City of God Reviews

• Seeking to survive in a brutal environment...

  
  By AXQ8T2D9IT6UG on 2005-04-30
  "City of God" ("Cidade de Deus") is the story of a boy, but also the story of a "favela" (Portuguese word with similar meaning to slum or shantytown) on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. That shantytown is called "Cidade de Deus". Throughout this extraordinary movie both the boy and the favela grow, albeit obviously in very different ways :)
  
  The boy is Rocket (Buscapé in Portuguese, played by Alexandre Rodrigues), who is born in Cidade de Deus and grows up before our eyes living in it. He is quiet and easygoing, just a non-violent person seeking a way to survive in a brutal environment. Rocket ends up doing exactly that through his passion, photography, that ends up making him an intermediary between the local gangs and the press. He is also the narrator of this movie, the voice that accompanies us throughout many of the stories that "City of God" has to offer...
  
  The other main character of "City of God" is the "city" itself, that starts merely as a couple of houses, but that grows immensely as years go by. The activities in which its inhabitants are involved also change, from petty robbery to organized crime that involves drug dealing and arms trafficking. We see Li'l Zé (Zé Pequeno in Portuguese, played by Leandro Frimino), one of the boys that used to play soccer with Rocket, grow up to become a murderer and a drug lord, someone that makes his own laws. The same happened with others, but Li'l Zé probably represents to most dangerous kind of sociopath that the favela can produce. Rocket and Li'l Zé, same circumstances, different persons, different choices. Who says that where you lives determinates how you are and what you do?. This is an excellent example that that is not always the case...
  
  Directors Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund somehow managed to convey in their movie the full strenght of the novel (written by Paulo Lins) on which "City of God" is based. This film is full of colour and energy, carrying the spectator at a dizzying pace through the twenty years it covers, never giving him time to get bored. It is wortwhile to point out that most of the "actors" didn't have any real experience as such, they just happened to live in different slums of Rio de Janeiro (including Cidade de Deus) at the time when the film was being made. I think that is something that shows in the realism of the results...
  
  On the whole, I can say that I loved "City of God", notwithstanding the fact that it is undeniably bloody and has some very violent scenes. In my opinion, they are not gratuitous, because they help the directors to capture what may really happen in a Brazilian shantytown, and show it to us. All in all, this movie is nothing short of an experience worth having and sharing. If you watch "City of God" and love it as much as I do, do your part and recommend it to others :)
  
  Belen Alcat
  
  

• RAW, COLORFUL STREETS OF RIO IN A CARNIVAL OF FILM-MAKING

  
  By A1L8HRCM60W0W7 on 2003-06-24
  So this is what Brazilian ghettos look like. Stylistically a little like "Traffic" (liberal reliance on sepia tones or drugs) or "Salaam Bombay" (similar theme couched in the streets of Bombay), this movie is a bloody but captivating look at real life in modern day Rio.

  Gangsterism is no more a fringe career option amidst the socio-economic strife of the city, but a prime-time industry that takes guts and guile to keep away from. Character after character in the movie fall a prey to this vicious panoply of drugs, poverty and gore. An underlying personal thread is the story of how our protagonist, Rocket, becomes a news photographer and escapes from the slum. Plus, a minor subplot about how he loses his virginity.

  Technically, the movie is nothing short of stunning. Several virtuoso scenes are strewn together with clever direction in which the dizzying pace and the sheer number of characters don't detract from a coherent, well told story. We are led in and around scenes, and frequently led back to explain why what occured occured. Wannabe-editors will marvel at how cunningly this effect is achieved. The cinematography, needless to mention, is geewhiz, the screen literally pops with color.

  I could wax eloquent about more reasons but the proof is in the pudding. City of God bursts at the seams with energy, vivid color and a poignant story of a man's escape from the social drivel he is born into. If you can get your hands on this movie, do so pronto, you won't regret it.
  
  

• Brutal, disturbing and brilliant. I loved it!

  
  By A17FLA8HQOFVIG on 2003-03-02
  Exploding on the screen with color, violence and a great story, this Brazilian film captures the essence of life in the City of God, a slum of Rio de Janeiro. Based on a true story of a young man who somehow escaped the preordained fate of his companions by becoming a photographer, the director, Fernando Meirelles, uses every modern technique to achieve his razor-sharp scenes of drugs, murders and non-stop violence that spins out of control and just keeps going.

  The frantic energy of the film and fascinating story kept me at the edge of my seat, as a voice-over narration that moved backwards and forward in time, held the story together. All of a sudden, a detail would be revealed that explained something that happened in the past, and, like an electric shock, my grasp of the story would move to even deeper levels. There was little time to ponder it all though, because I was so caught up in what was happening on the screen that it was only later that I could appreciate the brilliance.

  We watch several young boys grow into teenagers, tentatively experiencing the world of girls and drugs and guns and murders and crime. There's upbeat samba music throughout, and brilliant colors and blood. There's horrific violence, and also fine moments of humor and humanity. All together it just picked me up and plunked me down right into the middle of this world which made me hold my breath and live on the edge with the more than 200 non-professional actors who were recruited for this film. The sense of place is amazing. And the acting was more than just acting. It was real. And it was also one of the most creative films I've ever seen. Bravo to the filmmakers! I give "City of God" my highest recommendation.
  
  

• A descent into the living hell of Rio's "Cidade de Deus"

  
  By A2NJO6YE954DBH on 2004-06-13
  "Cidade de Deus" ("City of God") is one of the most violent movies I have ever seen, much of it perpetrated by and directed against children, but the onslaught is justified because this is what life is like in the slums of Rio De Janeiro. There are over 600 slum neighborhoods in the city housing 1.2 million of Rio's 5.8 million inhabitants. Cidade de Deus was apparently a misguided attempt at solving the problem of having so many poor in a city that thrives on tourist dollars: build a project area for the poor to keep them away from the city center. However, the result is more like John Carpenter's dystopian nightmare "Escape from New York," except that this is the real world and real life hell hole.

