Why?

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2004)

Powerful. Exciting. A fantastic storyline. Impressive dialogue.
All quotes that have no relevance to the film whatsoever. This film was nothing more than a director trying to sponge off real life events, to play on peoples emotional side with regard to children. "Oh no a child holding a gun!". Honestly who cares; if this film can't be bothered to create unique or remotely interesting dialogue, create more of a story than people who chase chickens and deal drugs, and won't do more to create meaning except using handheld shots to make the film seem "realistic", then he doesn't deserve to call himself a director.
To put this in perspective, who can't say to themselves "I know! If I make a film about kids who deal drugs and use guns, then it's bound to be considered powerful". That is a complete cop-out. To follow on from that, anyone could actually shoot the film the same way this director has done; just random handheld shots with the defence of saying it makes it seem realistic - with that theory, any person is actually more than capable of shooting a film, providing they are aware of the single rule of not going beyond the 'magic line' in a two shot. Anyone, and i mean ANYONE could have shot this film and wrote a screenplay for it - had there at least been a script of some interest, then I could believe somebody had taken time to come up with this idea, but it appears even that was overlooked.
To its credit, the film does have good acting (though im not overly sure that is certain as I can't speak any dialect of Spanish), and has accomplished a very clear form of characterisation (not really unique characters, but you can tell effort has been put in to identify them as individuals).
But unfortunately, I gotta say I find it somewhat of a disgrace that people could see this as #34 on the top 250 Greatest movies. A film should have the ability to entertain; suspension of disbelief, classic quotes, lovable characters, intriguing/interesting/fun storylines, and a display of uniqueness all can accomplish this. City of Gods does not.