Cidade de Deus

English title: City of God

Genre: crime drama  

Director: Fernando Meirelles (with Kátia Lund, co-director) 

Release: 2003

Studio: Miramax

Rating: 16

MBiS score: 8.4/10

New Kids on the Crime Block

With the help of Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), an amiable young man serving as our narrator, Cidade de Deus takes us through two decades of real-life crime stories in a notorious shantytown on the outskirts of Rio. In that slum, from the 1960s to the 80s, thuggery was often the only alternative for young men deprived of any valid prospects. With Alice Braga (Angélica). 

For me, watching CIDADE DE DEUS wasn’t a free ride. I was disappointed at first because it’s predominantly a violent film – the poster makes it look like class trips and romance at Copacabana beach – then I caught on gradually and I was truly conquered in the last act. Sum total, CIDADE DE DEUS is a strong, compelling motion picture.

This vibrant film depicts the young hoodlums and traffickers who ruled over the City of God, beginning with Rocket’s brother Goose and two friends, Shaggy and Clipper – nicknamed the "Tender Trio" – who earned their reputation during an audacious holdup in a local motel. Other young dealers will follow, among them Benny (Phelipe Haagensen), Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele) and Lil Zé (Leandro Firmino de Hora), a sworn enemy of Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge), himself a hero of the slum. There’s lots of action in CIDADE DE DEUS and some of it is genuinely harrowing (the tragic story of Tiago the cocaine addict and those gun-toting children especially).

The movie’s other strong points are its nimble and efficient direction by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund (at times I found it unimaginably good) and Bráulio Mantovani’s complex and suspenseful screenplay (based on a novel by Paulo Lins). The story contains multiple flashbacks and tie-ins that ultimately provide a gripping panorama of Brazilian juvenile delinquency; its powerful ending answers questions that were left dangling before. Cast members are uniformly excellent and production values are solid.

I won’t comment further… you’ve already got the picture. CIDADE DE DEUS is a vast portrait of young people on the wrong side of the tracks, a "school of crime" if you will and a fitting companion film to Martin Scorsese’s GOODFELLAS.   

MBiS

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