A stunningly good film

Rating: 10/10 (23 June 2012)

"City of God" is a quite brilliant film that portrays three decades - the 1960s, the 1970s and the 1980s - of child and adult drugs gang warfare in the slums (favelas) outside Rio de Janeiro. Its quality is all the more astonishing given that many of its stars are non-professional actors who seemingly act out their own personal experiences for the camera.
The film is set in a crime-ridden housing project known as Cidade de Deus (City of God). It focuses on two young boys - Li'l Dice (who becomes known as Li'l Ze, when an adult) and Rocket - whose lives develop in opposite directions. Rocket attempts to escape the crime, violence, drug-dealing and killing that is the norm for young men and adults who live in Cidade de Deus. He is fascinated by photography and attempts to pursue that as a career. Li'l Dice opts to go with the flow, and with his determination and ambition for power and control becomes a ruthless drugs dealer and eventually the head of one of the gangs that control life in the favela. The plot highlights the turf war that is waged with ruthless violence between the different gangs in Cidade de Deus over drugs, money and (to them, perhaps most important of all) influence, control and power.
"City of God" is absorbing and extremely thought-provoking. Living as I do in the relative comfort of middle class London, I can only imagine what life must be like for the people portrayed in the film. "City of God", which seems from this relatively safe distance to be infused with a gritty realism that few feature films possess, makes one realise in no uncertain terms the extent to which all our lives are governed by an accident of birth. How would any of us cope if we were born and brought up in circumstances like those of the characters in the film that are almost impossible to escape from?
The narrative structure of the film is excellent. The principal characters are introduced to the viewer one by one and at a particular point in their lives, usually when they are relatively young. The film then returns to their story later on in their lives when they have become more adult and have been exposed more fully to the difficult circumstances which they have to confront head on. There is a judicious use of narration and of flashback, both of which help to explain what motivates each character's actions. The acting, the cinematography and the direction are superb. What is more, the film does not romanticise the violent lives on display. And, (how can I put this without giving too much away?), it does not - as many films of this sort probably would - opt for a wholly redemptive and hopeful ending. Indeed, one of the many messages of the film is how difficult it is to escape from a life of poverty and violence, on a generational as well as an individual basis.
"City of God" is a brilliant, almost faultless film. It's a masterpiece of modern cinema. 10/10.