violence begets violence

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2007)

the abundance of handguns says it all.
they are very deadly, and the scene where the young hood kills all the people at the hotel and smiles in a flashback is typical of the motivations of far too many hoodlums. they kill not in the course of committing a crime out of necessity to carry out the deed, like shooting an armed security guard, no, they kill for fun and because no one can stop them in the moment.
I have fired handguns but not recently, and only at a target range, so I understand the dangers of the bullets flying out at a thousand feet per second. once it leaves the barrel anyone in front is doomed. and the finger pressure to make that happen can be done by a child.
city of god should be a warning to us all on the costs of crime and violence. building a city, educating the young and creating conditions that give them job opportunities takes a long time and a lot of work; this is why so many choose the 'easy' way of crime.
it is also telling that at one point you start to lose track of who is in what gang and what they have done, and then all the even younger hoodlums get guns and start shooting up the place. and then subtly the action moves into the big city, they are no longer in the shanty town.
a depressing film but one that should be seen at least once.
I definitely wouldn't rank it so high up in the top 250.