 Upon its release, "Lula, Son of Brazil" was the most expensive Brazilian film ever, with a budget of over 17 million reais, being later surpassed by "Nosso Lar".On September 23, 2010, the film was unanimously chosen by a Ministry of Culture commission as Brazil's submission to the 83rd Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, despite not having been chosen to compete.The film was a commercial and critical failure, accused as election propaganda,
and producers even aired for free.