  Based on the novel by Paulo Lins and directed by Fernando Merirelles, "Cidade de Deus" parallels the life of its narrator, Buscapé (Rocket), with the evolution of the gangs that roam through the slum and the rise of the sociopathic gang leader Li'l Zé (Leanadro Frimino da Hora), who was the king of the drug lords in Cidade de Deus during the 1970s. It takes a while to discover that the story is as much about Li'l Zé as it is about Buscapé and that these are two different paths being followed by kids born into essentially the same circumstances.

  You would think that Buscapé (Alexandre Rodrigues) would end up being a criminal because his brother is one (although not a very good one), but even though he is young Buscapé cannot help but see the hopelessness of that sort of life. But similar forces turn Li'l Zé un a ruthless killer who consolidates his power and actually makes the slum safer because he has taken over almost all of the rival gangs. The police show up from time to time but as the story progresses we get to the point where they are out gunned by gangs. Of course the point comes where Li'l Zé has to move on the last of the gang lords who opposed him, Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele) and Knockout Ned (Deu Jorge).

  The character of Buscapé is in an interesting position, which is established literally in the opening sequence of the film, before we go back to the beginning to find out why chasing a chicken could get you killed in a crossfire. Buscapé is close enough to the world of Li'l Zé to be able to witness the rise and fall of the gang leader but is not swept up in the cycle of violence. Ultimately his position as a witness is legitimated, both in Cidade de Deus and Rio de Janeiro, by the gift of a stolen camera.

  As much as the film entwines the narratives of the power plays of a drug lord with the efforts of a young man to get out of hell alive, "Cidade de Deus" is ultimately an indictment of a city that literally turned its back on its poor and left them to create a world of violence. The city powers are content because the gangs stay in the slum, robbing the poor because as long as they leave the middle class, the rich, and the tourists alone, they are happy with the bargain. Meanwhile generations of children are growing up looking forward to the day they can get their first gun and go kill somebody they do not like. This film could not possibly have a more horrific ending in terms of representing the chilling cycle of violence that will perpetuate itself into infinity.

  By a random twist of fate I happened to watch "City of God" the same week that I got around to finally seeing "Amores Perros," so I am particularly stuck by these two films, one in Portugese from Brazil and the other in Spanish from Mexico, that both use violence to such different ends from what we have been getting from Hollywood. This is not the stylized cartoon violence of "Kill Bill" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" or the computer generated carnage of "The Return of the King" and "Troy," but something more visceral and much more powerful. Merirelles brings an artistic flair to the depictions of violence without lessening the impact or the importance of the lesson. I like how the Havana Film Festival cited Meirelles in awarding him their FIPRESCI Prize cited him: "For approaching the explosive theme of social exclusion, using an ambitious, complex and involving style of narration, without moralizing or condoning violence." Hopefully this film will have more of an impact than convincing thousands of tourists not to ever visit Rio.
  
  

• CITY OF TRUTH

  
  By A2XDS55354G693 on 2003-11-05
  This film is the truth!! The experience of growing up in a violent ghetto has never been closer to the truth than this. I grew up in the heart of the crack epidemic in Washington Heights, NYC, the birthplace of crack cocaine, so take my word for it. Everything from it's beautiful cinematography to it's skillful quick tempo storytelling, taking you from one character to the next without missing a beat is perfect!! This film is on my Top 5 favorite list and should be on yours, so enjoy!!!!!!!
  
  
• Absolutely amazing
  By A2NBOL825B93OM on 2003-02-11
  More than a regular movie, "Cidade de Deus" is an experiment in filmmaking. With only one or two exceptions, all the actors were residents of the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of the same name of the movie. They were all exhaustingly auditioned and trained to participate on the movie with the best and greatest authenticity they could manage. That's what make "Cidade de Deus" so unique. It's an authentic movie, with an authentic story and authentic characters.

  The story is about the people of "Cidade de Deus", a poor neighborhood built far from the ellegant and glamourous center of Rio de Janeiro of the sixties, built for and by poor families who were later to live there. Of course, during the next decades, The city of Rio de Janeiro englobed Cidade de Deus, and suddenly the poor families were not so far away from the rich zones of the town. Through the years, we follow the life story of some local kids, from utter poverty to immense richness from the traffic of narcotics. We also follow their own destruction in the form of war between rival traffic gangs.

  Fernando Meirelles was able to transmit, in fast paced rhythms and camera movements, the struggle for power and freedom in the poor suburb. He was also able to mantain the local people-turned-actors authenticity and liberty of acting. There are some strong scenes that leave the spectator mesmerized by their violence and reality.

  I just hope that the guy/team responsible for the subtitles in english, or in any other language, was someone with an enormous knowledge of portuguese, because the dialogue and constant use of slang (yours truly, a native brazilian, had some hard time in understanding the meaning of some words used in the dialogues) are, alone, amazing aspects of the movie.

  One of the best enterteinment I ever had.

  Grade 9.6/10
  
  

• Rocket
  By AIKTK703685OT on 2003-08-12
  Stunningly beautiful, hopeful and grim. Leaves an impression, but no impression at all, with characters more often amusing than involving. Given the broad scope of the film, it's no suprise. That and the sometimes nauseating camerawork/editing fail in their plot to ruin this movie in the least. It's fresh and intelligent. The cinematography manages to make this movie probably one of the best looking ever - the ghettos are as beautiful as the "intentionally placed but wholely prosthetic beautiful scenery" in many movies, and the beach scenes transcend beauty, at the same time fake plastic heaven and paradise born to reality. Acting is perfect, maybe reading subtitles diminishes my judgement, but it never once seemed like it was being over/under acted, even acted at all. The story is comprably grand, if not particularly moving, adept in its ability to convey itself, and enough to be entertaining without being too much of a weight upon other aspects of the movie.

