Day 31: City Of God

“Have you lost your mind? You are just a kid!"

“A kid? I smoke, I snort. I've killed and robbed. I'm a man."

This was my first foreign movie I had watched (apart from American films) and didn’t know what to expect. I heard everyone rave about it and seen a lot of good reviews so I had high expectations of it, it didn’t disappoint! It was adapted by Braulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins and directed by debutant Fernando Meirelles. For inexperience director to make a movie of this calibre with a low budget is really incredible, I guess it’s a compliment for Meirelles’s movie being compared to Scorsese’s “GoodFellas”.

The story starts off in the 80’s with a chicken escaping being slaughted and chased by a gang with pistols. The scene then end’s with a stand off between a gang and the police with Rocket worryingly in the middle of it.

Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) narrates our journey into the slums of Rio de Janeiro, the City of God. A child of the 60s, he witnesses decades of barbarity, greed, power, rape and revenge which fuel a tragic gang war. His aim is to meet a girl and leave the drug filled city to take up his dream of being a photographer. It seems the only way to get out of the city is either football or crime.

The “city of god” drives most of the deprived children into committing crimes and helping gang leaders do their dirty work. Just like Lil Ze who later takes over the city and becomes the “godfather” started from the bottom, it’s a vicious cycle.

The movie is filled with entertainment and constantly leaves you on the edge of your seat. I couldn’t take my eyes of the movie. City Of God bombards the screen with shocking images of brutality that leave you feeling emotionally numb and overwhelmed. It’s shocking that the film is based on true event’s and actual city’s are filled with vicious gang’s taking over leaving majority of children helpless into the one route their future holds for them, being criminals.

The acting is superb in this film and the majority where of a largely non-professional cast recruited from the streets. Alexandre Rodrigues was excellent acting as rocket and if you’re asking yourself, I know his face? Well he later when on to appear in John Legends music video “we just don’t care”. It’s a shame that the majority of actors didn’t go on to better things, although Meirelles who directed the series “City of Men” did recruit a handful of the actors for the project.

City of god was nominated for dozens of awards but unfortunately only won a handful, it is however in many people’s “top 100 movies” including Empire, Time and Film 4. If that’s not enough to make you go and see this film it even has a soundtrack including James Brown’s “Like a sex machine” and “Kung fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas.

Shocking, frightening, thrilling, funny and emotional, City of god is a movie that will defiantly blow your mind!