Reporter: Charles Wooley
Producer: Hugh Nailon
Charles Wooley couldn't say no, could he?
An invitation to the biggest party on earth.
That said, it was a tough assignment. After all, Brazil's famous Carnival is no one night stand.
The locals, all 200 million of them, devote nearly an entire week to letting it all hang out.
The Carnival actually started out as a religious festival, a chance to indulge one last time before Lent when all good Roman Catholics are supposed to abstain from bodily pleasures.
But abstention was the last thing on Charles’ mind when he set off, maracas in hand, for Rio De Janeiro, party central.
Contacts:
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Full transcript:
INTRODUCTION: CHARLES WOOLEY: I couldn't say no, could I? An invitation to the biggest party on earth. That said, it was a tough assignment. After all, Brazil's famous Carnivale is no one-night stand. The locals - all 200 million of them - devote nearly an entire week to letting it all hang out. The Carnivale actually started out as a religious festival a chance to indulge one last time before Lent when all good Roman Catholics are supposed to abstain from bodily pleasures. I must say, abstention was the last thing on my mind when I set off, maracas in hand, for Rio De Janeiro, party central.
STORY:
CHARLES WOOLEY: It's one of the great festivals of the world and certainly the biggest street party ever. It's indulgent, it's decadent, it's sensuous and sometimes it's just a little bit silly.
VIVIANE AROUJO: This is the biggest party Charlie.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Oh yes, yes, this is my big chance. Parade at the Rio Carnivale and you know you're in with the biggest crowd on earth. I'm actually having the feeling I'm part of a tribe.
VIVIANE AROUJO: Exactly, exactly, that's it. Now you're in the spirit.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It looks chaotic but it is in fact a highly organised and competitive event. Where rival Samba Schools vie for judge's points. It's like a giant rock Eisteddfod with a Samba Beat. So how did I get here? Well, anything goes in Rio. For a few hundred bucks any gringo can join the parade. You've just got to be prepared to give it a go. What's the words?
VIVIANE AROUJO: Boom pa la. Boom pa la.
CHARLES WOOLEY: What?
VIVIANE AROUJO: Boom pa la, like this, Boom pa schwah!
CHARLES WOOLEY: Boom ba la?
VIVIANE AROUJO: Yeah! That's it!
CHARLES WOOLEY: Local girl Viviane Araujo and her Australian fiance Aaron Smith invited me to be part of their team. At first, I took a bit of convincing but now I just hope there really is safety in numbers. We're nearly on, 20 million people watching any last minute advice?
VIVIANE AROUJO: I think now, it's just, enter the spirit... ..and get in. You're part of the team already.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Enter the spirit and let the spirit enter me?
VIVIANE AROUJO: Exactly.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Brazil is one of the wealthiest countries on Earth. But Rio, sprawling between its forested peaks and those famous sun-drenched beaches is a city of unacceptable contrast. Here, third world poverty grinds alongside the glass towers of capitalism and opulent apartments of the rich. Dodgy wiring, no money, not much sanitation but a million dollar view.
AARON SMITH: Exactly! It's pretty spekki, eh!
CHARLES WOOLEY: Isn't that amazing!
AARON SMITH: That's the joke in Rio - the poorest people have the best views. Nice cool sea breeze...
CHARLES WOOLEY: If you're rich you live down there and if you've got no dough, you're up here above the mosquito line. Blessed are the poor. Despite their poverty, or perhaps because of it, the infamous slums of Rio known as the favelas have always been the city's cultural heartbeat. From hardship come artists, footballers, writers, musicians and the samba. Incongruously, it's the happy sound of poverty and the audio track to Carnivale.
AARON SMITH: It's one of the most fundamental parts of their culture. It comes from these places, the homes of the underdogs.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Deep in the forbidden world of the favela I discover a secret economy - sequins, beads, and body parts. Oh, what a snug fit! My tailor must've sent my measurements before me. A bizarre back-yard fashion industry built on Carnivale. We're obviously from the same tribe. This is where foreigners like me come to get fitted out for the party and to contribute to the economy. And how much will I pay for this costume?
AARON SMITH: You'll pay about AU$400 which is more than an average month's salary here in Brazil.
CHARLES WOOLEY: I like the idea of an economy based on fun.
AARON SMITH: Yeah. It's a good lesson isn't it. Carnivale is not just a one-night stand. It's a non-stop, week-long party where fun is compulsory and sleep prohibited. You really look like you're enjoying this.
CHIARA RIMOLDI: I love it.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It's 9:00 on Sunday morning and yet another party is just starting.
CHIARA RIMOLDI: Come on, dance!
CHARLES WOOLEY: I don't get it. What's the step? Chiara Rimoldi is an anthropologist who came to Rio to study the festive phenomenon but got so caught up in her work, she never left. Where's your academic detachment?
