If it's not from Hollywood, it must be good

Rating: 3/10 (29 September 2007)

There are certain people who have developed a very negative view towards Hollywood movies and U.S. cinema. In this mindset, any movie coming from the US is automatically lambasted, while non-US cinema is praised without merit. City of God, or Cidade de Deus, is one such case. Its serious overvaluing can only be attributed to a cloudy-eyed sentimentalism for the real situation behind the movie without even considering whether the movie itself has value in portraying that situation. And the unfortunate case is, no. Meirelles and Luns' generic directing is completely devoid of feeling and insight, and the actors are merely going through the motions, lacking any emotional impact in the actual proceeding of the screenplay. For these failings, the film collapses into a jiltingly generic mashup of violence and crime, with nothing to tell. There is no shock value, there is no empathy, there are no thoughts evoked. Perhaps this movie has some appeal and bearing to people who are more closely connected to Brazil and the kind of events portrayed, seeing as they can draw from another experience to put some weight into the matter, for this film by itself has none. It takes a special kind of pretentiousness and self-delusion to rate this film highly on its own merits, and the kind of a critic that dares not criticize a film with a sensitive subject. Yet this film desperately needs more of a voice of reason to call it for the empty shell it is.