  See City of God now. Buy it upon release and you probably won't have qualms about rewatching it (probably the biggest benifit of its relative distance emotionally).
  
  

• Reality vs. Morality
  By A1HCZXIBS2EV53 on 2003-05-03
  Brilliant movie. It takes the concept of poetic justice towards poignant brutality so brilliantly ridiculous and coincidental that the images will stay with you long after you've seen it.

  A lot of films about people living in impoverished environments always tend to allow its characters the luxury to have choices in their lives. In City of God, the paths and conclusion to the lives of the characters weren't mapped out from their choices. They in fact had no choice at all as that was part of the point of the film. The movie revealed that while cinematic or literary mores may constitute fictional characters to make choices in their lives that would bring about change, whether it be positive or negative, in the reality of the lives of the hoodlums in City of God, they really had no choice. Their choices were simply be a criminal or be killed.

  That is unfortunately the reality in high risk neighborhoods not just in Brazil but in America and I'm sure anywhere in the world as well. Anyone can say the obvious of spouting out drivel about how a person can overcome great difficulties through the right choices in their life. However, what that well-intentioned but enormously misappropriated statement fails to point out is that it is a rarity and an exception when that does happen.

  This is a film that makes good-intentioned morality-rich movies like Boyz N The Hood and Menace to Society seem hokey and forced.
  
  

• Another Stellar Film from South America
  By A3W4GJR5CCADBX on 2003-02-19
  This film is another proof that confirms my view that some of the most vital films are made in South America right now. While American cinema caters to mindless escapism and self-help drama, films like "Y Tu Mama Tambien", "Amores Perros", and this magnificent film portray what's important and consequential about life.

  "City of God" tracks the lives of hoodlums in the ghettos near Rio de Janeiro for three decades. Rocket is the main narrator, a boy who tries to overcome his circumstances to become a photographer. The character work is excellent, and gangsters like Li'l Ze, Knockout Ned, and others come to vivid life. The world depicted in this film is a bleak one, and although violent, much of the violence seems a necessary commentary on what makes the people living in it act in such a way.

  The camera work, and the narrative technique, one that loops backward and forward, is dazzling. This is surely one of the most aesthetically and visually strident films in recent years.

  All in all, "City of God" deserves to win the Best Foreign Film Oscar this year. It's nothing short of brilliant.
  
  

• Nothing you haven't seen before...
  By A38KB16DRKI8QW on 2003-09-30
  This film came soaring in on a massive tide of hype but, ultimately, failed to deliver. A major hit at film festivals worldwide, the film is supposedly representative of the burgeoning new film industry in Brazil. But if you've seen American films like "Menace II Society" or countless other ghetto gangsta flicks, this certainly won't offer any new surprises. The story contains a vast cornucopia of characters but concentrates mainly on two, one a leading underworld crime figure, the other a photographer who chronicles Brazilian ghetto life. The story has no real plot, but is a more a vast character study that sprawls all over the place. Inevitably, the gangsters' lifestyles leads to their early demises and we're supposed to shake our heads at the tragic waste of life. The cinematography is rather good, however, and seeing the Rio slums up close like this is interesting, but the premise is rather tiring. There is a large school of opinion that sees films like this as a vast reflection of the oppression that minorities face in the Americas, be it North or South. However, the self-destructive behaviour of the film's protagonists really doesn't invoke any sympathy. In the end, I was left feeling indifferent. The only thing I really learned from the film is that white middle-class college-boy liberal guilt extends beyond Canada and the US...it's also something that exists in Brazil. I'm sure the filmmaker's thought that they were delving into some deep subject matter here and that they were doing their duty as good little Marxists to expose the oppressive nature of their capitalist society, but in the end the only thing I was left feeling was 'so what?'. The only saving grace to this movie is the fine performances by the amateur actors, otherwise it's just an exotic foray into a familiar story...if an American made this film in New York, it wouldn't garner even half the praise that it got. An overrated work catering to pretentious cineastes who want to appear ahead of the rest of the pack.
  
  
• Not "realistic" not "gritty" not "a masterpiece"
  By AV81D16JSJ04R on 2004-06-21
  Seriously, some of the reviews here are a joke. This is Quentin Tarantino in Brazil, about as real as a "gangsta" video, and about as gritty as Steven Spielberg's recent pathetic attempts at serious cinema. Why anyone would think this collection of stupid video tricks surrounding non-characters would be masterpiece is beyond me. It's a film for critics, film students, and people who are eagerly awaiting Kill Bill vol. 3.

  Every time an overhyped movie about street punks blasting each other comes along, there's always a horde of critics right behind it praising the director for his "brutal honesty." There's nothing even remotely honest about this film, and the brutality is about as affecting as newspaper article. It's like Disneyland for 10yr old gunpunks. Bam! Somebody dies. Bam! Somebody else dies. The only scene that had any emotional weight was where Lil Dice forces some 8yr old to shoot another 8yr old. If the entire movie had been like that it would have been brutal indeed. But the rest of the flick is your typical movie violence--sterile and emotionally flat. The viewpoint of a director who obviously never saw a street killing up close and personal and has no idea how to communicate that kind of ugly violence to an audience. Young hoods with cheap handguns don't manage to kill many people from 50yds away. They have to wound them and then go up and shoot them at point blank range, usually several times, often while the victim is screaming in pain, crying, or begging for their life. That's real violence, not the stylized jumpcut crap this movie offers up.

