Takes Tarantino to School

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2003)

This film takes Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie to school about how they ought to be making their own films. Every technique and trick those directors employ are done in City of God with equal aplomb, so the difference is in the content and context of the story. City of God does not take place in a slick fairyland of well-manicured, clever hoods, and it is not The Young Ones with guns. Where Tarantino's and Ritchie's films employ a cynical, "I'm so much cleverer than you" device, this film instead uses raw emotion. City of God says to the viewer "this world is real" in a way which neither requires you be in on the joke, and without looking down upon your priveledged life as if to say "you could never understand".

While a Tarantino movie makes you wonder what kind of strangely kitschy but still over-the-top murder scene will occur next, City of God makes you wonder what will happen to the characters. Instead of collecting quotable quips to throw around at parties, you spend your time in City of God following the story. Some reviewers here have accused this film of being humorless, but if there is any humor to be found in situations so steeped in violence this film does as good a job of it as either Tarantino or Ritchie.

City of God isn't as hip as a Tarantino or Ritchie film, and it's not as ponderous (or pompous) as The Godfather. However, it has all the exciting aspects of the films of its genre, employed in a believable yet engrossing way. Watching City of God didn't require waiting around for the good parts that would make the rest of the film worth enduring, and to me that easily puts it above Pulp Fiction or Snatch. It's emotional, honest storytelling gives City of God a level of tension and engagement which even the excellent acting performances in Reservoir Dogs couldn't quite salvage from the detached cynicism of the script.
You might hate the film, and that's your own personal taste, but it's worth watching at least once.