Search - City of God on DVD

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

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 06/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""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."

Absolutely amazing

J R Zullo | São Paulo, Brazil | 02/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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"