Luis IgnacioLulada Silva, three times president of Brazil, was born in 1945.
He grew up poor in Sao Paulo and left school early to help support his family.
In 2002, after running as a Workers Party candidate unsuccessfully three times, he was elected president.
‘Lula’Ixtlan
For people who denigrated his lack of a degree, he said, here was his first diploma.
He actually served 580 days, returning immediately after his release to political campaigning.
Last year he was elected president for a third time.
Stone makes the countdown a real nail-biter even though, in real life, we know the result.
Those who were always on his side will feel the thrill of vindication.
But this is really a film made for outsiders, with its prime target audience being Americans.
Close attention is paid to American state agencies involvement in Latin American politics generally and Lulas destabilization in particular.
President Obama doesnt come out of it very well.
For everybody, it is terrifically accessible.
Its partisan, obviously, but not hysterically so.
Corruption has been endemic to Brazilian politics for decades, Greenwald admits readily.
Answering those old charges is not the directors priority, clearly.
Their emphasis is on Lulas stated agenda lifting Brazilians out of poverty and personality.
Oliver Stone believes in Lula as a good man, as evidenced by his commitment.
He is now 78.
As it is, he has combed through the existing record very effectively to tell a good story.
