Sprawling crime masterwork from Brazil

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2016)

Wow, what a great movie! I'd heard plenty about this low budget Brazilian gangster film before I got around to seeing it when it showed on television in the middle of the night, but I was fully prepared to be disappointed. Many times a film has been hyped up so much that it's a let down when I finally see it, but not so this one: CITY OF GOD is a tremendous film, a masterpiece in fact. In many ways it's like a lower budget, more realistic version of the classic gangster films made by the likes of Martin Scorcese and Guy Ritchie and in many places it equals the heights of those two directors at the top of their game.
The film follows the misadventures of various, almost feral children as they attempt to eke out an existence and then a living as they grow up in a Rio de Janeiro slum in the '60s, '70s and '80s. The central narrator isn't a gangster at heart; all he wants is to become a photographer and yet he's caught up time and time again in the violence surrounding his drug-dealing friends. Particularly good is Leandro Firmino as Li'l Ze, a psychotic hood who becomes a gang leader and who thinks nothing of having kids executed if they dare so much as get in his way.
The direction is top notch, with Fernando Meirelles employing hand cameras on more than one occasion, so that this has a vivid, on the street look to it. The editing is slick and sleek, the music fits the action perfectly, and almost every actor seems to fit his or her role like a glove. I'm trying to think of things to criticise, but there's nothing, really: the story drew me in, got me interested in finding out what happened to the characters, and before I knew it a good two and a half hours had gone by while I sat back and was lost in this film's world. Of course, it's a tremendously violent movie, unflinching in its depiction of violence against children, and one of the most hard-hitting films I've witnessed, so not for those who prefer family-friendly fare; but if you're up for it, this just might be one of the best, most realistic crime films ever made.