When Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu emerged into the international film scene with “Amores Perros” in 2000, a new wave of Latin American cinema had officially arrived. While there were filmmakers like Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron and Brazil’s Walter Salles who helped make films for Latin American cinema, Inarritu’s emergence helped open doors, as Argentina’s Fabian Bielinsky’s “Nueve Reinas” became an international hit, as did Cuaron’s “Y Tu Mama Tambien”. In 2002, another Brazilian director emerged into the scene with his sophomore feature based on the true stories of life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro through the eyes of a youth caught in the middle of a violent drug war. The director was Fernando Meirelles who took a book based on those stories from author Paulo Lins where Meirelles adapted the film into a script entitled “Cidade De Deus (City of God)”.

Adapted into a script by Braulio Mantovani and directed by Meirelles (with additional directing from Katia Lund), “Cidade De Deus” is a multi-layered, coming-of-age story of a young man living in the ghetto slums of Rio de Janeiro where from the 1960s and 1970s, he sees a world of violence as a war between childhood friends and drug dealers go terribly wrong. Using handheld cameras, fast-paced editing styles, and grainy, wondrous cinematography, Meirelles goes for gritty realism for his film and using people from the slums to play the characters instead of real actors. A film that is heavily filled with graphic violence, language, and nudity, the film is also a social commentary on the life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro along with its views on drugs, corruption, and crime. One of the most refreshing and harrowing films to come out of Latin American cinema, “Cidade De Deus” is an engrossingly powerful masterpiece from Fernando Meirelles.

It’s a typical day in the slums of Rio de Janeiro often called “City of God” where a young photographer named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is in the middle of a possible shootout between police and a gang led by the sociopath killer named Li’l Ze (Leandro Firmino da Hora). Rocket knew Ze as a child back in the 1960s where the slums were ran by a small gang called the Tender Trio. Young Rocket had a brother named Goose in the gang along with Clipper and the leader Shaggy (Jonathan Haagensen). Rebelling against the oppressive government and dirty cops in the city, Shaggy and his boys would often try and steal trucks but some don’t actually consider them real hoods including one of Rocket’s childhood buddies named Li’l Dice (Douglas Silva). Dice had a plan to rob a local motel nearby but Shaggy and his gang wanted them to stay put as they had a big score but found themselves crashing a car where they got into trouble with one of the bigger local hoods named Shorty.

While Shaggy hides in the home of girlfriend Berenice (Roberta Rodriguez), Clipper quits the gang to go religious while Shaggy gets into trouble where he slept with Shorty’s girlfriend as he disappeared. Shaggy then learned that the motel was rob was now filled with people who had been killed minutes after the robbery. Shaggy tries to escape but gets killed by the cops as young Rocket sees a photographer taking photos as he decided on what to do with his life.

Now the story moves forward into the 1970s where Rocket and best friend Stringy are part of a hippie-like group of kids who often smoke pot and go to the beach. To impress a girl named Angelica (Alice Braga), Rocket decides to buy pot from a local dealer in the slums named Blacky, who runs a small drug deal under his boss named Carrot (Matheus Natchtergaele). On that same day, Li’l Ze arrives, who Rocket knew because he was once Li’l Dice. Li’l Ze had become a ruthless, power-hungry dealer who was the one who killed the people in the motel and also killed Goose. On Ze’s side is his best friend another childhood friend of Rocket named Benny (Phellipe Haagensen), who was a laid-back cat who was the only person who could control Ze. Rocket got some pot and one day when Benny was chilling in the slums, he meets Angelica’s ex-boyfriend Tiago (Daniel Zettel) who got Benny cool clothes. Suddenly, Benny became the coolest cat in City of God and the one who tried to keep the peace between Carrot and Li’l Ze.

With Benny now Angelica’s new boyfriend, Rocket is broke and while he couldn’t carry a job due to his connection with the slum along with running into little unruly kids called Runts. Rocket and Stringy tried to get into a life of crime where they to rob a lot of people but couldn’t even do it, especially when they met an ex-Marine now bus-fee man named Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge). When news learned that Benny was leaving with Angelica to live in a farm, Rocket was invited to the party where Benny gave him a camera but Li’l Ze wasn’t happy with Benny’s departure since he wanted to finish a deal with Carrot but tragedy occurs instead. Ze suddenly becomes more ruthless than ever when he suddenly came across Ned and killed his brother only to have Ned kill one of Ze’s henchmen. Carrot suddenly recruits Ned where a war suddenly has broken out.