  The DVD cover is also a cheat. Braga's niece Alice barely has a role in this movie and that role ends when Benny is killed, in the absolutely terrible strobe-light sequence which far from being brutal was just confusing and annoying. Her role is to be a Brazilian hottie for a few scenes, then to get lost because this movie really doesn't feel any need for female characters. They might get in the way of the gunfights.

  The favela gangsters posing with their guns is also a cheat. You never get any idea of who these guys are, why they join up with the local drug armies, or that they have any personality at all. They're mannequins whose only purpose is to carry a gun around to make the battle sequences more chaotic. When they die, no one cares other than film critics snivelling about the horrible world that drugs and poverty have created. Well, yeah. Duh. But not every kid's response is to grab a gun, snort a line, and start firing. The director really has no idea what makes these kids different from the hundreds of thousands of other kids who *don't* turn into monsters. And yes, I haven't forgotten about Rocket, the emotionally vapid photographer who manages to make his way out of the slums by photographing the very violence that makes the slums a place to get out of. If the director was aware of that irony, he doesn't show it.

  As any kind of social critique, this movie falls on its butt. Glowing filter shots, cool clothes, hip music, gangsters blasting away and talking about "victory." This is one long commercial for how fun the drug world must be as long as you're cool enough and violent enough to make it to the top of the heap before you get shot. If anything it will inspire future generations of favela killers to be just like the guys in the movie. I mean, look at how "cool" they are! Once again, the director could have made a powerful statement about the idolization of crime figures which creates a tragic circle that drags kids in thinking they'll be the next Lil Ze, only to end up dead. But, of course, he doesn't bother--it's much cooler to show another gun battle and a bunch of nameless/faceless corpses.

  As for the hordes of kids running around carrying guns like it was .38 Special Day at the local elemetary school, the director is quite simply full of ****. Sure, there are plenty of young kids packing pistols in Rio (and many other cities as well) but they're furtive and scared in general and in no hurry to advertise themselves to the police or rival gang members. Nor are they the kind of steely-nerved warriors who can stand in the street and blaze away. Most run and hide and shoot from cover, if they even bother to stick around. When they kill it's typically a pack of them going after one or two other guys, or a couple of them robbing and killing an unarmed victim. Not these child armies the director seems to think are responsible for the constant drug wars in the favela. And when these kids *get* killed, it's frequently an older kid or an adult, a hardened criminal, doing the killing.

  So if you like your masterpieces to be primarily fantasy-based adolescent tarantino ripoffs that are original only in the age of the cast, and your grittiness to be wrapped in clever camera tricks, this movie is for you. Otherwise, prepare to be disappointed because this movie packs all the emotional punch of the television commercials its director became famous for.
  
  

• Profoundly disturbing, but does it show us reality?
  By AHAUACV3ERRSC on 2003-06-03
  The violence of this film disturbed me profoundly. I have worked in the favelas of another Brazilian city, and maintain close relationships with many persons there. I despair when I am confronted with the fact that the faces of poor Brazilian youth I have befriended in my own life -- friendly and innocent -- are so similar to the faces I see perpetrating such horrendous acts of inhumanity as I witness in this film. Frankly, I wonder if it is really a true depiction of the reality on the ground in Rio's "Cidade de Deus", or is it, like so many North American films, a fantastic, overblown, over-the-top depiction of a narrow slice of life in the inner city? There is a fine line between DOCUMENTING real life on the streets and GLORIFYING and MAGNIFYING the violence of life on the streets. I fear that this film will have the effect of reifying the violence of the slums, and will actually make things worse than they are already. I see this film as a step in the direction of Life imitating Art -- in other words, it is similar to the way that life in the USA imitates the violence of American films. No doubt, it is an effective and controversial film. But as a person who has personal relationships with individuals who live in similar neighborhoods in Brazil, I recommend extreme caution in accepting this film as a depiction of what real life in the Brazilian slums is like. I recommend it only for those who are intellectually capable of balancing it with other images of life in Brazil.
  
  
• an intense look into a life we never knew
  By A2FEGRJQNU51P9 on 2004-06-14
  A film by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund

  Roger Ebert has heaped praise upon praise for "City of God" and all of it is warranted. The City of God slums are an offshoot of Rio de Janeiro that were created to keep the poor and the homeless away from the tourist centers of Rio. The result was a slum that is brimming with violence and pain. One can almost feel the hopelessness just bubbling up in the City of God, and that is not an exaggeration. The film is narrated by, and ultimately focuses on a young man named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues). Rocket reveals the lore of City of God, what the slum is and how it became so. Rocket tells us the story, moving backwards and forwards in time to tell the story in the way it should be told. He tells us of an event, but rather than going into detail about that event, Rocket will then show us what we need to know to understand that event in context. He will introduce a character, but then say "but now is not the time to tell his story." Rocket is a master storyteller and the entire film is his canvas, revealing bits and pieces at the perfect time.

  To tell the story of the City of God slums, we have to be told the story of L'il Ze (Leandro Firmino). L'il Ze began as a child wanting to run with one of the local gangs, but in time he grew up and was strong enough (and quick enough) to start eliminating and taking over rival gangs until L'il Ze had to be acknowledged the true king of the City of God. With the advise of his only true friend Benny (Phellipe Haagensen), L'il Ze did permit one gang to survive, that of Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele), and it is the uneasy peace between these two gangs that provides much of the tension inside the City of God. This is rough, violent, and poor slum with desperate men and all that is needed is just one tiny spark to start another turf war.

