City Of God (2002)

 

Genre: Crime/ Drama

Time: 2h 10mins

Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund

Quick Summary: In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.

Unafraid to be real this shows how ugly the world can be.

Straight off the bat, this is not for everybody. It is not some audience members' idea of being entertaining, and is pretty unflinching, and uncompromising and shows the ugly reality of the world of drugs and crime. It feels more like a documentary with how real it felt, or a study piece. 

It's very well shot and made. The editing is really dated though as it screams the early 2000s with zoom-in/out transitions, very short clips/stills timed to the music at fast-paced, and epilepsy-inducing flashes. I liked it though, as it made it more gritty and had a little bit of an edge to it. I also liked a lot of the landscape shots as it shows how lonely and empty this life can be.

Though it isn't a plot line that jumps around, it's one that has lots of little storylines told after each other in order for the next to make sense. Each one strongly connects to the next, and more than likely introduces a very important character or event. There is lots of provoking thought, tension and emotion, while the action is positively explosive and frighteningly brutal. There were a few scenes even I had trouble watching because it was too intense for me.

It shows both the struggles of being a "Gangster" in a drug capital and someone who is stuck slap bang in the middle of the same place, someone who just wants to never get involved and ignore it. Though this shows it is almost impossible to do so, that life can be relentless. 

I did struggle through a few scenes due to how long they went on, and particularly the start I found difficult to get really into. A lot of characters are thrown in at random times, and it made it easy to sometimes mix up them/ forget who they were. As well with the amount of stories being told, I had almost forgotten what actually happened at the start of the film, especially with how fast-paced some scenes are.

This is a powerful story, expressing themes of greed, grief, hatred, vengeance, feeling useless and restless. Most of all, and most importantly, it tells the sad and harsh reality of this type of life and area. No sugar coating. How easy some people can kill, sometimes for fun. There is a lot of hard-hitting violence, which not everyone will find comfortable to watch. A sad social commentary, but definitely worth a watch.

8/10

"Why return to the City of God, where God forgets about you?"