Movie Review
City Of God
Cidade de Deus (Portugese)
Duration: 2hrs 10 mins.
IMDB Rating: 8.7/10
Released: 2002
D
irected by Fernando Meirelles and
Katia Lund, the movie revolves around
the lives of some hoodlums in the Cidade
de Deus(City Of God), a slum(ghetto) in
the suburbs of Rio De Janeiro. The movie is
based on a novel by Paulo Lins, who grew up
in the City of God, somehow escaped it, and
spent eight years writing his book. A note at
the end says it is partly based on the life of
Wilson Rodriguez, a Brazilian photographer.
The tagline of the movie was, ‘Damned if you
do, damned if you don’t.’ The movie depicts
drug abuse, violent crime, and a boy’s struggle
to free himself from the slums’ grasp.
Plot Summary:
It starts with a rather more jovial scene of a party, when a chicken escapes and the whole gang runs after it with their guns drawn. They
end up being seized by the police, although the cops retreat and another gang jumps in headed by Knockout Ned(played by Seu Jorge,
the rival to Li’l Z, a major character in the movie.The character, Li’l Z, played by Leandro Firmino, portrays the role of a sadistic person
who enjoys killing people for no reason.
The movie has a furious energy to it and it never gets low. It gets more and more intense with every passing minute. Tender Trio, the very
first gang of the city, loots government and from business and share their loot with the residents of the ghetto, so they are liked by all and
no one speaks against them. The gangs have money and guns because they sell drugs and commit robberies. But they are not very rich
because their activities are limited to the City of God, where no one has much money.
Although the film is grim all the way, but it has a dash of coolness as well. Benny, played by Phellipe Haagensen, is the accomplice of Li’l
Z and the coolest hoodlum in the vicinity. He is loved by all and holds the gangs together upto some level.
Rocket, the narrator, wants to get away from the chaos of the ghetto, so he moves to the city. He obtains a (stolen) camera that he treasures
and takes pictures from his privileged position as a kid on the streets. He gets a job as an assistant on a newspaper delivery truck, asks a
photographer to develop his film, and is startled to see his portrait of an armed gang leader on the front page of the paper one day.
He, later on, joins the newspaper as a photographer since no other photographer was able to get in the ghetto because of all the raucous
amongst the gangs.
Review:
The movie ends very well for everyone and
is a superb eye-opener. It narrates the tales
of people and their everyday fight to survive
in such a god forsaken place. The most
important lesson we get from the movie is
no matter what the circumstances are, it all
depends how you turn out to be. So, that’s all
it is about, survival of the fittest and not just
the bravest.
Prateek Kashyap
[email protected]
A
n
adventure seeker by heart,
his passion for photography
was ignited in the Great
Himalayas. Clicking clear
frames and solving the
mysteries of life, he just
wants to spend his time as a
confused photographer.
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