A very good opening ceremony given the budget I thought. Sure it wasn't London or Beijing, but both of them will go down in history as fantastic and both set an extremely high bar.
I'm sure lots of people who were hoping to see something like London or Beijing are disappointed. It wasn't a huge spectacle and I'm sure it could have been a lot of better with a bigger budget. But it focused on things that some people might not have not known that well about Brazil and "serious" issues - the early history of colonisation, slavery, global warming, it presented the favelas, but did so in a creative light.
The carnival at the end felt out of place, but I'm glad they didn't turn the whole event into one big carnival - it would have been as cliché as anything and there is more to Brazil than the carnival. And plus, I don't think one big carnival is reflective of public mood or the state of in Brazil right now.
It certainly won't go down as one of the best... but given the tensions in Brazil, given the public mood, and given the budget, it was really well done and there were a few really beautiful scenes. Well done Brazil.
I'm slain.
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