  "City of God" is powerful, stunning, violent, beautiful, stark, and it is one of the best films of the past decade. The acting is raw, and rough and it feels authentic. While we do not see the day to day life of the slum, we see the greater danger where there is always a risk of a raid or a shootout and just by trying to live their lives; people can be dragged into a war. "City of God" is not violent for the sake of being violent, nor is it gratuitous. I would say that the violence is portrayed in a realistic manner and reflects the reality of the actual City of God slum. The violence, while important to the film does not overpower the story being told and it is not overly graphic. Directors Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund do not give any easy answers but only reveal a way of life that is alien to everything I know. Being born into the City of God, a child grows up into something that he cannot control and can only hope to survive in by any means that he can. "City of God" shows how Rocket survives, and also gives a glimpse of what happens if someone like L'il Ze takes another path. "City of God" is a foreign language film and while it is similar in some respects to American gangster films like "Goodfellas", this movie goes in a different direction. It must be said that it is just as good, though.

  -Joe Sherry
  
  

• One thing to understand....
  By AHNZI6MWQJLDM on 2005-02-17
  This movie is not just realistic in showing the extent of Latin American violence, but adds an artistic, sophisticated, indirect analysis of urban crime in cities such as Rio de Janeiro.
  
  Many have compared it to Hollywood's crime dramas (Goodfellas, etc). This is not only inappropriate, but an unfair comparison. Goodfellas is based in a time and place much different from Rio's slums. The setting is richer and less violent, and the murder rates prove it. So for those who think that the violence in the movie is exaggerated, take it from a person who grew up in the world's most murderous city (Medellin, Colombia which has its share of shantytowns) and who has visisted Rio's favelas: City of God is Rio de Janerio's reflection upon itself, a fair, accurate critique of the urban decay, crime and corruption that are widespread in Latin America. Crime rates in Rio are many times higher than they are in ghettos in the US, which would explain American buyers' reactions to the film along the lines of: "this is so exaggerated". In Colombia, i have had scores of friends murdered at the hands of criminals. Please understand that this movie was the first I have seen that truly depicted violence in South America, despite some people's claims that it is unrealistic.
  
  Future buyers should not expect this to be a Hollywood movie with good guys and bad guys. They should expect the reality of life in the world's most violent ghettos and embrace it. Most people who can afford DVD players have no idea what life is like for people in the 3rd world, and City of God is their opportunity to understand this lifestyle. If you want an unrealistic crime drama such as Scarface, stay away fromo this movie. But if you really want to know what MODERN organized crime is all about, then you should buy this instantly.
  
  This movie is not about whether tourists should go to Brazil, either. In fact, Brazil is one of my favorite countries to visit because of the friendly people. If there is a lesson in City of God, it is that Brazil's criminals are not criminals by choice but are put in situations that force them into crime.
  
  Fans of Goodfellas and Scarface, buy City of God if you want to know what organized crime is really like in the 21st century.
  
  
• An exhilarating film experience...
  By ANHTTX5XIQ5GK on 2005-05-11
  It seems that repressed societies and low socio-economic environments provide an excellent backdrop, or impetus, for unique artistic and creative achievement.
  
  This is evident in music i.e. Bob Marley hailed from the ghettos of Trenchtown, and The Beatles came from industrial Liverpool, but the above point is with particular reference to film making.
  
  Films that highlight the detrimental impact of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the mass murder of Tutsis in Rwanda, the election process in Iran, or Eastern European women being sold into prostitution, all have one thing in common: They serve to open our eyes, and very often - hit home hard. These stories of suffering, hardship and turmoil transcend any particular place and region because they all relate to the human condition.
  
  Fernando Meirelles' "City of God" is one such example. Set against the impoverished backdrop of the Brazilian `favelas' or ghettos, it's a vivid and powerful piece of film making that highlights social ills and the struggle of conscience.
  
  Based on a true story, "City of God" provides an insight into the lives of characters that all emerge from similar backgrounds, their resulting attitudes, and the different choices they make. The film culminates on the streets of Rio De Janeiro's slums in the 1970s, where drugs, corruption, and crime are rampant, and the value for human life is practically non-existent.
  
  The movie also importantly demonstrates the cyclical nature of life in such extreme and under-privileged conditions. The children of these slums (or "Runts" as they are referred to in the film) take to crime at an early age and are more concerned with getting hold of guns than going to school. There are exceptions, but for the majority of children born into this particular environment, a life of easy money in dealing drugs and robbing others far outweighs the incentive of an education and working an honest job.
  
  Beautifully made and splendidly acted, this will keep you glued to the screen and prove to be an exhilarating film experience.
  
  
  
• City Of God--One of the Best Films in the Past 10 Years
  By AHGM3TF8NC8VJ on 2003-06-12
  One of the best films I've ever seen. This gritty, depressing, hardboiled crime saga follows the story of a young photographer and his experience in the ghetto's of Rio de Janeiro. I feel fortunate I was able to see this film in the theater, this is the type of film that will influence directors years from now. The violence is in your face and brutal, and the fact that most of the characters are under the age of 16 makes some of the scene's hard to digest. But none of the violence is gratuitous or unnecessary. Also the film is perfectly stylized in the Disco/Funk era of the 70's. The sound track is all Brazilian Funk and provides a great balance to the violence and crazy attitudes of all the gangsters. The story depicts the rise and fall of a 16 year old cocain king pin and his 12 year old cronies, all captured in photographs by the main character, who tries his hardest to rise out of the ghetto by means other than drugs or violence. What is even more incredable about this movie is that it is a true story, and most of the actors are real kids from the ghetto's of Rio. But the movie hardly relies on the fact that it's a true story to become ingagining, it really wasn't until the film ended that I realized that most of the events in the movie actually happened. The film is so well stylized you will feel as though you are watching an documentry of these events. A film you will not soon forget.
  
