70. City Of God (Cidade de Deus); movie review

 

CITY OF GOD (CIDADE DE DEUS)

Cert 18

124 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, drug use and violence

Simultaneously, shocking and enthralling, City of God is rated as one of the finest movies made since 2000 and I can certainly see why.

I missed out when it was released in 2003 but was riveted to Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund's film ahead of its 21st-anniversary re-release.

The movie is an adaptation of the only book by Paolo Lins, who grew up in the Cidade de Deus favela in Rio de Janeiro.

To maintain the authenticity, the film's filmmakers employed 200 local people as their background cast and relative unknowns in the lead roles.

The cheek-by-jowl slums of Rio evoke an atmosphere in which everyone is on their guard.

The movie is narrated by Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), who grew up in poverty with his brother, Goose (Renato de Souza), and his parents and gravitated to the favela.

It begins with the early seeds of gang violence, with Goose as part of the Tender Trio, who steal from the 'rich' as the route to wealth.

Their path becomes increasingly dangerous and reverberates across the community, prompting distrust and death.

The action moves into Rio, where the brother (Leandro Firmino) of one of the trio, unhinged by witnessing their activities, makes a murderous grab for power.

Firmino is mesmerising as Li'l Zé, who takes progressively more joy in killing, and anyone unlucky enough to cross his path will likely wind up dead.

Initially, there are no rivals to his self-acclaimed 'king of the favela' title, but then all hell lets loose against a fellow drug dealer (Matheus Nachtergaele) and a former military man (Seu Jorge) whom he has wronged.

The intensity of the blood-letting is sickening, as is the involvement of very young children (one scene is especially harsh).

But while the violence is grotesque, City Of God is riveting thanks to superb direction and a cast which feels authentic.

It deserves its place among the very best movies.

Reasons to watch: Shocking and riveting

Reasons to avoid: Grotesque violence

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 9.5/10

Did you know? In 2009, Cidade de Deus became the second favela in Rio to be "pacified" as part of a government programme to improve safety by increasing the police presence.  The murder rate fell from 36 out of every 100,000 in 2008, to five in 2012.

The final word. Fernando Meirelles: "I decided to use non-professionals because I wanted to recreate the same feeling of the book. This was something I learned from Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, to never give my actors the script. I would just tell them the intentions behind each scene and character and let them improvise. So 70% of what you see and hear on the screen they created by themselves." Slant

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