Glossing over such inconvenient facts as out-of-wedlock fatherhood, this unabashed encomium skimps on complexity and insight in the name of veneration.

Lula, Son of Brazil is proof that even charismatic political figures, in this case, Brazil's former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, can be felled by the requirements of the standard biopic genre.

With its $5 million budget, "Lula'' is said to be Brazil's most expensive movie yet. It's a shame the money wasn't better spent.

Long on hero worship and woefully short on insight, Lula: Son of Brazil oozes good intentions, but it wouldn't look out of place in a retrospective of early Soviet workerist cinema.

A conventional, rather shallow up-by-your-bootstraps drama, but with a difference.

Forget Son of Brazil: This syrupy origin story/biopic on the nation's beloved reformist president, whose second term ended in 2010, should be titled Mama's Boy.

One can only hope that this isn't the best that Brazil has to offer cinematically.

Well-acted and mildly engaging, but too much melodrama and not enough compelling insight.

For most persons outside of Brazil, this will be a historically significant film with enough excitement to fill almost every minute of the 130-minute run time.

A resolutely apolitical biopic inspired more by "Coal Miner's Daughter" than the class struggle in Brazil. Despite this, it is still worth seeing for its commitment to the cause of the 99% in Brazil.

A biopicture about the formative early years of one of Brazil's most famous presidents whose muse and advocate was his beloved mother.

Only half-way through, the film loses momentum. Emotion gives way to stagey conventional pseudo-populism, with the human disappeared.

Having been born into poverty in a remote part of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva could not have been born into more modest circumstances if he tried. In fact, the bus journey with his mother Lindu(Gloria Pires) and younger brother to Sao Paolo takes 13 arduous days and claims at least one fatality along the way. Once they are reunited with his father Aristides(Milhem Cortaz), all Aristides is concerned with is what happened to the family dog. Which apparently he values more than his kids who he forces to work instead of playing or going to school, and beating them when they disobey him. When a well-meaning teacher recognizes Lula's intellectual aptitude and offers to adopt him, Lindu instead finds a third way and leaves her husband."Lula, The Son of Brazil" is a stirring and reliable biopic about the first half of the life and times of the future president of Brazil. As such, the movie charts the changing times in Brazil, starting with a great wordless sequence and followed by an ever increasing reliance on archival material, while Lula continues his climb, even during the military dictatorship. But just as much, the movie is interested in his political education which he almost falls into by accident from his apathetic working roots.

Loved it! Based upon the self-titled book, this docudrama reflects the early years of one of Brazil's most popular modern figure, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The film follows from childhood living on the countryside of Pernambuco through the family's relocation to Santos to reconnect with the father whom left eariler to find work in the city. Refusing to endure the abuse of their father, Lula, his mother, and six silbings leave to move to the busy and industrious city of São Paulo. While obtaining an education, Lula and his siblings work various jobs to help their mother support the family. As a young adult, he enters a technical school and obtains a certificate in a skilled trade that lands him a job in a factory. Through the time period, the rise of work conditions and various social issues worsen that Lula cannot avoid when a personal accident enables him to become more involved with the social injustice occuring. The primary film language is set in Portuguese with English subtitles. Great performances- Rui Ricardo Diaz, Glória Pires, and Juliana Baroni.Definitely worthy!