CHIARA RIMOLDI: It doesn't exist, academic detachment! Not if you want to live life fully you know. If were to understand culture we have to dive yourself into it.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Would the world be a happier place if all nations behaved like this?
CHIARA RIMOLDI: Yes, of course it would.
CHARLES WOOLEY: But Rio is not always such a happy place. Life here can be deadly serious. It's the most violent city in South America. Every 30 minutes someone is murdered usually linked to the endless drug wars that plague the city. How well armed are the gangs?
AARON SMITH: To the teeth. I mean these guys have got four to five dens at the top of the hills 360' views you know, they've got rocket launchers.
CHARLES WOOLEY: This program is not brought to you by the Brazilian Tourist Board?
AARON SMITH: No!
CHARLES WOOLEY: Surprisingly, in one of the most violent cities on earth, the party is peaceful soothed perhaps, by the happy beat of the Brazilian samba.
CHIARA RIMOLDI: It has got a very open you know sexual component. But this is part of the culture as well. It's a culture that is not ashamed of showing nakedness.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Now, you don't have to be beautiful to get your gear off do you?
CHIARA RIMOLDI: You don't have to be beautiful you just have to be a little bit daring you know, like here, big women are beautiful you know, are considered beautiful.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And big bottoms.
CHIARA RIMOLDI: Big bottoms. Is the culture of the big rounded bottom something that, you know, in my country for example it's not considered beautiful at all you know. Here is like, they worship it.
CHARLES WOOLEY: That's worth worshipping.
CHIARA RIMOLDI: It's worth worship, yeah.
CHARLES WOOLEY: Rio is also renowned for its golden coastline, and most famously, Ipanema Beach. This famous stretch of sand inspired the famous song of wistful longing that captured the spirit of the city.
VIVIANE AROUJO: This is the place where democracy exists because you will see people that lives in the buildings just crossing the street, really rich people, and you will see people that comes from the Favelas, near or not, but they come here and they sit beside each other. There's no difference actually.
CHARLES WOOLEY: In their bikinis and G-strings all men are equal?
VIVIANE AROUJO: Yeah, exactly.
CHARLES WOOLEY: That's a revelation. With 200 million Brazilians, a mixture of Indian tribes, African tribes and some European tribes you'd expect everyone to celebrate Carnivale in their own way. Up until now I've been trying to keep this story clean, but this is where it gets dirty, really dirty. Just down the coast from Rio in a little town called Paraty.
GUIDE: It's all over the place in Brazil just celebration for four days in a row.
CHARLES WOOLEY: They're not crazy Brazilians, are they? GUIDE: No, no, just a little bit, maybe.
CHARLES WOOLEY: No costumes here. But still they are up to their necks in Carnivale. And my guide tells me this mudfest is mired in ancient tradition. And the tradition is from?
GUIDE: Many years ago they used to come here to fish crabs and they spread the mud to protect themselves from mosquitoes.
CHARLES WOOLEY: An ancient mosquito repellent?
GUIDE: Yes, that's it.
CHARLES WOOLEY: It seems to be working, there's no mosquitos on that bloke. Of course there's no part of the world so isolated or remote that you won't find a couple of young Australian backpackers throwing themselves into the experience. Do you know ancient Indian fishermen used this as a mosquito repellent?
GIRL 1: We think it's sunscreen.
CHARLES WOOLEY: You've slipped, slopped and slapped.
GIRL 2: That's it.
CHARLES WOOLEY: What would your mothers say? Back in Rio, it's time to face the music. There's about 30,000 people marching here tonight. Just in this one event of many over many days. Hundreds of thousands of people will be watching from the sidelines and 20 million people, that is the size of the population of Australia, 20 million will be the TV audience. Nobody here seems to be worried about making a goose of themselves in front of that many people so why should I? For me, it's a chance to dance badly in an even worse costume, in front of millions and blame it on Rio. But for Vivi, who's about to marry her Australian boyfriend and move to Melbourne, it's a much more emotional moment.
VIVIANE AROUJO: It's going to be the last one for a long time, so this is special! It's a special moment for me in Rio. Oh my god, I can't say anything.
CHARLES WOOLEY: In a violent and divided world a week of compulsory fun and foolishness can't be a bad thing. But after five days of forced frivolity, I'd had enough. In a word, "totally stuffed." I had discovered that hedonism isn't as easy as it looks.
AARON SMITH: Put in the hard yards did Charlie well impressed. I thought he was going to have a coronary at the end but he managed to pull through.
CHARLES WOOLEY: And how was it for you?
VIVIANE AROUJO: For me was like, it was like the samba. The lyrics were saying - "it was and it's going to be in the memory", so for me it's, it's unforgettable, It's gonna be forever.
