City of God

untime: 2 hr. 16 min.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Theoretical Release: 10 January 2003 (USA)
Box Office: 30,641, 770 (worldwide)
Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Phellipe Haggensen
Director: Fernando Meirelles

9/10

Cidade de Deus, better known in the states as “City of God,” is a gripping and thoroughly powerful film that dives into the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Rocket, the films narrator, brings us along through a span of roughly twenty years, from the 1960’s through the 1980’s. Rocket narrates us through his story, one of hope and the desire to one day escape the city through the lens of his camera, a story in which the slums become engulfed with violence and corruption, along with the rise and fall of one of the city’s most powerful and violent drug lords, Li’l Ze. As the film unfolds we are brought into the perspective of various characters lives as their stories intertwine with the events taking place in the City. The film is based off of Paulo Lins book of the same title, and directed by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles. Meirelles really shows he is someone to be watched in the future with City of God. Both Lins words and Meirelles work behind the lens show that a film drenched with violence and corruption can shine, and connect to almost any viewer. At times the film can be hard to watch, heart wrenching in its portrayal of the real life situation that plague the slums, and unthinkable cruelty, but within all the suffering witnessed on screen there is something beautiful to be found here. City of God is one of the strongest foreign releases of the decade, a must see.
-Hunter Freiburg