Another foreign tragedy

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2004)

The hype surrounding City of God has become enormous. It has obtained rave reviews here in America. Especially among the college professors and students that I frequently converse with. Unfortunately, this movie did not live up to the hopes I had for it. Having already seen "Harder They Come" and "All the Forgotten Ones," I assumed that this film was garnering so much praise because of a message that would go above what those other films portrayed. The cover of the DVD even has a quote mentioning how this would change my life. It did not. I personally feel both of the other films just mentioned did what "City of God" does, and with more originality. This film takes a lot of modern movie concepts, especially those made famous by Guy Ritchie, such as interweaving plots and jumping to different points of time as the film progresses. I highly recommend seeing those other two films before this one, and it should change how impressive it really seems.