Some unnecessary info: when he said "But it never gets heavy", the reason of this is that the production and director wishing to make a change like filming with the intention of letting something useful in the slum (don't wasting their budget unnecessary and also don't wasting the use of locals and local service that are expert in the town and their common circumstance)
By the filming, acting, food service, locations, etc... they use real neighbors of those Favelas including real delinquents, that's the reason the acting, the scenes, some camera angles and changing of the script was produced by the synergy and cooperation of their point of views and sometime real experiences, so some scene don't feel hardcore because they are making like they feel proud acting or acting between friends like in good vibes production