Violence is a reality

Rating: Null/10 (17 May 2004)

City of God is the name of one of the poorest areas of the glamorous Rio de Janeiro. Despite its name, it seems that God does not usually come that way and it is perfectly normal, because he could go out with a bullet in his head. The film tells the story of two boys that were born in City of God who become two people totally different - one an honest photographer's apprentice and the other a dangerous drug dealer. But the main subject is not poverty or drugs, which are present throughout the film, it is violence.
Violence is the norm in this area - the police waste bullets in killing people that they see as suspicious, unscrupulous criminals kill whole families to have fun, children with guns murder without showing mercy... Violence is a fact, it is a reality, and we have it so internalized that we are not able to stop to value it. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund manage to make the spectator think and realize that it is an inhuman act what is committed in these scenes, but it happens everyday and nobody sees it, nobody lifts a finger to solve it.