Good, not great.

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2005)

Well I've finally seen the much hyped City of God, and while it is not a masterpiece, it is an exciting and well directed film.
The story is very unoriginal, "the rise and fall of a criminal" may possibly be the most clichéd plot in movie history, right after "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back". Nevertheless it's done with panache in COG. The slums of Rio lends the film a faux originality; it seems fresh because of the exoticness of the locale, but the same plot set in the slums of Harlem would not have garnered nearly as much fanfare as this film receives. also, the gangstas are just children. this is what makes the film so powerful: its yawnworthy to see a grown man shoot another grown man, but a young boy shooting another young boy is immensely disturbing. Do these elements make a masterpiece? not for me they don't.
The plot revolved too much around violence i think. yes, I'm sure life in the slums does revolve around violence, but that doesn't mean a movie where we just witness violent act after violent act is brilliant. it got a little boring after a while, as we wait for the inevitable fall of Little Ze, as he just kills and rapes and snorts coke and makes money for about 90 minutes. The brilliance of the direction kept the interest there for me though. Fernando Meirelles is an assured confident director: some of the shots in COG are pure bravado ie. they look cool as hell. I cant wait to see his next film "The Constant Gardener".
So yeah, City of God is good, perhaps great, but no masterpiece. 7.5/10