Treatment

A man’s voice reads Matthew 25: 31-46 (“..when I was hungry you gave me food…”), while sitting in what appears to be a small chapel. We can’t seem to get a complete view of him or where he is. Just when it looks like we are going to get clear view, the image cuts to what appears to be a very poor neighborhood. As we watch the images cut back and forth between the chapel and neighborhood, we begin to have a few questions: Who is this man? Why is he reading this verse, and why is he in this chapel? And what is his relationship with this impoverished neighborhood?

Pao de Vida
Bread of Life

Fading in on an image looking down at a city, the words “Rio Verde, Goias” and “Brazil” appear over the picture. The same voice that was heard reading the verse in the film’s opening begins to describe the city. As he does so, images of the city are seen. We see the city’s “Heart of the City” statue, drive through a shopping district, gated communities, as well as seeing other iconic images from the city such as the city’s replication of Rio de Janeiro’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue. As he begins to bring his description of the city to a close, we see children playing soccer.

Because soccer is such a major part of life-rich or poor, this soccer game becomes the transition that takes us to Dom Miguel, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. Children in this neighborhood are also playing soccer, but their game is very different. Unlike the children we saw playing in the city, these kids are playing soccer barefoot on red clay. A woman’s voice begins describing this neighborhood. With her description we tour the neighborhood in same fashion as we did earlier when we were introduced to the city. We can now see that the images seen during the reading of the verse in the opening came from this area in the city. A small brick building stands out from the small make shift houses that we have seen. A sign sits outside the building that reads ”The Bread of Life Project” as the voice mentions their program that feeds and educates members of this community..

At this point, we are introduced to Lucia and Eudoxio Santos sitting together at their home back in Rio Verde. We now realize that these are the faces of the male and female voices that we have heard up to this point. We see them interact with each other through images, as they give us a brief history of what brought them together and how they got to this point in their lives.

In a small chapel, Eudoxio reveals that he is the chaplain of the Dr. Gordon Presbyterian Hospital. A white chapel sits on the hospital campus, and we begin to see that this was the location of the Bible verse reading in the opening segment of the film. Eudoxio continues to talk about his daily activities as hospital chaplain as we see him in action in the daily morning worship service that he leads for hospital staff. As he continues talking about his responsibilities, we learn that he is also the pastor of a church in Rio Verde as well as leading worship services at the Bread of Life center in Dom Miguel that we were introduced to in our short “tour” of Dom Miguel earlier in the film. Through his words and actions, we get a sense of the strong dedication that this man has for his community.

In a small office in the hospital, we go one on one with his wife Lucia. We learn that she too has number of daily responsibilities. As she talks, we see her working in her office and in a number of rooms in the hospital laboratory. As head of the laboratory, her days are tirelessly spent making sure that everything is running smoothly.

As they begin talking about their Bread of Life project, we hold the images in the back of out head of how busy their daily lives are, making it even more impressive that they make the time to run this food delivery program in Dom Miguel.

Food packets wrapped in cellophane are piled on their patio. As we hear about where this food comes from, we get a glimpse of the contents of these packets, and find it hard to believe that each of these packs will feed a family for one month. Several packs are loaded into the bed of his truck as we prepare to make a delivery run.

As we travel back to Dom Miguel, we get a more personal look at the neighborhood. Our short “tour” of the community earlier in the film only showed us the basic outlay of the neighborhood. As Eudoxio and Lucia interact with families, we are able have a more personal connection as we see and hear the impact that these two people are having on this community. Seeing the conditions that these families are living in help us to understand why the Santos, as busy as they are, feel so strongly about the commitment that they have made to this community.

This final act in the film that follows their work with their Bread of Life project is the most important act in the film. It is this act where we will see their interaction with members of Dom Miguel as well as hearing and seeing the impact that they are having. As the film closes, we will see that you can never be too busy have an impact on the lives of others.
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