City of God
Released 2002
Stars Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Frimino da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen, Deu
Jorge, Matheus Nachtergaele, Douglas Silva
Directed by Fernando Meirelles
The irony of calling this movie City of God will not be lost on the viewer, since the location in question – the slums (or favelas) of Rio de Janeiro – is, at the best of times, purgatory, and, at the worst of times, hell. God is nowhere to be found. Poverty is the way of life. Greed, drugs, and violence rule these streets. The latter is so pervasive that, when a gang war erupts, prepubescent children arm themselves with guns and join in the fray. The ability to use a firearm is a more important, and prevalent, trait than the ability to read and write.
City of God is based on actual events that occurred in Rio de Janeiro during the 1960s and 1970s, and which formed the factual background for Paulo Lins' novel of the same name. In adapting the source material from the written page, director Fernando Meirelles has crafted a distinctive motion picture – one takes us into the streets with an unsurpassed intensity and immediacy. Meirelles' style is ripe with fast cuts, hand-held camera sequences, and other instances of visual potency. The '60s sequences and '70s sequences have individually unique looks – the former are viewed through an orange/brown filter while the latter boast slightly desaturated colors. The single most memorable scene involves a murder that is lighted by a strobe, making everything seem to occur in jerky slow-motion.
The storyline is not straightforward. The movie tells the tale of the rise and fall of the fearsome, sociopath gang leader Li'l Zé (Leanadro Frimino da Hora), who reigned as king of the drug lords during the '70s. The first portion of the movie illustrates some of the forces that mold Li'l Zé into the man he becomes, while the second half shows his ruthless leap to power (he kills all of his rivals), followed by the take-no-prisoners war he wages against opposing gangsters Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele) and Knockout Ned (Deu Jorge).
Summary by James Berardinelli
This is a brilliant film about a frightening part of the world. If you ever vacation in Rio de Janeiro, don't stray from the tourist areas. If you think you might want to, watch this movie first. It's not fair to think the Rio slums are unique because there are similar slums in most of the world's countries, but rarely have they come so alive on film. "City of God" is brilliant in the way it shows the slum's cycle of violence. Its use of guns and youth is overwhelmingly bleak, but the story is mesmerizing due to its kinetic camerawork and clever editing which perfectly complement its sense of urgency. It's amazing how Meirelles juggles all of the characters with their individual stories while maintaining a straightforward narrative. As far as filmmaking goes, it doesn't get much better than this.
It can be difficult to watch a movie when all of the characters are as repugnant as these, but this movie works because its narrator, Rocket, is not a criminal. He provides the moral compass that the rest of the characters so desperately lack, and he also serves to let us know there are good people in the slums. The fact that not all of the kids are killers and drug dealers is important, because otherwise it's difficult to care for the kids. For example, there's the scene where the youngest member of Li'l Zé's gang has to shoot one of the Runts in the foot and kill the other. This is a difficult scene since the two Runts are so young, but I couldn't feel too sorry for them. It's possible Li'l Zé was killing the next Li'l Zé before he had a chance to come of age, which in these slums is when you're a teenager. Rocket's presence gave me a little more sympathy for them.
The sad part of the whole situation is how much of it is environmental. Some people, like Li'l Zé, would be criminals no matter where they lived, but most of these kids become criminals because they see no alternative. If they lived in a nice suburb, they would never consider picking up a gun at the age of 10 to rob people (for starters). The only way to end a situation like this is through viable employment, but that's a difficult thing to implement. It's a lot easier and cheaper to throw your poor people into a ghetto and spend your money confining them there. It's a lot more humane, however, to try to raise their standard of living. The great thing about this film is that it may have a real, albeit probably small, effect on the Rio slums. Although the book describes these events in greater detail, it didn't have the same effect on Brazil as this film has. Fernando Merisel has created a visceral experience that illustrates the situation in such a way that it can't be ignored. There's an excellent documentary on the DVD that delves deeper into the current issues facing Rio de Janeiro, and I'm sure it's been stirring the pot. At some point, the upper class will need to share some of their wealth with the poor, because you can only oppress them for so long before they rise up and take it all. Without change, the French Revolution will come to Brazil as it has to so many countries throughout the centuries. --Bill Alward, January 3, 2005