Excellent Brazilian epic covering gangs

Rating: 10/10 (23 September 2002)

City of God is a Brazilian film that chronicles the formation of gangs in poor neighbourhoods of Rio de Janerio. The film is based on a true story and is an epic covering around 30 years. The story is told via the overlapping lives of several children who grow up to be gangsters. The film is very violent (most violent movie I have seen) so some might be turned off by it. The script is very good and the acting is great (this is remarkable considering how most of the actors are non-professionals hired from these same neighbourhoods).
The film is very stylistic and borrows a lot from films like Pulp Fiction and Boogie Nights. A lot of shots are very cool and innovative. I also liked how music from that time period was interlaced within the film (as in Boogie Nights).
If there is anything bad about this film, I would have to say that the style (although very nice) detracts from the issue. The message about gangs, the violent neighbourhoods, the corruption of the police, etc would have been more effective if the film followed a traditional docudrama style approach. This is really a minor point given that the film captures the essence of life and death in a way few other films have.
Highly recommended to everyone that can live with violence... Even if you don't like the film, you'll learn about the lives of the poor in Brazil.