Awesome and Uncanny

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2008)

There are a lot of films about kids in 3rd world conditions going down violent paths, but rarely are these accounts as first hand, expansive, and compelling as City Of God. There's a vibrancy, urgency, compassion, and scope that makes this movie so hard to pull away from. The story of a boy named Rocket trying to escape and being pulled back into the violent conditions around him, as well as the local history that created this environment. We see generations of slumlords few old enough to drive, come and go, in ages and empires, of drugs and fashions from the 60's to the 70's. Most of the performers here are not actors but children from the infamous slum, including Brazilian pop star Sue Jorge(seen in the Life Aquatic seeing David Bowie songs) who also grew up there. There's an immediacy, honesty, and energy to this film that 90 percent of films about gangsters, street life, and the 3rd world miss. No glorifications of excess, just poverty, desire, hope, and ignorance, put in a blender and set to f*^k all. Anyway, excellent from start to finish. One of my favorite films of all time.