Jean Charles

In 2005, a Brazilian man living in London was misidentified as a terrorist and killed by London police. Jean Charles looks at this incident solely from the perspective of Jean Charles de Menezes. He was an electrician, an outgoing friendly sort involved in some slightly crooked schemes—stealing business from the contractor he was working for, arranging visas for fellow Brazilians in London. While very involved with the Brazilian community, he was also an advocate for London, encouraging his newly arrived cousin to explore the city and take advantage of a life that they didn’t have in rural Brazil. The viewer has no sense that following the terrorist attacks on the London public transit, investigations were being made and Jean Charles (who was an electrician) was mistaken for a Muslim extremist by British police. All we see is his being shockingly shot out of the blue by the police force, and the sorrow of his friends and relatives both in London and Brazil. An interesting approach to telling this story that both adds and subtracts from the inherent drama in the real-life occurrence. Good performances all around, esp. Selton Mello as Jean Charles, who plays Jean Charles as a very likeable character and making his tragic death all the more poignant. (7/10)