La Ciudad de Dios (The City of God) is the spanish translation of this great movie.
I also saw this movie last year going back to my Latin country in Spanish and seeing
as Spanish and Portuguese language are very similiar (the movie was made in Brazil)
I saw the movie as close to the original. There are some differences though, in US.
the main character is called Buscape (Alexandra Rodrigues) is actually called
Pedrator short for Pedro in the spanish form.
The movie is about the vicious and bloody Brazilian teenage mafia in the 1970’s
which resulted in one of the most bloody times in Brazil. This is a very violent
movie I should warn people who may think of watching it.
The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola was a violent mobster movie, but this movie
is about as violent if not more violent than the Godfather, since many of the
Brazilian mob leaders are kids themselves and grow up to vicious killers.
It was directed by Kátia Lund* and Fernando Meirelles * who also have done other Brazilian movies.
There is an old theory that says that killers are made not born but after watching
La Ciudad de Dios you can make a good case that killers are born.
Ze Pequeno (Leandro Firmino) at about 10 yrs of age commits his first murders with
a glee on his face and grows up to be one of the most violent criminals in Brazilian
history.
The movie is taken fro the novel of Paul Lins and centers of the poor family of Pedrato (ill use the names of the Spanish version since I found it be very raw and true).
Pedrato has a violent brother who is mixed in with a gang made of himself, Bene (Phellipe Haagensen) some young brat named Ze Pequeno. Cut the long story
short, Pedratos brother dies, and his gang friends escape justice.
Pedrato mourns his brothers loss but as he gets older he meets Ze Pequeno now
a young violent teengager who sells drugs and fire arms. During this chance meeting, Ze Pequeno in a state of abusive powers reveals to Pedrato that the police
did not kill his brother but he did in cold blood.
Buscape by this time has been specializing in photography and has managed to not
get involved in the violent gangs taken in Brazil (with help from the equally corrupt
police department). However, as Buscape comes across more of more of this violent
gangs and Ze Pequeno and his pal Benny, he uses his camera to photograph and capture a biography of photos of these gangs in action, hoping to one day expose them along the way hoping to make himself famous by this work.
Throughout the movie we meet a rival gang led by a man named Zanahorria (Carrot top) and another man who is a bus driver turned gang leader. They threaten Ze Puequeno’s livelihood of violent and drugs when Ze Pequeno’s controls gets out of hand.
The movie is very bloody and violent. During one initiation scene Ze Pequeno gives a 10 yr old the chance to live but offers one choice: Either he dies or he must kill his kid friend. It just one example of the level of violent and brutality that on a young age affects many people during this time.
The movie is a very in your face documentaric look at one historic sequence of events of violent during Brazil’s history.
Pedrato near the end of the movie accomplishes his goal and by a great luck manages to survive the tale (since the story is told through his voice and eyes) and succeeds in establishing himself a great journalist.
This is a great caricature of one young man’s quest to expose some of the horrific problems and corruption done in his own country.
This is a great movie. It has to be seen to be believed. There quite really isn’t a movie like ’’La Ciudad De Dios’’.There have been mob movies in the past but nothing like this magnitude especially as seen through the eyes of a journalist in the making as Pedrato.
It has been released on DVD with a great number of special features. So if you have the DVD check out that release .
This is a must see movie, it may be everyone’s cup of tea, but it definitely is up there
along with the movie ’’Z’’ that is one of the best movies done overseas in quite a long time.