  
• masturbatory herd mentality
  By on 2004-06-23
  nothing new here, ought to be packaged as "my first foreign film experience" for all the children writing such rave reviews without the smallest hint of freethinking criticism or knowledge of motion picture history. this is for people who think natural born killers is a cinematic landmark.
  
  
• Wanted to walk out
  By A2IHDE0X7J5IFQ on 2004-08-10
  If I had driven my own car to this movie I would have walked out. One of the most senslessly violent movies I have seen. If your idea of a good time includes watching a thug ask two small crying children (3-5 years old) if they want to be shot in the hand or the foot, and they shoot them... If you enjoy watching a thug then decide to kill one of these kids to earn his way into the gang, and he kills the child... then buy the movie, cuddle up with your popcorn enjoy.
  
  
• Brilliant, Beautiful, Disturbing, No Holds Barred.
  By ARTLVFABP9AOE on 2003-03-12
  A Conventional story with unconventional twist and excellent cinematography. A great slice-of-life movie whose characters are depicted in a clever non-stereotypical manner. The humanity (or lack of) of each character shines through. One gets the feeling that we are not watching actors but we are passive participants in this world.

  Great story, great scenes, beautiful realistic portrayals of people.

  On a personal note, it reaffirms my position that slums and corruption are the same the world over, and no race, culture, or creed holds a patent on graft, corruption, greed, avarice, or vice. City of God is excellent for any gangster movie fan, and is a challenging and certainly entertaining film overall.

  Can't wait for the DVD.
  
  

• Voted �Best Film 2003� - Empire Magazine
  By AD0J5KK4WQXNS on 2004-01-03
  Having best film 2003 from the British Film Magazine "Empire" is not a bad acclaim to have on your curriculum vitae. Neither is it such a bad thing to have that when not one member of your cast is known to anyone or the fact that subtitles bumble along at the bottom of your screen. For a director that can only spell one thing - Fernando Meirelles must be quite a gifted auteur... and he is.

  City of God deserves it "Goodfellas" status and certainly many parallels can be drawn between the two - story spans decades across various family criminal lines, protagonist is trying to get out of his predicament with violence around every corner from both the mob and the cops. The premise is complex. City of God is a slum in Rio De Janeiro where murder, theft and police corruption is a way of life. Several children's stories are covered as they grow up to take their paths as either drug dealers, hit-men, gun sellers, armed robbers or just nobodies trying to get out of the nightmare city. Each kid has his own effect on the City of God which for one decade looks like drug disco paradise and then the next, a hell-hole worse than some outpost of the Vietnam War. However what is most frightening here is that there are hardly any adults in sight. The average age of a hoodlum in this film is five years of age with a "Godfather" being about eighteen. Kids can get hold of an AK47 quicker than they can get hold of a packet of sweets and they will use their guns in a bat of an eyelid.

  The truth is that this film covers roughly twenty or so characters in depth and at times may seem slow, but these dull moments which last only a few minutes can certainly be forgiven for the dynamics that are on display here. Our main protagonist is basically a youth becoming a "war correspondent" with the local news media and he gets himself right in on top of the action with his camera. Meirelles manages to capture some awe-inspiring scenes and cuts the film together in an amazing fashion with lots of extremely moving cinematography. The actors and their acting is also strikingly real, many of whom actually feel as if they carry some real City of God genes in their blood. This movie looks as good as, if not better than, most Hollywood blockbusters.

  The film is shocking in parts with children shooting and torturing other children in order to get their piece of the city. It is mostly grim and upsetting. Adults seem resigned to the background where they can do little more than just sit back and watch their kin rip the world apart. The problem is that the US has basically outlawed drugs in their city which is enforced by the police (unless on the take) and so this is how everybody makes a living - selling marijuana and cocaine, but at the same time COLT company is pumping out those weapons like no tomorrow. Soon enough the teens have collected enough ammo to make each one look like an upgraded version of Rambo.

  This is art house cinema with a hell of a bite and many social morals to enlighten us. It is a tour de force to be reckoned with and certainly one of the most surprising and energetic films you will likely see this year. DVD ownership is a must and even more amazing is the fact that this is based on a true story and the events in this film actually happened.
  
  

• Documentary is much better
  By A2SGS15EDKHTQ on 2004-07-26
  I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone - unless they were scouting for someone to direct the next James Bond or Arnold Schwarzenegger film. It's just a fast-paced gangster flick, using (one is tempted to say 'exploiting') as a background one of the most troubled slums in the world. People die every few moments, and it sports a relentless, pumped-up, John-Woo-style gun-and-trouble worship which you can find in dozens of action flicks these days. It's flashy as hell, and not real.
  
  The documentary on the DVD, however, is another story altogether. It's completely centered on the government terror that rains down on this city daily (something very marginal in the film) and is truly terrifying in a way that the andrenaline-MTV-soaked movie can't touch.
  
  
• City of God will blow your mind away
  By A3E5VKPVU8LAIT on 2003-02-02
  After you finish viewing `City of God' you are left wondering about the irony of the title. It is not long in the movie where you realize that the City of God is a place totally forgotten by everybody. Still, that is the name that the government of Brazil gave to the housing developments outside Rio, constructed in the early `60s to hold thousands of people. Those slums, known as "the favelas", eventually led to the isolation of poor people from the city center, becoming a place where music, life and colour can be sensed in the air, but at the same time the law is absent and the violent gangs rule the streets.

  The story of `City of God' is based on a book written in a period of 9 years by Paolo Lins, a man who grew up in the favelas and managed to escape. In it, he describes his experiences regarding the creation and the rise of the gangs that control the drug dealing business.

