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Here is a dazzling and invigorating
film depicting a true story of life in the area in Rio de Janeiro in
the 1960's/1970's which was affectionately called The City of God.
The irony of this title and calling this area by such a name is that
there is no evidence of God to be found here... this place is true
hell.
I
won't spend a lot of time with the plot outline. "City of
God" is about the life and survival of kids who are lucky to
ever see their eighteenth birthday. Poverty is the way of life
and drugs and violence permeates every waking moment with these
children. Gang wars erupt constantly and all the kids, some as
young as seven years old it seems, grab their guns and as sung in a
Warren Zevon song, join in the bloody fray. Being able to use
a gun and kill is a higher priority than learning to read and write
as getting killed just seems to be a matter of time. The story
centers on several characters. Rocket is an intelligent kid
who dreams of being a photographer and doesn't really want any part
of the gang life but is constantly pulled into the mess by
surrounding events. Other key characters include the various
gang leaders whose ultimate goal is to control all of the "City
of God" and put the other gangs out of business.
While the story is a sad and depressing one, there are elements of
hope for some of the characters. But what sets this film apart
is the dazzling filmmaking and the brilliant camera shots that fill
the scenes. There are some dazzling (am I using the word
dazzling enough to describe this film?) and unique stuff to see
here, such 360 degree action shots and lots of hand held camera
sequences used while showing the story in a orange filter and a
muted color type of visual. Watching this film reminded me of
stuff that you usually only see in a Scorcese film. The
violence between these kids is both shocking and brutal, but yet
there is actually very little blood depicted. The horror is
not the blood, but the ages of the kids who like adults, kill
without remorse or any afterthought.
Hard to imagine in a film like this that there are actually some
moments of humor. Not to give anything away, there is an opening
scene of a chicken running away from being killed and cooked that is
not only a metaphor for escaping the death and hell of the
"City of God", but also is one of the funniest and
dazzling (there I go again) scenes I've seen in a long time.
It is one of those scenes that one could easily watch over and over.
My
only criticism of this film is that it seemed a bit longer than it
needed to be. Reducing fifteen minutes of so of the movie
would have made it a tighter story and a better film. However,
this is a small complaint to this dazzling (yes, again) film.
From previous reviews, I was expecting a lot of gratuitous blood and
gore, but found the violence to be intelligently, rather than over
the top, displayed. I highly recommend it.
-- Mike
( 3 1/2 out of 4 pops )
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