City of God **

Directors - Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles
Based on novel by Paulo Lins
Seen on DVD



I was fairly excited at first. The opening of the movie, when they flashed back to the beginning of the gangsters story and their childhood, reminded me a lot of Luis Bunuel's Los olvidados. Except the flashback made it seem more nostalgic and innocent. In Los olvidados, it is not a flashback. The film takes place in contemporary times, though to us it seems a little nostalgic because the film was made so long ago. I think there have been a few gangster movies that start out with the childhood lives of the characters. Once Upon a Time in America is one example I can think of. And that's the thing about this film. It its references would have been more like Los olvidados instead of gangster movies like Scarface, I think it would have been better.

There is a lot of gratuitous violence, which some critic have complained about. What is interesting, and I doubt that the critics had a chance to see it because it is on the DVD, is that there is a documentary about Brazil and the slums of Rio de Janeiro. The documentary supports what the film is showing. There is a culture of poverty and violence that just grows and grows and feeds on itself. The children in this documentary were so hardcore and fearless and obsessed with guns and violence it was scary. They show little remorse for killing and claim they would do it again in a heartbeat. I suppose that it's possible that the children were playing up for the cameras. Besides, they are children, and children like to shock adults.

So, one could argue that the the gratuitous violence is appropriate since it shows a reality. On the other hand, Spike Lee was able to show poverty and violence in Do the Right Thing without resorting to that type of exploitation. Of course his film had a much more positive outlook on life than this one and it wasn't a gangster film.

Oh yeah, the plot. If you haven't figured it out, it's about gangsters and the wars over turf. It does take place in the 1960's and 70's. The main character tries to find a way out by becoming a photographer and documenting these wars.

The story is well told and there are some interesting techniques used in the film. In one montage, the film maker shows with dissolves how a home becomes a drug dealer's home, with the various changes of ownership due to drug wars and casualties. There's lots of jump cutting. which shows the same action repeated sometimes from various angles and sometimes to reemphasize a point in the narrative.

The message is supposed to be about the cycle of violence. When one of the major gangsters gets shot dead, there is a group of kids poised and gloating and ready to take the reins.