Summary: "To be a real hood, you need more than just a gun, You need ideas"

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2003)

City of God is a violent (and true) account of the way of life in the Brazilian slums: unemployment, poverty, drugs, police corruption, and gangs of hoodlums. It concentrates on the 2 different paths chosen by two central characters, and the different lifestyles they lead to.
Lil Ze chooses the life of a hoodlum and when he reaches adulthood he makes a quick and violent rise to power (in a manner similar to the end of the first Godfather movie). Rocket, who narrates the film, dreams of becoming a photographer.
The story moves forward and back a little at appropriate moments, to give a background to a new character, and it works really well. It allows you to appreciate the decisions each person has made a lot more and you do become attached to each character as they take the spotlight for a while.
The Director apparently used unknown actors intentionally to maintain a sense of realism, and that works to its favour too, you really feel you are on the street watching these gangsters shoot it out, as opposed to a bunch of actors playing scenes on a movie set. The camera action moves to give you the persons viewpoint at moments aswell, which adds to this.
The cast play their parts very well, and Lil Ze (who I feel should be up f or "Best Baddie") plays a particularly callous character. His arrogant swagger when he walks, fearless piercing stare, and the fact that he is rarely seen without a gun in his hand, all paint a picture of what type of person it takes to become the most feared hoodlum in the City of God.
Great casting, great directing and producing, even the music is a funky samba at good moments. Yes, its in subtitles, but don't let that alone put you off. It's the first subtitled film I've watched, and after a short while I didn't even notice.
But it's a true story and a gangster movie, two things I love: 9/10.