Review City of God

Rating: 9/10 (14 June 2012)

The only godly thing the city has, is its name.
I recently watched City of God in my Film Appreciation class and I believe that I am entitled to express my thoughts about the movie. City of God is a Brazilian movie that presents the audience with an inside view on the poor living conditions, injustice, and violence found in the favelas. Specifically in the slums called Cidade de Deus, during the 60's and 70's. It follows the life of Rocket, who is constantly surrounded by crime. His first encounter with this crime was with his older brother's gang called the Tender Trio. This trio was what created the monster of Lil' Ze and inspired him to become one of the greatest Brazilian gang leaders ever. The story begins with a opening shot over the city of god. At this time the city was nothing more than row upon row of poorly constructed houses and very restricted space for each family. Living here was the unsuspecting Rocket, his older brother, and his gang of friends otherwise known as the Tender Trio. Lil' Ze, as the younger brother of another member of the Tender Trio, tagged along whenever they robbed motels or stole gas from gas trucks. The Trio taught Lil' Ze well, but maybe just a bit too well. Lil' Ze went on to become one of the most notorious gang members in the City of God during the 70's and engaged in a bloody gang war during the 80's. Rocket is caught in the middle of this as he struggles to find his way out of the rats nest and fulfill his dream of becoming a photographer. The acting was spot on from the main characters such as Lil' Ze and Rocket all the way to the runts that were the embodiment of a lost generation in the favelas of God's City. The one scene that really showed the raw emotion in the runts was that of the young kid. After little Ze went looked for them he was encountered with a large group. Many got away but two were found. One seemed to be five years old and the other around seven or eight. At this moment the cruelty of the gangs leader went all out when he told the youngest member of his group to shoot one. The tension in this moment was almost unbearable as the kid raised his gun towards the crying five year old. At the last second he moved the gun and shot the eight year old. The crying of the kid was so realistic was so moving that I myself was hoping for the other kid to be shot. As his last act of cruelty, Lil' Ze shot the poor child in the foot leaving him in so much pain that it was almost unbearable to watch. One aspect the really tied the whole movie together was how it was arranged. It starts with the end so to speak, because the beginning is the start of the last battle between Lil' Ze, the police, and Knockout Ned. Then he begins to retell all the anecdotes of life from the moment of the Tender Trio to the rise of Lil' Ze as the leader of his own gang, and of his own career as a photographer. If we were not allowed the chance to infer things from the opening clip then the story would have been less interesting and it would have resulted in a bored spectator. Something no cinematographer ever wants with his audience. One thing that I didn't like was that it was difficult to compare to film to any particular time in history. Making it difficult to really comprehend if you were in the 80's or the 70's. There were even time when they could have easily been in the early 60's. An example of this is when they meet knockout Ned on the bus trying to find someone who they can rob. The movie teaches young adults that if you pursue the life of a thug or drug addict, then two things can happen. Either you end up in jail or you die. It is interesting how it shows that the violence in the slums consumes everyone except for Rocket, and even partially consumes him because he learned to smoke weed. The only reason that he was able to leave the slums was because the slum itself presented him with the opportunity to first take the pictures of Lil' Ze and later take pictures of the war between the two gangs. I think that most groups of people would enjoy this movie, but it should be for 13-year-old kids and older due to the amount violence, drugs, and obscenities. The MPAA rated it R for strong brutal violence, sexuality, drug content, and language. I thought it was a very good movie because the director found a very natural yet enticing way to grab the audience's attention without showing the outcome to soon. Also he found a way to make it interesting to watch again because the second time you watch it you see so much more to the storyline and plot than the first time you watch it.
Scale 1-10 stars: 9/10 stars: ★★★★★★★★★
Alejandro Finol is a 15-year-old junior. He is currently attending a Film appreciation course and made this critic as a project. He plays in the school's varsity basketball team and loves to play video games.