That's not really the truth

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2005)

For sure it is a great movie but a very factional movie! Living in Brazil isn't exactly like that... It is a country almost large as US, and it has deep differences between one state and another.
Cidade de Deus tries to show a little the hard and criminal life of Rio de Janeiro city (probably the worse and most dangerous city in Brazil).
But it isn't entirely like that! Far from the biggest cities as Rio de Janeiro, people live in peace, studying and working very well. That's the problem of movies... they can distort world's point of view of something.
South of Brazil is a very good place to live, good development, little criminality, polite people and great infra-structure (eg. Curitiba, Santa Catarina). São Paulo, the biggest and most important city of Latin America is the heart of Brazil and of South America economy. Art, leisure, culture, nightlife, many different people and innovations. Of course there is poverty in São Paulo, but it is not so different from NY.
Particularly I don't recommend a visit in Rio de Janeiro... but if you really want to know how Brazil is like you should try São Paulo!