Heartbreaking and horrifying. Don't miss it.

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2004)

CIDADE DE DEUS is one of the best foreign films I have ever seen. Actually, I haven't seen many. Hopefully, since this movie started that trend with me, that category will become more popular with me.
CIDADE DE DEUS is about street gangs in Rio de Janeiro, aka Cidade de Deus, aka the City of God. The story begins with the characters Ze Pequeno (Leandro Firmino), Buscape (Alexandre Rodrigues), and Dadinho (Douglas Silva) as children watching their older peers participate in the action. Not long after, these children are grown and initiated into the very same street gangs to embark on lives full of crime, violence, drugs, and eventual downward spiral.
This movie manages to exemplify just how strongly street gangs really affect people. It shows the effects on the members' families, as well as the members themselves. The fact that the peer pressure and the desire to be in these gangs is so strong is horrifying and devastating. And the fact that Rio de Janeiro is really like this is shocking and heartbreaking.
I think the shot that can sum up the whole movie best is when the young boy being newly initiated into one of the gangs is told to shoot the small, sobbing boy in either the hand or the foot. The expression on the crying boy's face and his shriek when the bullet is fired will show you just how impacting and important this movie really is.
The acting is great, but the actors are essentially playing themselves. The direction is remarkable, and the cinematography and poignancy of the film itself leave such an incredible lasting impression.
Don't let the subtitles fool you (although, I don't know why they would). This is truly a movie to marvel at and one not to be missed. 9/10.