City of God, is among those films that stays with you in your mind, touches you in your heart all through your eyes.

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2003)

Sometimes it is more important to appreciate a film, rather than enjoying it. And City of God, is among those films that stays with you in your mind, touches you in your heart all through your eyes. This film is based on a true story and novel by Paulo Lins an insider who's lived in the neighborhood where God is silent and devil speaks trough the fire and guns. Fernando Meirelles doesn't make you cry throughout the film, because everything you see is far beyond expectations that wouldn't give you the second to think and shed tears. He makes you deeply sympathy with the characters because not only they are not trained actors, yet they are real people from Citdade de Deus (City of God), where the dreadful events has been taking place since one can remember. `There are two Brazils: Middle class and lower class, as two different worlds' says Meirelles who's from the middle class himself, `people of the middle class only hear about slums and the crime in other towns through press, nobody has ever made a film about them'. City of God broke the box office over Hollywood films such as Minority Report in Brazil, which is amazing for the Brazilian film industry. The only reason for this incredible success is because this is a film from the people for the people, by the people.
The story is about the devastating crime and insecurity in Brazilian lower class neighborhoods, which have been left out of control for years and its crime rate has been extremely increasing. Film is shot on location, mainly in the actual neighborhood; City of God, and the characters are the real boys and girls that are essentially living in those neighborhoods at the moment. In addition a specialized director with a specific vision is needed to put that chaotic world in order and convey it into a meaningful motion picture. Fernando Meirelles studied the script with the writer Braulio Mantovani for two years and spend another two years with his characters rehearsing. `Instead of giving them the script, I gave them the characters, with free lines other than the script. Only %30 of the film is actually written,' says Meirelles as he talks about his close relation to the boys. He let the actors to play themselves and they talked and behaved as they would do in the real life. What's very interesting about the characters is the paradox, which is also the same for the film it self. We have a huge cast in this film, mostly children and teenagers. Instead of going to school and playing at home, these kids study crime and play with guns and drugs.
Besides the authentic acting- the intense cinematography, editing and sound design deliver a great deal of entertainment to the film. Meirelles comes from commercials, and in fact this film is affected by that. Just like Television commercials, City of God is full of little climaxes that drive your attention up and down and play with your awareness. It is also segmented as the Television shows and commercials are and in every five minutes there's a new obstacle that leads the story to another. The sound design is wild in a moment and then calm or even silence afterward that you can't take your eyes off the screen, and you won't for sure. I assure you that there are several scenes in this film that you would always remember whenever you hear about City of God, or simply Brazil.

City of God is what I would call a reminder for us the audience what an artistic film can be: a rich story, powerful directing, and a great deal of authentic entertainment.