  Fernando Meirelles, who started as a director for TV commercials, transforms this complex and demanding material (the book includes more than 200 characters), into a breathtaking, terrifying film that is visually stunning (among others, it includes extensive use of hand-held cameras, flashbacks to introduce the different characters, fast cuts and distinct colours to distinguish the `60s from the `70s, where all the action takes place) and at the same time, shockingly violent: The rate of deaths is so high while the age of the victims so small. 7-year old boys look for guns before they are even able to go to school, and to make things even worse, use them against each other without any hesitation. The gangs provide them with status, power and recognition, replacing importance social structures such as the family.

  `City of God' is a film that will blow your mind away; it will certainly trouble you and probably make you feel a bit ashamed and guilty about the things that actually happen around the world, without us doing or knowing anything about. It is certainly refreshing to see occasional moments of humour intervene with its otherwise grim and serious nature. In any case, it is one of the most powerful motion pictures of the current year.
  
  

• GANGS OF BRAZIL
  By ANIMV3SPDD8SH on 2003-04-22
  Classy, hyper-active monster of a movie that is a constant barrage of viscious violence overruled by the enthralled viewer's and unsympathetic but wonderful lead character's adaptation to an environment that is indeed a city of God, if truly even one person escaped it's grip. Picture "West Side Story" run wild in living hell standing off and challenging a colorful Brazilian street carnival stomping across switchblade slashing and gun-popping gangland violence with more trafficking than a thousand crushed ant hills. There is so much artistry here but I was particularly delighted with the jam-packed nightclub scenes with dance-crazed patrons looking primitive and clumsy compared to the electrified ballet of life going on out in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. A superb film, beautifully conceived and executed with a dynamic enormous cast, some of whom were recruited from the very slums of Rio where the film is based and apparently shot. Magnificant.
  
  
• Gangs of Rio De Janeiro
  By on 2004-06-01
  Thanks to Charles Murphy for his heads-up re the DVD. I'll be sure to look for the Brazilian version.

  I haven't seen the DVD yet. This review concerns the movie I saw in the theater.

  This is a great movie, on a par with Scorsese's "Goodfellas". It is exactly what "Gangs of New York" was supposed to be: a tragic tale of two generations of gang life in the slums of a huge, sprawling, hopeless, lawless city. Whereas "Gangs" got lost in a phony story with miscast actors, "City of God" is a perfect recreation of its subject matter. We see all the characters grow up in these squalid surroundings, and everything they do makes sense, tragic sense. We watch in horror as people get sucked into a dead-end life of crime, while a lucky few escape. We see the whole thing come round and then go full circle again. We understand at the end that the whole senseless, bloody thing will go on and on. The old monsters get pushed aside by the new monsters they helped to create. And it will keep on keeping on. Another generation, another mess. Humanity will never learn from its mistakes.

  This is a movie that sticks with you. After you've seen it, you won't forget it.
  
  

• Sadistic and base
  By AG178133A81HL on 2005-01-31
  This movie is memorable, but for the wrong reasons. The level of violence is profoundly awful, scary and excessive. The entire two hours is about people, mostly children or the young, being gunned down, cut up, and otherwise killed from two feet away. It is about human beings becoming animals, and why does one really need to see that in such gory detail? -- we already know human beings can sink to the lowest depths. This is not Goodfella's, which was about a culture and at least had some humor in it. This is degradation, for the people in it and for the poor viewer.
  
  There is a scene of maiming and torturing a crying, begging nine or ten year old boy that made ME want to kill the director because I will never get it out of my mind for the rest of my life. I have had Brazilians tell me that the favelas are really like this, but it is hard to believe. This in the end is a self-indulgent violent fantasy that slaked the filmmaker's basest instincts but leaves us feeling like vomiting. People were crying and leaving the movie in the theater I was in. Save your soul from such appalling baseness and don't see it.
  
  
• storytelling and violence at its best
  By A1OLV53LJZ3I39 on 2003-10-11
  forget about boyz n da hood or menace to society, gangs of new york was a joke. This is the real deal, and best of all its all based on a true story. Rocket is a boy who grows up in the slums of Rio De Janeiro a small city called " City of God" and sees the harsh brutal reality that is life in the hood. Youngs kids and teenagers run the city with guns and drug deals is an everyday occurrence. The actors are perfect, story is flawless full of surprises and twists, both shocking and humorous.

  This is truly a great movie and should not be missed!!!!!!!!!
  
  

• CIDADE DE DEUS
  By AJ4CR2LM73UCK on 2004-04-03
  Simply put, this is probably one of the single most significant films ever released, and (so far) undoubtedly the most important film of the 21st century. You know, I won't bog you down with technical and story details, 'cause you don't want to read those again. But the film is packed to the gills with so much rich detail and believably realistic acting from no one's residing in the very "favela" that is the film's namesake, which inherently implies that it warrants something uniquely special. Any misanthropic gutterpunk in the US can hate our government because of what it deprives its citizens, but you know what? They haven't seen this movie; they have not known true and calculated governmental neglect.
  But, I'll just let these facts speak for themselves: "Cidade de Deus" has remained in Bay Area movie theaters for going on fifteen months straight, the controversy of the film's failure to gain entry into the 2002 Oscars' Best Foreign Language Film category heralded delayed critical celebratory nominations for the following year, in which it garnered every single important nomination excluding "Best Picture". And the film is Brazil's number one all-time money maker. That not enough? The film's reception and high accolades are also responsible for the Brazilian government prompting socioeconomic reform. This is what I mean when I use the term "significant," and I don't use it lightly.
  The direction is beyond craftsmanlike, the cinematography exemplary, the screenplay is crisp, layered, and cleverly nonlinear without ever making the viewer play catchup. And the editing... oh, man, the editing. It won the British Film Award for Editing back in 2002, and in case you don't know, that is a granddaddy prize for technical film achievement.
  The film boasts maybe one of the strongest senses of place I've ever witnessed in film. This film takes place INSIDE that world; the world does not take place around the film, if that makes any sense.
  If you want to watch something that will teach you about the forgotten corners of the world even more than being uncommonly entertaining and violently riveting, this is the film to wake up with. I cannot offer a higher recommendation.
  
