BRAZIL ON THE MOVE

Mr. Dos Passos has produced a teeming technicolor travelogue which is reminiscent, in one respect, of the Brazilian-made motion picture, Black Orpheus: the misery and poverty are there, all right, but so cheerfully masked for foreign consumption that one almost envies the victims. In 1958 the Brazilian interior was still mostly unsettled; the building of a new capitol, Brasilia, in this region was intended to encourage the swelling population crowded along the seacoast to spread out and thus revivify the sick economy. Brazil can become one of the world's richest nations, if she can conquer her geography. The confidence is there--at least among the planners and engineers. One hopes that the progress claimed here is being made, and that the leaders are every bit as dedicated as the author says they are, but this book fails to convince on almost every level. The situation demands a more realistic approach; surely the Brazilian people are not all ""longsuffering happy-go-lucky"" nomads.