Godless Angel

Adriana Lima.

That's the first thing that came to mind as I flipped through the channels and the image of this beautiful young girl covered most of my screen. Her olive colored skin and light, almond shaped green eyes reminded me so much of the Brazilian model Adriana Lima...I wasn't surprised when I checked the title of the show I was watching: HDTV Discovery Atlas - Brazil Revealed. Of course.


They cut away from the girl...so I had no idea what her story was. But they dove into all aspects of Brazilian culture. Capoeira has always been something I'm interested in, so when they explained the whole background on it and musical roots, I was pretty much hooked. The documentary was beautiful, poignant...alive. I got lost following three people in their lives in different parts of Brazil. One servant became part of a large parade in Carnival, making her dream come true. This is her:

She was so happy, and I happily hummed along to the samba rhythm she was dancing to.


Then they showed the poor parts, where the life expectancy for males is around 25 yrs old. Either drug use, gang life or a rough home life will cut their future short. It was a bit hard looking at the young boys playing soccer down dusty streets and their bright smiles reminding you that the innocence now present inside that body, wouldn't be there much longer.


They switched back to the little girl, just then, and this amazing view of her little town with cobble streets and old architecture took my breath away. She was walking the streets on her way to her father's house. The narrator explained her parents were divorced, and she lived with her maternal grandmother. Neither parent was in any shape to take her in. So she spent her free time visiting her father or mother across town. Her grandmother is ill and couldn't leave the house much. So the little girl was always alone.


This was the first year she would participate in a big, Easter Sunday celebration in her town. Thousands of people dress up like biblical characters, the little girls like angels...and the participants get to make a 'rug' out of different color sawdust on the cobble stone streets where the parade will walk through. Her dad promised her he would help her with the drawing on the floor with sawdust...but he never showed up. They show her, the ONLY little girl working by herself on a pretty big sized rectangle on the street, carefully tracing in chalk her rendition of the crucifixion and then filling it with brightly dyed sawdust. She sat a bit on her heels, looked around for her parents, no one. She kept working all the way up to 3 a.m., and went home to sleep a bit until the celebration at 6 a.m. at church. The next morning, she looked so sad as her grandmother fixed her baby pink wings made out of real feathers, she combed her hair absent minded and headed to church.


They showed the procession starting, hundreds of girls in angel wings and robes, with pearls on their hair...and in the sea of heavenly creatures and Bible folk...the camera zoomed on those light green eyes, frantically looking for a familiar face...tears falling as she realized no one was there to see her. She pushed on, heavy steps and more tears flowing, and at the end of the parade...she looked up and a perfect, wide smile formed on her lips. The narrator says, in an excited voice: "Suddenly, she spots a familiar face in the crowd..."as the camera cuts to the object of her affection. Her grandmother, ill and barely able to walk, is standing there with a proud look on her face. I cried.


I have been there with my parents. I think we all have. Our parents aren't perfect, and they make their share of bad mistakes towards us. Sometimes, or most of the time, they are never there when we need them. Some of us have a mom and dad who've hurt us more than we deserved or could ever imagine. Some of us don't have any. But the disappointment has been felt across the board.


But in my case...I had my grandmother. She took care of me, and was at the end of my 'parade' when my parents weren't. I had the love I was missing from them, in her.


The camera cuts off as the little girl, holds grandma's hand on their way back home...her wings still on, slightly crooked. It was her parents' loss...


It was my parents' loss...


(Catch: HDTV Discovery Atlas: Brazil Revealed...It's fantastic.)