More Movies Should Be Like This One

Rating: 10/10 (18 October 2006)

City of God was made to be remembered, it was made to rivet its audience with every frame, it was made to evoke all emotions, and it was made to be an epic. It succeeds in all of these areas, because it avoids any point where there could be a dull moment. Most films allow gaps in pace with the confidence that they can be made up for with other fantastic points. City of God has you so wound up in it that it leaves you wanting more.
It's made in the vein of Scorsese's crime dramas, with lots of jump-cutting, a jukebox soundtrack, flashy camera and editing styles, wildly entertaining yet ardently realistic violence, and a large amount of characters that are all strangely balanced, some fading in and out and showing up at surprising times when we've forgotten all about them, some driving the story. The film was revered by scores of critics, but also panned by many of them, surprisingly, for its tinsel style and flashy visuals. I say that it's ridiculous to look down your nose at such a grandiose and spectacular film such as City of God for what is the focal point of the art of film. Films are initially something to look at. They're designed for you like what you see.
City of God is not only one of the finest films to come out recently. It's a milestone. More movies should be made with the same ambitions and goals from their makers as this one. Then, maybe we'd have some better ones out of Hollywood.