Astonishing visual richness and a disquieting sense of menace drive the story of the current kidnapping epidemic in Brazil. The film explores the country’s systemic corruption; politician-thug Jader Barbalho, for example, siphons off money meant for poor communities in Amazonia.  A frog farm shows one way that such money is laundered, and the frogs’ life cycle provides a pointed metaphor for Brazilian society. We meet the kidnapped, the kidnappers, the cops, and even a plastic surgeon who restores the cut-off ears of victims. The consequences of Sao Paolo’s vast gap between rich and poor are made clear with indelible imagery and editing. NK