Hell on Earth

Rating: 10/10 (19 November 2009)

It's a measure of how untouchable Quentin Tarantino was once considered that City Of God director Walter Salles was compared favourably to him on the film's original release: pre-Slumdog, world cinema wasn't usually associated with breathless, hyper-kinetic camera-work.
Set among the gun-happy gangs of Rio De Janeiro, this explosive drama grabs viewers by the scruff and tips them into the middle of the Brazilian favelas, aka 'Hell on Earth.' This writer also recalls (almost literally) dragging his unwilling ex into the cinema to see this, after catching it a day before. Afterwards, she was extremely grateful. That's how good City Of God is: a film you'll happily see twice in two days. But more impressively, a movie to win your girlfriend over.