The Best Foreign and Gangster film I've ever seen

Rating: 10/10 (16 October 2005)

This is a powerful movie to watch. I've never seen anything like it. It seemingly takes from Goodfellas in terms of narration, Quentin Tarantino style of movie going on how he goes back and forth with some things, and Scarface in terms of brutality but it's a movie all it's own.
Two people in the same city share a story with one that follows a path of crime and another who wants to escape it and it's very much a true story in Brazil spanning the 60's to the 80's. The thing that sticks with me is that it tells a story straight and up front and shows you what went on and still goes on. The shock is from how cold the movie may seem but in reality all it does is show the story straight up and front. It sends a message loud and clear through drugs flowing in the city to a war in which 9 year old kids hold guns to kill and be respected and all of this is put together through stories from all around that area that make up an excellent movie.