It starts with a rooster on the run and a gang on the chase and ends with a gang of guntoting ’runts’(ten year olds and mostly younger) compiling a’black list’ of people(and kids) they intend to kill as the rival gang of runts is rumoured to have compiled. Lives of street gangs has never been so real or gripping. In my opinion it is a must watch for every movie lover, whether you are into gangster movies or not. The detached but witty narrative makes it possible to watch it without the pangs.
City of God released in the US in 2003 was heaped with praises and believe me it deserves every ounce of it. The movie has been called a masterpiece, ranked 3rd on E!’s list of movies to see before you die, 16th on IMDB’s top 250, one of Times’s 100 greatest movies of all time etc etc.
Based on a novel of same name by Paulo Lins, Cidade de Deus(City of God) is a true story of housing project built in the 1960’s on the outskirts of Rio de janerio to settle slum dwellers. There are no civic facilities and job opportunities are either low paying or illegal, if any. The film traces the rise and fall of various gangs from 1960s to 1980s. This is the complex, but not confusing, tale directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia L*nd. Technically flawless, the Brazilian film uses a rapid-cutting style to
flash back and forth in time. Cinematographer Cesar Charlone shoots
with an overexposed glow in a film that may seem numb to violence, but
reveres photography.
There’s a cluster of characters but the focus is on two of them Rocket our narrator and L’l Dice(later L’l Z e). They are as different as chalk and cheese. While Rocket wants to be a photographer and his dalliance with crime ends when he cant shoot people because they are cute or sweet. L’l Dice on the other hand is a psychopath. Miffed at being left for the *menial *duty of a lookout while rest of the gang robbed a brothel, he signals the gang, sending them away and then walks in to kill everyone in sight. He was 9 years old at the time.
The circle of violence gets bloodier and bloodier at every turn with even younger kids pushed into it.
The movie depicts a lot of violence and blood but is not gory. The breathtaking pace doesnt allow you to pity or sympathise - you let the movie lead you around the streets, into hideouts and even minds of people. The film is seductive, disturbing, enthralling-a trip to hell that gives the passengers a great ride. You end up with a harrowing feeling as’hood’s- goons in the movie get younger and younger and the final sequence with runts is almost chilling. The nine year old Steak and Fries(thats a name) boasts that *he has snorted and smoked, robbed and killed people and therefore is a man.
You wonder if the scavangers of the next gang war would pop out of their mothers’ wombs, guns blazing, ready to take over?
Rocket, later Rodriguez, embodies hope in the film. He dislikes low paying jobs and crime is not his cup of tea. He wants to be a photographer and even that gang leader wants his photos done by him.
Recommendation: must watch
Trivia:
The film received four Academy Award nominations in 2004: Best Cinematography(César Charlone), Best Directing(Meirelles), Best Editing(Daniel Rezende) and Best Writing(Adapted Screenplay)(Mantovani).
Most of the cast is from Brazilian favels(slums) with no acting experience. They went through actors’ workshop for a few months in preparation for the movie.
This was the highest grossing foreign film in the US in 2003.
The film was not actually shot in Cidade de Deus slum as it was too
dangerous. It was shot in a neighbouring, less dangerous area.
- At the end the Runts(Caixa Baixa gang) talk about making a list of
people they want to kill. The rat boys grew to become the now feared CV
(Comando Vermelho) or Red Command, the most notorious gang in Rio. The
CV is also known to have a death list.