a competition between dozens of samba schools.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53Villa Isabelle will try and win by putting on the best show -
0:08:53 > 0:08:57music, dancing, costumes, everything!
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Rio is a great place to shop.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33To suit all budgets.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Barra is full of shops with exclusive designer labels.
0:09:38 > 0:09:44This is M. Officer, and they've a range of clothes made by a local label, Coopa Roca,
0:09:44 > 0:09:49fruit of the complicated Carioca relationship between rich and poor.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Coopa Roca clothes are very distinctive.
0:10:10 > 0:10:17They're all handmade using traditional techniques from Brazil's north-east.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52No-one posh will come here. I'm in a favela, a shantytown.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56This one is Rocinha. It's one of the largest in South America,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00but up the hill, it has a very fashionable secret.
0:11:00 > 0:11:06For those expensive Coopa Roca clothes were made in this favela by a cooperative of 70 housewives.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11They may not earn much, but it's a better life than being a maid.
0:11:28 > 0:11:34Coopa Roca has forged an alliance with one of Brazil's biggest fashion designers - Carlos Miele.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Rocinha may have come up in the world,
0:12:04 > 0:12:10but still, it's controlled by armed drugs gangs. Policeman rarely enter for fear of their lives.
0:12:33 > 0:12:39Because of Carlos Miele's publicity and marketing expertise,
0:12:39 > 0:12:45Coopa Roca's clothes are seen on fashion catwalks all over Brazil AND internationally.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36But rich women love the cachet of these exclusive clothes that come from the ghetto.
0:14:07 > 0:14:14When most people think of Rio, they think of the beach - beautiful bodies, dental floss bikinis.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Well, it's all true. But when Cariocas talk about the beach,
0:14:18 > 0:14:24they say it's fundamental to the spirit of the city. What do they mean?
0:14:24 > 0:14:29LATIN GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS MAN BEGINS TO SING
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Pedro Luis is a singer
0:14:33 > 0:14:39who has used Rio's unique beach culture to inspire his music.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42MUSIC AND SINGING CONTINUES
0:15:01 > 0:15:05VARIOUS MEN SHOUT
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Everywhere on Rio's beaches, there are beach vendors.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14They sell food, clothes, everything.
0:15:14 > 0:15:20And it is their musical calls that form the inspiration for one of Pedro Luis's hit songs.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25Because Rio's weather is so good, the beach is where you socialise.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30Pedro Luis says this shapes the typical Carioca character.
0:17:01 > 0:17:07I'm surrounded by a bunch of preening show-offs. They take that as a compliment.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11It's the only place I've been that to be vain is good.
0:17:11 > 0:17:17Vanity's not about selfishness, but about fulfilling your social obligation to be beautiful.
0:17:17 > 0:17:23Brazilians like to show that their mixture of races has created
0:17:23 > 0:17:28the most beautiful race in the world. Not just here - everywhere, all the time.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37For 200 years, Rio was Brazil's capital city.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42It took over this role from Salvador in 1763.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47To understand why, I'm going inland to the state of Minas Gerais.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Minas is a beautiful land of rolling hills.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58They were once very wealthy because of two things - gold and sugar.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05DRUMMING AND SINGING
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Mineiros are known for their quiet self-reliance.
0:18:09 > 0:18:16And the movement that eventually resulted in Brazil's independence from Portugal began here in Minas.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34Both miners and sugar growers, copying American revolutionaries, refused to pay huge taxes.
0:18:34 > 0:18:41And they stopped drinking fancy European drinks, and drank cachaca, distilled locally from sugar cane.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11But what made Minas rich was the discovery of gold.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17The gold rush in Minas was one of the biggest in the world,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22and Rio de Janeiro first grew to importance as the port
0:19:22 > 0:19:25exporting Minas's mineral wealth.
0:19:47 > 0:19:53This is the charming city of Ouro Preto. The names are really Wild West.
0:19:53 > 0:19:59Ouro Preto means "black gold", and it's in the state of Minas Gerais - "general mines".
0:19:59 > 0:20:06All over Minas Gerais, the most sumptuous churches were built, funded by the gold rush.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09This is the Church of Pilar.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10But then, after 50 years, the gold ran out,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14and a new style of decoration had to be developed.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19This gave rise to Brazil's greatest ever sculptor - Aleijadinho.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23- OUT OF BREATH:- There may be loads of beautiful churches here,
0:21:23 > 0:21:28but they're all up bloody steep slopes!
0:21:28 > 0:21:31CHOIR SINGS
0:22:12 > 0:22:15With this new style, proportion is important -
0:22:15 > 0:22:20the spaces between the sculptures as much as the actual sculptures.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47I wanted to find out more about Aleijadinho.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51For a start, his name means "little cripple".
0:22:51 > 0:22:55He was incredibly disabled by leprosy. He was also self-taught.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59I went to Congonhas, to visit a modern-day sculptor.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13Luciomar has worked out how Aleijadinho must have worked
0:23:13 > 0:23:17to compensate for the gradual loss of his fingers through leprosy.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21Yet Aleijadinho's work changed the course of Brazilian baroque.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27And his Last Supper shows how individual detail transforms its emotional impact.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37LUCIOMAR:
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Back in Rio, the sun doesn't always shine.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08And when it rains, you can always watch TV.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Everyone in Brazil watches Globo, the main channel.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17In fact, Globo is one of the world's big players in TV.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24This is A Taste Of Passion - Sabor da Paixao.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27It's one of TV Globo's four daily soap operas.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32It started a few weeks ago, but it's bound to have a HUGE impact.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38What's interesting about it is that it's set in Lapa, a newly-trendy district of Rio.
0:24:38 > 0:24:44And they've built a replica here of the area in the TV studio.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50I've come to meet Pedro Rangel, one of the stars of the new production.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14THEIR VOICES ARE INDISTINCT
0:25:14 > 0:25:19Pedro has a great advantage in playing this character -
0:25:19 > 0:25:23he was born and brought up in the REAL Lapa.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48NEW SPEAKER:
0:26:12 > 0:26:18Because of the rain, Pedro Rangel's filming was cancelled the next day.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22So he agreed to show me around Lapa and how it was changing.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33'Amongst these people grew up a character type that Rio is now famous for - the malandro.'
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Lapa is coming alive again now,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08helped on by the interest in Globo's soap opera.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13Even the old dance halls, where malandros hung out, are being revived.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18And the traditional malandro music - choro - is back in vogue.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34In the next programme, I'll be exploring the Amazon rainforest,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37discovering the opera house there
0:28:37 > 0:28:41with an orchestra of Eastern Europeans.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45And investigating the craze for eighties' house music
0:28:45 > 0:28:47amongst indigenous tribes.