Many consider a movie outstanding just because it shows tragic poverty and violence

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2018)

Many consider a movie outstanding just because it shows tragic poverty and violence. Subconsciously, people feel "politically correct" for liking it. Praise becomes a form of self- elevation, whilst the mere, unnecessary styling offends the topic's intrinsic seriousness. The ideological showcase overcomes an honest presentation. Mixing tragic elements to create a shocking, poignant movie is easy. But somehow the whole thing becomes a farce too pretentious to be positively assessed. An unpunished, 10 year old killer runs around, kills everyone and then bursts into evil laughs. The horrifying situation exists in reality. But a film approach ought to be different. This film has been sold as a kind of triumph of the human spirit, yet it's no more than a typical mobster movie sited at Jacarepaguá. Scene after scene, someone is killed and the deaths have the same depth or significance of a video game. The protagonist does nothing to improve himself. He is a social victim, period. He features the moral character of a robot. And banditry, to the Brazilians' 'delight,' recruits untouchable children as hoods. A Guy Ritchie-like gang plot has its moments of shock: non stop bloodbaths & revolting human filth. For those fond of Grand Guignol, this is a perfect movie. Horrible and cheap in all aspects, including pain and suffering. Simply pathetic, filmed as an elegant commercial edited with rather annoying camera movements. City of God was just another product from the Third World that dazzled the radical chic community of the First World.