  
• A masterpiece. You must not miss City of God.
  By A2KU5PG32H7QBN on 2004-06-13
  This is a great movie, a masterpiece, a heart-breaking adventure. It is everything a film should be. City of God surges with majesty, love, hate, death, life and greed, a chronicling of two decades in the slums of Rio; an accurate, honest chronicling. Director Fernando Meirelles does not hesitate to share with us the truth surrounding a hidden world unknown to most before they'd seen or heard of the film. And thank God such a masterful auteur was given this sprawling epic. Otherwise, the violence and the horror could have been exploited for pure entertainment. But Meirelles does not entertain. He tells a story to open eyes, not to wow with special effects.

  Technically, the film triumphs. But not with prototypical summer-blockbuster CGI. It amazes with its editing and cinematography, two aspects of film making not often recognized by the common person. But when one watches City of God, one realizes how crucial they are to the delivery of a story. The cinematography is colorful, beautiful; the tones and colors change with each decade, with each place. And there are shots so innovative you will have to rewind and watch them again to realize that what you'd just seen is reality. For instance, at the start of the film, the main character, Rocket, is in between a gang and a small battalion of police. But before the battle or outcome is explored any further, the camera swirls around his head, he shrinks, everything deteriorates into a beige wasteland, and the clock is visually turned back to the '60s. I was amazed after having watched this shot. It was so unique and full of substance, like nothing I'd seen before.

  The editing underscores the life the people in the "Cidade de Deus" must live. The film centers around the development, establishment and clashes between two gangs: one lead by Carrot, another lead by the insane, death-obsessed Li'l Ze, who murders and kills those who stand in the way of his drug business, or those who simply annoy him. Every inhabitant of the slums is constantly vigilante. And the editors cut back and forth between eyes, feet, guns, and bullets so quickly and cleanly that a gauranteed sense of persistent paranoia is achieved with utter grace.

  Another strong aspect of the film is its writing. The narrative structure allows for a unique explanation of each important gang or character that roams the City (at times, there is a non-linear play with time itself, introducing specific characters, such as Li'l Ze, with chilling imagery and completed sequences). The narrator himself, Rocket, grows from a young boy to a teenager inside the borders of the chaotic district, thus knowing the ins-and-outs of every part of the social and physical life within the region. He politely introduces himself, some dangerous family members, and even distant thugs, such as the Elementary-aged Runts. His know-how is sensed and becomes very casual, but adventurous, even breath-taking.

  One monologue in particular resonated with me: A young woman of the slums is being seduced by a member of the Tender Trio, one of the earlier gangs found at the beginning of the film. Despite his numerous courses of action, she at first pushes him away for being a "hood" (short for hoodlum), saying, "Hoods don't stop, hoods take breaks...hoods don't love, they desire." She continues with some of the most mesmerizing words of the entire film, remaining in your heart and your head for days after the credits roll.

  Some of the performances in City inevitably spark your interest. The main characters -Benny, Li'l Ze and Rocket- are played with charisma and soul; in the case of Li'l Ze, Douglas Silva manages to discover his inner being. There are scenes when the ruthless Ze lets go of his "boss of the slums" persona and breaks down in tears, revealing darker regions of his already shadowed-over psyche. Silva's performance is, by far, the best in the film.

  Overall, City of God is most certainly the greatest film in years. Apart from being creative, visually stunning and intelligent, it is honest, telling us, "We're not going to censor this violence, because then we would not be sharing the real core of the Cidade de Deus' existence. Children do kill. Children are killed. Drugs are rampant. It is chaos, not a PG-13 adventure flick." Again, I commend Meirelles for allowing this film to remain in raw form. City of God has invaded the cinema with its genius portrayal of a City that has become a sort of myth among those who live far, far way. Our eyes have been opened. And as the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has clearly established, we need to act. City of God is a banner demanding change.
  
  

• Depressingly Wonderful
  By A2U1365B242BPO on 2004-07-21
  I actually rented City of God from Netflix, but will probably be purchasing this in the near future. I've seen many folks reference US made movies about the mafia or gang warfare in relation to City of God, but I think I totally disagree. Yes, in a way City of God is the Brazilian version of a gang film, but it is more like watching a documentary on the evolution of gang/drug and crime problems in the hopeless slums of Brazil. Unlike many of the gang films made in the US, City of God seems to be far more chaotic because the main characters are mostly all children, some of which are very young. City of God actually features children and not 20 or 30 somethings that may look young. The Runts in particular are both heartbreaking and loathsome at the same time, and are hard to watch because the actors are actually as young as 6.
  There is far too many good things for me to identify, but three things really made this movie work for me. The first has to be the cinematography, which doesn't insult your eyes and take away from the movie with hyper-colorized visuals. Second, the casting director deserves much credit in casting unknowns to play these characters, preserving a documentary feel to the movie. Finally, the movie is structured around a well thought out narrative from Rocket, one of the main characters. Starting in the 60's, the movie moves flawlessly into the 70's and also stops to tell the stories of a few main characters. All this while never feeling disjointed or confusing. I can't say enough good things about a movie that has such a hopeless theme.
  
  
• Over-rated dreck
  By A3G2WIUGD47EFQ on 2005-02-20
  The only difference between this movie and your average Hollywood shoot 'em up is that in this movie, they speak in a foreign language and in your average Hollywood shoot 'em up, you just might care about a character or two.
  
  
  This is basically gratuitous violence and complete garbage masquerading as "art". And the freaking "Matrix" shot? Please. That was played out in '99.
  
  

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