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City of God
(Reviewed January 2, 2002, by James Dawson)
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This jaw-droppingly excellent Brazilian film about life in the unbelievably mean streets of Rio's wrong-side-of-the-tracks was released outside the United States in 2002, but won't show up here until 2003. So, what the heck, I'm listing it under both years on this website--and probably will put it on my top-10 list for both years, too. It's that good!
I wasn't expecting much going in; the prospect of seeing a film about poverty, violence, crime and the pervasive drug trade from the 1960s-1980s in a South American slum seemed to portend a thoroughly feel-bad evening. I could not have been more wrong.
"City of God," named for a hellish low-income housing development outside of Rio, is engrossingly interesting, surprisingly human, brilliantly written and expertly directed. The screenplay condenses a 700-page based-on-fact novel into a brisk two hours filled with uniformly fascinating if not always likable characters. The amazing thing is that you never will be lost or wonder who is who in the huge cast, because each individual character is so well realized and convincing.
The story is seen through the eyes of Rocket, a kid who grows up in the City of God watching nearly all of his friends succumb to the lure of the underworld to varying degrees. The movie is not all brutality, badasses and bullets, though. It contains moments of both black humor and genuine humor, and scenes that are both touching and tragic. Director Fernando Meirelles uses lots of stylish techniques reminiscent of Guy Ritchie's excellent "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" to tell this sprawling story (fast/slow motion, bullet-time and other tricks). I also enjoyed the way he sometimes focuses on small stories-within-the-story that are introduced with their own titles (such as "The Story of the Apartment," which is a marvel of narrative economy).
I can't emphasize enough how enjoyable this movie is. Don't be put off by the idea that it is foreign with subtitles. Don't think it is one of those boring, badly shot flicks that only high-falutin' film school students could appreciate. Don't let your date convince you to throw away your hard-earned money seeing some brain-dead piece of Hollywood garbage that you know ahead of time is going to be shamelessly lousy, instead of buying a pair of tickets to this unforgettable movie.
"City of God" won't exactly be running in multiplexes on every block, but trust me: For the chance to see this gem, it will be worth taking a drive to one of the few theatres in your town that isn't showing "Just Married."
Back Row Grade: A
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