With Rocket now getting work with a Brazilian newspaper, he realized how big this war had become when one day, Ned was captured while he got shot supposedly by one of Ze’s men. With Ned and Carrot getting the news, Ze wants some attention so he fetched Tiago to get Rocket where he took pictures of Ze and his army and Rocket suddenly gets a job as a photographer. Rocket becomes worried since with the pictures now on the front page, he might be in trouble with Ze so he hid with one of his co-workers Marina (Graziela Moretto). Then all of a sudden, City of God becomes a war zone where Ned had escape where he and Carrot wage a full-scale war with Ze and his crew. Suddenly, the film goes back right to the beginning where Rocket, like every aspiring photographer, finds himself risking his own life to capture images where he got a lot more than he bargained for.

What makes “City of God” such a powerful film with attitude, chaos, and humor is the directing style of Fernando Meirelles. Meirelles doesn’t bring anything easy to the film, especially in its violent tone where the film’s violence is very extreme in scenes where innocent people are killed and a horrible scene involving a child forced to kill another one in order to join a gang. Meirelles and screenwriter Braulio Mantovani really bring a kinetic, fast-paced story though runs at over two hours is filled with several non-linear structures due to background stories of places and its characters. Meirelles brings different styles of filming whether its straightforward, steadicam shots or jerky, shaky handheld camera styles where the directing is solid and fluid in its scenes. Even with split-screen shots and a voiceover work from Alexandre Rodrigues, the film definitely has flair of its own.

Cinematographer Cesar Charlone brings a wonderfully stylistic approach to cinematography with his emphasis to capture the early, sunny world of 1960s City of God to the more downtrodden world in the 1970s. Charlone brings a mix of evocative imagery and grainy look to bring a wonderfully stylistic look to the film that is also exceeded by art director Tule Peak. Another great aspect of the film that not only brings the film a fast-paced, kinetic pacing is the editing by Daniel Rezende, who brings a fast, choppy editing style that plays well to the directing style of Meirelles. With an eerie, ominous film score from composers Ed Cortes and Antonio Pinto, the film’s music is a wide mix of traditional Brazilian music, samba, rock, funk, disco, and everything in a melting pot.

Then there’s the film’s cast, which includes many people in the movie who aren’t actors yet their performances are all believable. Matheus Natchtergaele is amazing in his complex, wise role as the drug lord Carrot who suddenly like most crime lords descend into the clichés of most characters but Natchtergaele really makes the character a menacing presence with Seu Jorge as Knockout Ned with an even more ominous presence. Jonathan Haagensen shines early on the film, as Shaggy while Phelipe Haagensen is the film’s most standout performance as the laidback, peaceful Benny. Leandro Firmino de Hora is the film’s greatest performance as Li’l Ze with this attitude in the performance that you almost believe he’s a drug lord. De Hora really plays a classic villain that is more gangsta than Scarface and all the boys in “Goodfellas”. This is one motherf*cker you’ll remember. Then there’s the film’s protagonist Rocket played wonderfully by Alexandre Rodrigues who does great voiceover work while being the film’s eye to everything goes around. Rodrigues is really the film’s breakout performance as the one kid stuck in the middle while he trying document everything we see. The film also has great performances from children, women, everyone you can think of.

“Cidade De Dios” is a landmark crime film that reinvents not just the genre but gives some much-needed exposure for the Latin American New Wave. Fernando Meirelles truly makes a memorable, in-your-face film that transcends all genres and it’s proof that he truly earned the Oscar nomination for Best Director while Cesar Charlone got a cinematography nomination, Daniel Rezende for editing, and Braulio Mantovani for his adapted screenplay. Though there’s some comparison to films like “Goodfellas” and other recent crime films, Meirelles gives a wonderful, gritty style that is all of its own. “Cidade De Dios” is a powerful movie from Fernando Meirelles.

Latin American New Wave Films:

Central Station (1998):

(Coming Soon)

Amores Perros (2000):

(Coming Soon)

Nueve Reinas (2000):

http://www.epinions.com/content_121214307972

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_118471757444

The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002):

(Coming Soon)

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004):

http://www.epinions.com/content_156499742340



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age