It's the City of God. It's Real.

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2017)

This is a documentary, not a film. It shows the slums as they are. A well filmed story of nothing more than the slums, there is no more emotion than the emotion of the observer. What we get is splendid, but it is not a film. It is beautiful, but not perfect.
The dialogue is real. Whether or not it is accurate to the actual dialogue of the slums (and I'm sure it is) is irrelevant. The heart of the lines is true. The heart shows the tragedy and despair each character faces every day. The inevitable destiny of being placed in the slums. The immovable niche for gangs is prominently displayed with the underlying fear imbued into each aspect of the screenplay. It is done to its effective and maximum potentiality.
Artistically, the film has the flair of Scorsese or Tarantino (notably, his actually good films). Violence for a purpose and artistic purpose. There is a duality imbued into the film between the photographer and the drug dealer, the cops and the gangs, Rio de Janeiro and the City of God. Meirelles outlines a clear symmetry with technique and flair in his filming. He clearly adopts the eyes of the observer. He makes it directly reflected through the camera lens of the photographer. He makes the film a documentary. He makes it real.
In fact, the actors are either unknown or actually from the slums. People involved in the production of the film lived in the slums. The piece was actually filmed in the slums. This is the most real a film can get. It's not just a film, it's a documentary. It's not Hollywood, it's the City of God. It's real.