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

Yeah, I can’t even come up with a title to do this movie justice. I just absolutely loved it. This is movie #6 of my film class, coming from the favelas (poverty-stricken areas, basically) of Brazil. I don’t even have any goofy quips to start myself off with, so I’ll just get straight into the goods.

The Story:
A flash of a knife. A chicken being plucked. Another (live) chicken apparently figuring things out. It escapes, only to have a host of hungry, gun-toting guys behind it. The chicken pauses in front of a young man, who is ordered by the leader of the group to get the chicken. He complies, only to suddenly realize there are police behind him – and a shootout is about to being.

Rewind.

We’ve just met Buscapé, or as the subtitles will inform us, Rocket. He brings us back to where everything began, introducing us to a place named City of God, where God is all but present. It is through Rocket that we meet other characters, a veritable truckload of them in some ways, and see how their lives have progressed, from the frighteningly psychotic Li’l Zé, the coolest hood around Benny, to the downfall of righteous Knockout Ned, and many others. Rocket tells each of their stories, rewinding and moving forward as necessary, and as we go we see how all the puzzle pieces of each person’s life connects with another. It’s a story of how a the unwanted excluded turn to drugs as a means of survival, leading to violence and mayhem, corruption, and attempts to escape into something better.

What Makes City of God So Awesome:
Once again, I will say that I absolutely loved this movie. It’s totally unapologetic, if I may be so bold as to say. It’s one of those movies that looks you right in the eye, and if you don’t like it, that’s fine, and if you do, then thank you.

Fernando Meirelles (with Katie Lund helping to cast as well as guiding Meirelles around the city of Rio de Janeiro) snagged the book by Paulo Lins and transformed it with great skill into the movie we see here. Interestingly, Lins had incorporated at least 200 characters into his book and though Meirelles doesn’t have quite that many, he still manages to utilize a great many characters, and all the while doing it in a way that the audience doesn’t lose track of who is who and what they’re doing. An interesting side note is that a lot of people in the movie aren’t actors in the traditional sense – they happen to be people Lund cast straight off the streets. And a fantastic job they did too – another reason for me to be raving about getting new blood into Hollywood.

If you’re familiar with the movie Crash then you already have some idea of the style of this movie. It takes different life stories and shows how they all weave together, from childhood into adulthood and even beyond that. For example, Rocket knew a lot of the people who grow up to be killed or otherwise incorporated into the gang formed by Li’l Zé, whom Rocket also knew before he became Li’l Zé. The almost raw feeling of this film, editing, camera use, and unabashed violence (I argue with some of the claims that the violence is stylized – no way man) is another aspect that gives this film the power that it has. You might want to be aware of the violence going into this, depending upon who you are. But as for camera shots and style, the second we see Rocket in the beginning with the chicken, I decided this was going to be a very interesting movie.

Though the movie does rewind to return to someone’s previous story, Rocket narrates what is going on, and it is actually difficult to become confused. You’d have to really be working at that or really not paying attention, which is near to impossible because the movie just sucks you right in. As does the music. It really adds a lot of spice to the movie, both traditional and then a bit of American (as when they’re in the club – I think I heard REO Speedwagon in there?).

If I keep going, I’ll end up with more than I’m sure you want to read. The movie is good, end of story. I actually can’t believe how much I like this movie because I want to give it 6 stars. Yeah, can you believe that? I like it that much. I should put it on my wishlist. So seriously, if you’re into foreign films, or anything I mentioned above appeals to you, by all means, take a look, and if you don’t like it, you can tell me I’m weird.

But of course, I won’t listen to you and keep on ranting about 6 stars…

NT

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age