Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

At the very top of my list of the ten-best movies of 2002 is "City of God" (Cidade de Deus), the very fast and furious and chilling movie set in the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro, directed by Kátia Lund and Fernando Meirelles. On the same dangerous ground, they made a television series, "City of Men" (Cidade de Deus) showing two boys coming of age (13-17).

The central characters are Acerola, played by Douglas Silva, and Laranjinha, played by Darlan Cunha. This reverses the casting of the short 2002 film "Golden Palace." "City of Men" is not a sequel of "City of God," in that the characters (and tone, but not style) differ, but Wilva and Cunha played major roles in "City of God": the young and frighteningly homicidal "L'il Dice," and "Steak 'n' Fries," respectively).

The two play friends and carry the 19-part series. As we saw in "City of God," and see again in "City of Men," many young male favela-dwellers get involved in the drug trade that involves unpredictably violent gang wars. A significant number of these don't reach the age of 15, and the age of 25 makes one who survives in the gangs to that age an ancient.

Acerola and Laranjinha go to school--a school in which there are relatively few youth from the favelas. The opening episodes show that the seemingly day-dreaming Acerola is really absorbing the history the teacher is spewing. He takes it in in part by drawing it, and in part by relating Napoleon's attempts at world domination to those of the drug kingpins about whom he knows. Like much else, what and how he learns are both touching and amusing.

I don't want to get into regurgitating plots (there is a list of episodes and who directed each appended), just to say that the prom is especially memorable (and for reasons other than the dance near the end of "City of God" is!).

Since it took me a long time to steel myself to watch "City of Men," the movie did not motivate me to tune into the Sundance cable channel until some time during the third season. The episodes that I saw did not really grab me, but I now think that this was from jumping in late. The first two episodes definitely grabbed me and provided vital information about the characters.

And stuff happens very fast. I realize that part of the reason subtitles don't bother me is that I read fast (the other reason is gratitude to be able to understand what would otherwise be closed to me). I had difficulty keeping up with the subtitles of "City of Men." which makes DVD preferable to watching episodes on Sundance. The knowledge that I can go back to get a line I didn't quite get is reassuring (so that I probably miss fewer).

Like "City of God," "City of Men" was shot with hand-held cameras that are often on the move, and the wobbliness of this technique is exacerbated by hyperactive cutting. The narrative structure of "City of Men" is not quite as complex as that of "City of God," though not without digressions.

There are no DVD bonus features, but some of the stuff that is usually in them is inside "City of Men," notably cast members talking about real life in the favelas.

The threat of violence is pervasive in both, but far less the focus in "City of Men." "City of Men" deals with teenage anxieties other than getting shot. The urban milieu is far, far more dangerous, but in some ways "City of Men" (especially the second and third seasons) is like "My So-Called Life" or other coming-of-age television series speeded way up. If a narrative can be said to be "on" metamphetamines, "City of Men" is: jump-cuts, jumpy characters with nerves jangled by constant danger of lethal violence, and very saturated colors. The Brazilian music is not druggy, but is definitely not soothing either!

Shot on the streets (as Fernando Meirelles also did in East African slums for "The Constant Gardner"), there are some script continuity problems (or the makers didn't care about such trivialities) and not all episodes are equally trenchant, but the overall effect is of plunging the viewer into the Rio slums--not a place I ever wanted to go even before seeing them in "City of God" and "City of Men."

To put it mildly, there is nothing else on American tv like this import, nothing made for American tv this fiery or this jagged-looking. I can't imagine anyone watching all 530 minutes in a day, but am pretty sure the impact would not be the same as the fiery (and, to me, often horrifying) "City of God." A movie for theatrical release is, reportedly, being carved out of the series. But, surely, it will be about the survival of characters rather than the annihilation of them that made "City of God" a shattering drama. There's a lot more charm and a lot more comedy in "City of Men"--and the featured boys survive and grow up in "City of Men."

© 2007, Stephen O. Murray
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Contents (Title / Director)

Disc One
1. The Emperor's Crown / César Charlone
2. The Man’s Brother-In-Law / Kátia Lund, Paulo Lins
3. The Mail / Kátia Lund, Paulo Lins
4. Uólace & Joăo Victor / Fernando Meirelles, Regina Casé
5. Saturday / Fernando Meirelles
6. Two On Their Way to Brasilia / César Charlone
7. It’s Gotta Be Now / Regina Casé

Disc Two
8. The Ordinaries / Kátia Lund, Eduardo Tripa
9. Hot Spot / Paulo Morelli
10. Opening Night / Paulo Morelli
11. Didn’t Mean To / Cao Hamburger
12. Can’t Screw Up Twice / Paulo Morelli, Adriano Goldman
13. Hip Sampa Hop / Philippe Barcinski

Disc Three
14. Father and Son / Regina Casé
15. The Line-Up / Roberto Moreira
16. Too Much Month / Paulo Morelli
17. Fatal Attraction / Adriano Goldman
18. Looks Can Lie / Regina Casé
19. Somewhere in the Future / Fernando Meirelles

Total Running Time: 570 minutes




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD