The best new film to premiere in Cannes 2002.

Rating: 9/10 (26 May 2002)

My first reaction to this engrossing, thrilling, gutsy AND witty drama about ghetto life in Rio de Janeiro was: WOW! What a movie. It takes you for an unrivaled trip to the youth ghetto of Rio, the so-called "City of God". We follow the lives of some kids, who grow up in the late 60's - most of them don't live to experience the 80's. The only, or let's say: the fastest way to get out of these dumps are violence and drugs. Using violence and pushing drugs. You better not mess that order up, or you're done. While debutant Fernando Meirelles shows the incidents in ultra-realistic (and therefore mind-numbingly brutal) fashion, he nevertheless achieves great art by splicing up the story, going from the present to the past, using newest technology wisely, speeding up the tempo with great ease, but also slowing down whenever he has to and showing the ability to be tender. He teases the audience with hints about things to come, and when he gets back to those things, he always delivers in a big way. The film has about a dozen important characters, and it's amazing how Meirelles not only manages to introduce them with style, but also keeps track of them so that we always know who we are dealing with.
Since there is nothing I could compare this film to, I'd like to say that it comes close to Scorsese's "GoodFellas". Ok, that is a totally different world, but it's just that Meirelles uses a similar approach: He doesn't feel superior to the people he's showing, and he doesn't judge them. He shows them and their actions, counting on the intelligence of the audience to understand the motifs, the short-comings and the needs of the characters on its own. Most importantly: He shows us violence in a way that is not cool. It hurts seeing those kids throw away their lives by falling to the way of the gun.
So far, this is the biggest, most welcome surprise of the year. Let's just hope that the sometimes over-anxious marketing department of Miramax, which bought the film in Cannes, will be sensible enough not to over-hype "City of God".
9/10