REVIEW: DVD Release: City Of God

Film: City Of God
Release date: 7th July 2004
Certificate: 18
Running time: 102 mins
Director: Kátia Lund & Fernando Meirelles

Starring: Phellipe Haagensen, Matheus Nachtergaele, Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Seu Jorge

Genre: Crime/Drama
Studio: Miramax
Format: DVD
Country: Brazil/France

Director Fernando Meirelles, breaks the mould with his commended and extravagantly nominated City Of God where accomplishing one’s desires are not as basic as they are in his 2001 film Domésticas, for example. Derived from the flourished novel of the same name by Paulo Lins, City Of God bids you to Rio de Janeiro to ascertain why “Hoods don’t love, they desire. Hoods don’t talk, they smooth talk. Hoods don’t stop, they take a break.”

This tale of the City of God, based upon true events, is initiated by way of narration from the leading role, budding photographer, Rocket. Through Rocket’s recounting experiences as a youth growing up in Rio de Janeiro, we learn of his journey, and those of his fellow friends and foes.

The City of God is depicted not just through the nostalgic Rocket, but also via melancholic, yet somehow idyllic landscape shots. The city, Rocket explains, was a place where people came “to find paradise,” and this is simply the beginning of the recurring notion within the film that the people of Rio de Janeiro struggle most of their lives reaching for fulfillment of their desires.

Rocket tells the stories of various young men he grew up alongside, although he mainly focuses upon the accounts of two central and vital characters - Benny and Lil’ Ze. In doing so, he exemplifies the true face of Rio de Janeiro’s City of God; one wherein the locals were, as reported by Rocket, “too far removed from the picture postcard image of Rio de Janeiro.”

As the anecdote begins, the City of God appears to be a place filled with soul, energy and love, and what follows on screen for most of the 130 minute running time is most definitely a mixture of these elements. However, as the plot begins to unfold, these fundamentals are overwritten by the sheer darkness, violence and sorrow experienced, yet also sadly contributed to by its inhabitants...


With such an intensely fuelled action-packed opening scene, it’s no wonder Fernando Meirelles has done so healthily with his 2002 film. It is impossible not to be hypnotized by Meirelles’ clever use of speedy sweeping and prompt freeze shots, alongside the magically energetic traditional Brazilian music flowing throughout the introductory scene. It is here we are subjected to a somewhat amusing, if nevertheless imperative frantic chicken chase, wherein the elegantly swift camera work creates a scene which one can almost feel a part of. We watch as an alarmed and anxious chicken observes his poultry pals being slaughtered without any hope of survival. However, it appears that the chicken believes there is a better option and makes a break for it, but not before the residents of the City of God spy the run-away bird and pursue it. There seems to be a preliminary metaphor here for the hopeful citizens of the City of God tying in greatly with the film’s tagline: “If you run, they’ll catch you... If you stay, they’ll eat you.” Perhaps the message Meirelles is aiming to render is that in the City of God, there is no way out of the city’s constraints - no happy ending. This is further portrayed through the tragedies that occur around individuals where they learn the hard way that attempting to flee the city can have dire consequences.

Rocket tries his best to stay out of any trouble that occurs within the City of God, despite many of his peers being involved from ages as young as 12, and his brother being a member of the Tender Trio (Goose, Shaggy and Clipper) - an infamous gang back in the 1960s but who are described as “amateurs” compared to the next generation of hoods who flourish as a result of the Trio’s influence - Lil’ Ze (formerly the child gangster Lil’ Dice) and Benny, his childhood buddy, are the two most prominent.

In the 1970s, the two boys enter adolescence and, along with it, become eminent for their transgression packed lives, featuring little more than guns, drugs, music and violence. However, Lil’ Ze and Benny couldn’t be more distant in their approach to handling situations and everyday life - Lil’ Ze, quick to jump at a chance for bloodshed and danger, is usually calmed down by his comrade Benny, who opts for rationality, peace and love.

The film depicts other characters who play critical roles, such as drug-lord Carrot and, eventually, even the cautious and civil Knockout Ned is caught up in the havoc wreaked upon the City of God, where the quest for survival can sometimes become superior to the quest for the accomplishment of aspirations - proven as the young characters learn the hard way how either option can result in death: “The slum had been purgatory, now it was hell.”

Meirelles unites a couple of romantic scenes, together with a little comedic air, alongside heart wrenchingly poignant moments, blends them up with the brutality, felony and shock capacity to produce a work of art that has it all - a picture that will have you wondering which emotion you shall experience next! Fernando Meirelles has outdone himself in this masterpiece of Portuguese cinema. Still, a lot of his acclaim should not only rest on his vast skills as a director but on the perfect cast he chose, and their dazzling ability to move their audience to such a large degree.


In what seems the product of inspiration from directors Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, Fernando Meirelles delivers an outstanding and gripping film. Differing from his previous material, the Brazilian director encapsulates the City of God and its habitants’ mesmerising rawness in a way one rarely views within cinema. VMF