A movie that DEMANDS your attention

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2016)

This is a film that I have seen before but recently re-watched it again and really wasn't sure how the film would impact me the second time around, the film is quite shocking and hard to stomach at times the first time around so the second time the concern was there that it would lose a lot of its emotional impact. But only a few minutes into watching this film through its incredibly frantic editing, its almost hypnotizing cinematography and some of the most realistic performances i have ever seen, it was clear to me that this film would never ever quite lose the impact it so easily has on the viewer.
One of the particular standouts of this film is the action of it all, it is filmed and edited through multiple cuts and pans and even some distortions of movement with such a fast-paced and almost unfollowable ferocity that it gives you the feeling of disorientation that one would often feel if they were caught in the middle of a gunfight in the Brazilian favelas in which the film takes place.
And one more aspect of the film that i also find just captivating from the start the finish is the acting. All played by relatively unknown actors, it creates a sense of realism and makes you feel as if the events of the film can actually be happening to them, there is no Hollywood wall put up of seeing actors you know, this is your first exposure to the characters of Lil 'ze, Carrot, Rocket and Knockout Ned so seeing this characters with fresh faces and you automatically have this raw and genuine feeling of sympathy or hatred in some cases of these character.
City of God is a film that really sticks with you, it transports you into a place that almost doesn't seem real at times, it seems almost too horrific and scary to even think about. It introduces you to characters you could almost identify with the second you see them cause they are characters that are honestly just kids, that have dreams and aspirations which is what makes this film so haunting too, these are people who we could very easily be us. And the last thing that really sticks with us, the thing that really haunts me when i first and still watch it, its that this place, this place filled with the harmless joy of innocence but some of the harshest realities of drugs and violence, is real. And it exists to this day