No time to pause
by Michel Heitzmann
Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro. October 2025.
I was here in 2012. With two small children and a washed out beatification poster still on every wall.
We took the train up, walked onto the platform, ate bananas. Nobody was in a hurry.
The statue was the same. The view was the same. Lagoa, Ipanema, the ocean, Pão de Açúcar to the left. One of the best views on earth.
He is 18 now. She is 16.
What changed: the platform was a place then. Now it is a production. Disneyland with winding queues. We were there early. Some dudes back at the hotel on Copacabana told us they went later and queued for five hours.
Five hours to put your phone on the floor, portrait mode. To post it.
A hundred people performing the pose the statue already owns. Backs to Guanabara Bay. Guided by men making a living from it.
The statue behind them, arms open, looking at something nobody else was looking at.
I took the photograph of the crowd. Then I took the photograph of the view. And rushed out in disbelief.
Photos with Canon PowerShot SX40 HS in 2012, Canon R6M2 RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM in 2025
Corcovado à la Disneyland.