"In the hand, or the foot?"

Rating: 9/10 (27 February 2007)

"In the hand, or the foot", the chilling choice offered up to the smallest of children by Li'l Ze, the toughest hood ever to rule over the City of God. As the children cry and the gangsters laugh we are shown a world so far removed from our own that we find it difficult to even comprehend the lives that face these characters. This is the moment when we realise that these characters are not figments of some writers imagination, but they are representing the conditions that hundreds of thousands of people face each day of their lives. It is this quality that contributes to the powerful message delivered by Meirelles' "City of God".
We follow 'Rocket' as he tries to survive in the favelas without being corrupted like so many of his former friends and turning to crime, despite the advantages he sees it bring all of those around him. Pursuing his dream of becoming a photographer, turning his position of poverty into prosperity, as he is able to show the streets as they really are, the pointless deaths are harsh influence put upon each and every person living with the city's limits. The emphasis is placed upon the overbearing pressure in the favelas to turn to crime, to show the separate characters paths the film spans a vast time-line, following the characters through their childhood and through their years, growing, changing and for the most part dying at the hands of the violence they so desire to be a part of, underlining the perpetual cycle that grips the slums of Brazil. As he grows and edges slowly further towards his dream we are shown the path through his life that he takes, including his brother's death at the hands of Li'l Dice, a child who will grow into the perpetually feared Li'l Ze. During Rocket's young teen years we are introduced to Angelica, a girl he desires to lose his virginity to, a futile attempt that is stopped short by her growing infatuation with Bene, Li'l Ze's best friend and counterpoint to his sometimes manic nature. However their relationship is ended with tragedy as Bene is gunned down by one of Li'l Ze's many enemies. The death of the 'coolest hood in the City of God' signifies the removal of the final link between Rocket and Li'l Ze and where their lives, already separated begin to progress towards their inevitable conclusion.
The director, Fernando Meirelles, has been praised for creating such a realistic feel to the theme, contributed to in no small part by the hiring of real people living in slums and shooting in the surrounding area (as the real City of God is far to dangerous to venture into, let alone film in). The atmosphere given by these non-professional actors greatly enhances the film to the point where the audience forgets the language barrier and becomes deeply immersed into the troubles that they face. The unique shooting style brought to the production, Meirelles' ability to quickly size up and shoot scenes lends itself perfectly to the fast paced nature of the story, with the hand-held camera work only adding to sense of realism needed to truly convey a story conceived and written by a man that lived in and survived the favelas, Paulo Lins. This streets-eye view of the writer matches the view we as an audience are given through Rocket, with no censoring of the violent nature of the city. A violence, however, that is never intended to be gratuitous in it's nature, but merely realistic.
The film shows both sides of gangster life, the glamorous parties and advantages given, but also the downside, the corruption, violence and death that is brought down upon all those who partake in a life of crime. The film somehow manages to avoid any political agenda despite it's controversial subject matter, an aspect that, in an already brimming plot, would only further complicate things and not be critical to the message the film is trying to deliver. Overall 'City of God' is a poignant yet pragmatic approach to representing life in the favelas of Brazil and underlining it's key theme of the cyclical nature of violence with a final scene that leaves the audience knowing that though so much has changed for the central characters, it is not going alter the ways in which the people of the Cidade de Deus live their lives.