Behave

Maria Ramos's 2007 Brazilian documentary was shot in a juvenile court in Rio de Janeiro. The camera records hearings, defences and rulings; young people accused of theft, drug offences and murder stand before the judge. Brazilian law forbids showing the faces of minors. Ramos turns that constraint into a solution: other young people from the same neighbourhoods sit in place of the defendants, with the real audio heard over them. The choice says on its own who can stand in for whom. There is no commentary. The working of the system and the rulings are shown one by one; most of the outcomes run the same way, and the repetition becomes the film's argument. Who it's for: those who like observational documentary and are interested in the justice system. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a hopeful outcome; the film offers no such closure for any case.