Walter Thompson-Hernandez’s debut feature, Kites, provides a different depiction of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Whereas mass media perpetuates the stereotypical violence occurring in these areas, Thompson-Hernandez paints a delicate wonderment in the lives of his characters, who are rooted in real history. We see youth, gang members, significant others, and angels who advise the leads. The director, who previously worked as a multimedia journalist for The New York Times, didn’t write a script for this film. Instead, he cast non-professional actors – save for Alexandre Rodrigues, of City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002) -, gave them an outline, and asked them how they would perform x activity. It results in an eye-opening, albeit uneven, ballad of redemption, community, and love.

Duvo (Daniel Fernando do Prado Dorea Lima) is the film’s protagonist. He is a 25-year-old head of a gang who is about to become a parent with his partner, Larissa. Hoping to uplift his community amidst the tragedies in his favela, he revives a kite festival where kids and adults fly kites. Duvo constantly speaks to his angel Phil (a charismatic Phillipe Augusto da Silva Souza) for advice and his purpose throughout this ordeal. Phil is not your typical angel regarding the entity’s fantasy roots. Here, Phil and the other angels do not have magical powers. They are ordinary people who were victims of police violence. In heaven, they braid each other’s hair and smoke cigarettes. They observe the action from the sky (a painted blue canvas at a soundstage) and share wisdom and grace with their designated person during good and bad times. When Duvo asks Phil about the meaning of life, the counsel quips, “You know the answer”.

Thompson-Hernandez’s approach to magical realism is compelling. He also flirts with auto-fiction, as the actors play a version of themselves in this fictional, hopeful world. Unfortunately, it does not extend to the film’s promising premise. The blend of its improvised outline and documentary-like footage of the actors’ lived experience in their neighbourhood doesn’t enable three-dimensional characters. It unintentionally leaves out the interiority of the female characters as they are predominantly in scenes with their male counterparts and the supporting cast’s arc. A foil that Thompson-Hernandez misses out on is the pastor Pedroza (a cunning Joao Vittor Pedroza). Pedroza is lost within this world and needs to heal the community during his search for meaning. Though significant in his two scenes, it would have been essential to see Pedroza interacting with Duvo and other gang members.

Limited in its structure, Thompson-Hernandez intends to show that the only support system for many residents in their favela is their angel. The angels fortify them from loneliness and show them a lovely atmosphere that is contaminated with injustice. Due to systemic discrimination, the male protagonists do not know much about life outside of their homes. Traumatised by militarised police, the cast finds joy and solace in their quest to make the world a safer place. Kites is a tender letter to the forgotten and displaced. Thompson-Hernandez’s vision exudes a universe where assistance is prioritised, affirming conflicted people’s complex ideologies and philosophies.

Kites premiered at Tribeca.