pHo
Oct 2001
pjeer?
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Review: City of God aka Cidade de Deus (2002)
City of God aka Cidade de Deus
imdb link : ?0317248
imdb rating : 8.4/10 (606 votes)
first of all.. thought i'd explain how i came to find out and watch this movie. i knew i'd be in town today, so i thought i'd check out what's opening, by hitting uk.imdb.com , list of 3 movies.. hmm spider, a cronenburg film.. could be interesting, apparently more linear than his usual work too... star trek nemesis.. if the trekkies don't like it , im sure as hell not paying $5 to see it. maybe if really bored tho i guess.. hmm city of god. not heard of.. *click* ah brazilian film, subtitled, 2 hours long, with a rather high rating. thats all i need to know.
and thats how i like to see films. trailers *destroy* films. sure i love watching the trailers, but i kick myself when it actually comes down to seeing said film. a perfect example of this is Sixth Sense. in the trailer, it basically plays a key point of the movie where the brat explains his special ability to his mother. this is pretty much 3/4 the way thru the film. from the trailer i was able to guess the 'twist' straight away and it destroyed any real love i could ever have had for it. so anyway, i knew very little to nothing about the film except i knew it was about 2 people who chose 2 very different paths.
first of all, this movie is subtitled, so for the 95% of the US population it seems, this movie will be a no-go. which is a shame. the film tells one big story in the form of several smaller stories going back to the 60s. each story is narated by the films centre character, Rocket, brother of a hoodlum named Goose. as the story progresses we are introduced (and lose) lots of key characters, as the whole story starts to wrap itself around a war between two rival gangs, led by L'il Zé (one of the 2 people i knew about) and one named Carrot. L'il Zé's life is shown as he grows up, and from a few different perspectives as the different strories are told. but one thing is made very clear,.. L'il Zé is not a very nice person. in fact, he's pretty much the opposite to our 'hero' in Rocket. Rocket's dream is to become a photographer, where'as Zé only wishes to be the boss of the slums.
the photography is superb.. its nice to see effects hollywood likes to call its own brought into a more amateur, ghetto environment. each piece is pulled off stylishly, but rough enough around the edges so that it doesn't feel like its pulled out from a text book. each story is introduced slyly with the text in spanish on screen, which is kind of spoiled by large white english subtitles. for the first time ever, i wish they'd redone the spanish text into english to keep the same effect. the whole film is shot with an orangey/brown tint, to portray the heat and dirt of the area that its filmed in, and the camera is often hand held to make you feel part of the action portrayed on the screen.
each character brought in , and out , of the film is crafted with enough detail for you to actually get emotionally involved with. each time theres trouble, you hope that your favorite character survives, but unfortunately this can't always happen in the environment we're shown. the story is of a very harsh place, and some of the scenes (one in particular) are some of the hardest and cruelest pieces of cinema i've ever watched (see below) and the direction and writing is good enough to make you feel every bullet shot.
i'm trying to bring across the style of which the film is made without trying to ruin the story. its a basic story of 2 people, 1 good, 1 evil, but with an awesome sense of detail that drags you down with it. the fact its based on a true story makes it worth watching even more. the fact is, most people have never seen a film made in brazil before, so this is a first for a lot of us, and in my opinion, it was made for an international audience rather than just for the people of their homeland.
the sad thing is, if this film was shot by some hollywood director of the month, set in detroit with some bullshit rapper who's never seen a street in his life, the film would be highly acclaimed and would be in every theater in the USA. as it is, its a much better film, which will only be seen by a small audience, but those who will see it will realise how special it is, and that to me is a lot more important.
9.5/10 . it does everything a movie is supposed to do. it tells a gripping and exciting story, with so much style and substance. theres a lot of movies that try to do a similar thing, but very few that pull it off so well..
City of God is on release in the UK currently, and is out in the US on January the 17th (i believe)
*spoiler*
for users of the "black" skin anyway, highlight the following text to be able to read it.
the harsh scene i refer to is, when L'il Zé catches two of the runts (young hood children) and asks whether they wish to be shot in the hand or the foot. as the screaming crying kids hold out their hands, he shoots them in the foot. he then hands the gun to Steak , another child of around 10/11 years old and commands him to shoot one of the children. Steak reluctantly looks over the 2, one screaming of around 4/5 years old, and eventually turns away and shoots the slightly older one in the head. the gang laugh and rejoice as the other young child is sent away. very very strong stuf, but necessary to show the mindset of Zé and his followers.
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