Wonderful - but not violent enough!

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2003)

tmwest from S.Paulo stated "this film is so violent, it makes Tarantino look like Walt Disney". I just cannot agree. RESERVOIR DOGS (especially of Tatantino's films) was seen as ultra-violent. I believe that this is because 'hard-men' screamed in agony when they were hurt. This made a dramatic emotional impact. The violence in CITY OF GOD is seen by some as "banal". Yes! My concern is that the violence didn't hurt enough. Only the scene where the Runts were punished really depicted the true pain (IMHO).
*I wish that Knockout Ned had been the central player with Lil Dice/Ze rather than Rocket. His degeneration felt for me as the crystallisation of the tragedy of life in the favelas.
*I usually like hand held camera but for me as a foreign viewer it created a problem when coupled with the mass of dialogue and narration: I didn't get to SEE as much of the movie as I would have liked to.