This World

Kidnap Cops (2006x2)

Air date: Apr 13, 2006

In Brazil, football has always been sacred. But this changed last summer, when kidnappers began targetting footballers' mothers. Over a period of just five months in 2005, five footballers' mothers were abducted. The first was Marina Souza Da Silva, mother of Real Madrid superstar Robinho. She was held captive for 41 days until a ransom of $75,000 (£46,000) was paid to her kidnappers. This World spent six months following this intriguing case, filming with the player, obtaining exclusive footage of his mother in captivity, and even interviewing the kidnapper responsible. Escaping poverty But this film is not just about football and kidnapping. Set in Sao Paulo - a city where mansions and private swimming pools defiantly back onto the poor favella slums - it also exposes one of the most unequal societies in the world. Young boys dream of escaping poverty through football, but for the vast majority, crime is the only reality. The film intertwines the lives of three people who all came from the slums and who, in their own ways, escaped. As well as interviews with footballer Robinho, we talk to the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Robinho's mother, Marcelo Da Silva, and the head of the Sao Paulo anti-kidnapping squad. During the first two weeks of filming alone, four members of Sao Paulo's anti-kidnapping squad were murdered in shoot outs with criminal gangs.