A real shot to the heart

Rating: 9/10 (1 July 2016)

City of God (2002, ***1/2) is a brutal look at the drug wars fought in Rio de Janeiro's slums over a period of several decades. It's not always an easy film to watch, but it's utterly gripping and (improbably) humorous at turns.
The movie centers on a boy/young man named Rocket (Buscapé in Portuguese, the spoken language in this movie) in the titular slum, the wrong side of the tracks in Rio. Rocket's older brother is in a gang called the Tender Three; this trio commits armed robbery but gives at least some of the proceeds to their impoverished brothers and sisters. The gang's not for long in this story, as one of their sidekick Little Rascals, Li'l Dice (Douglas Silva) has higher aspirations; soon he – under a new moniker, Li'l Ze' – is the top kingpin in the City of God. Ze's chief rival, as time goes by, is a ginger-top named Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele). As Carrot and Ze' fight each other for control of, well, everything, Rocket tries hard to stay above and out of the fray. He's not entirely successful.
The movie is quickly paced. If you don't pay attention you may lose track of who's who, if only because there are plenty of supporting characters. Alice Braga, niece to one Sonia Braga, plays a one-time love interest for Rocket. Hers was the only familiar face for me, but many of the fine young actors (or nonactors, as the case may be) offered compelling standout performances.
And this was all based on a true story, as they say. During the closing credits news footage, including interviews with gang members, is shown. The real Rocket appears, as well. Most striking? Might be the group of little kids known as the Runts; this cohort robs, maims, and kills everyone they can – ostensibly under the control of Carrot, but truthfully subservient to none. Close your eyes and imagine a five-year-old kid shooting someone in cold blood. That was this slum in this time period.