Paola or The Art of Survival

Paola is a single mother of four scratching out a living in a favela near Recife, Brazil. After some prior misadventures she has been left with nothing – no home, no food, no money. With ingenuity and perseverance she improves her family’s situation and even starts her own business. This documentary follows Paola and her family throughout a year. We witness the daily problems and setbacks they suffer. We learn their views, thoughts, and hopes. Paola collects recyclable trash from the streets of nearby Olinda, working throughout the afternoon and evening with a hand-pulled cart. Twice a week she pulls her immense load to the recycling center, exchanging it for money. But that livelihood gets taken from her. Undeterred and ever resourceful, she invents a completely different business from nothing, enlisting the aid of her children and some second-hand equipment. Paola is an engagingly philosophical and vibrant soul. Despite being very poor and of the lowest social class in Brazil, she shows none of the defeat that generally clouds people living in harsh deficiency. She enjoys life, and blazes her own trail to better her circumstances.