In Praise Of City Of God

The City Of God was released in 2002 and directed by F. Mierelles and K. Lund. It tells the real story of young boy Rocket(Alexandra Rodriguez) who lives in Rio, known by everyone who lives there as the city of god. The course of the film shows how the various characters in the city operate in the city’s drug and weapon trading, gang violence, and other crimes that run the city.

The story is told through multiple flashbacks and foreshadowing to events that happen in the future. The film begins by showing part of the ending sequence, capturing the viewers attention immediately by showing,briefly, how the events climax at the end. This makes the audience want to know what events lead up to this, and who the characters are. Throughout the rest of the movie, usually when characters are fist introduced, the scene flashbacks to their backstory, introducing them and giving the viewer a general idea of what they are like.

The City Of God is a very atmospheric film. The set design is perfectly made to picture a poverty stricken, crime ridden environment. The buildings are cramped close together, everyone’s clothes are dirty, there is trash and stray animals everywhere, and by doing this you are constantly drawn into the film. You are made to feel a part of it, like you are there, and that is why the film can be so distressing at times.

The movie also has some great characters. Particulars like Knockout Ned(Seu Jorge) are introduced later in the movie, but still have fascinating arcs and can get the viewer to relate to them, sympathise with them, and keep invested in them and how they change throughout the film. Even the main villain, Lil Ze(Leandro Firmino), who is completely despicable and unforgivable because of his actions in the film, is interesting and enjoyable to watch. He also represents a lot of the themes in the film. How crime can corrupt young people, someone can become obsessed with something, and lose compassion for others.

Whilst on the subject of themes, it is worth explaining a few of the movies’. The city of God is a sad and ironic name for the one depicted in the film. The statue of Christ The Redeemer stands looking out upon the city of Rio, but all that we infer from the film is that, if anything, he is not there. Also, the film starts off showing all of the characters as children. As the movie progresses, we see them grow up into adults, but at the same time we see how they become more and more corrupt and lose their innocence. Characters like Lil Dice, who start off as a small kid with dreams of becoming the king of the city of God. Later on in the film, Lil Ze is an adult who has murdered and raped, sold weapons and cocaine to children. He is the perfect example of the effect gang mentality has on children, and his corruption and abuse of the children in the film is what makes his fate all the more fitting, symbolic, and satisfying. His corrupting of the kids in the city is what came back to bite him.

The City Of God perfectly summarises its main theme of the loss of innocence in the pursuit of revenge in Knockout Ned’s story. He starts off as an innocent man whose life is completely ruined by Lil Ze. In his pursuit for revenge, he begins to kill more and more innocent people, until he almost becomes a second Lil Ze. And when he comes the closest he ever did to getting revenge on him, Ned is killed by a young boy who’s own father he had previously killed in a bank heist. This and the ending of the film subtly emphasise how crime leads to death which leads to revenge, and then to crime, restarting the cycle.

The theme of death is also prevalent in the movie. There is a lot of death in the movie, usually depicted through extreme violence and brutality. It is also portrayed through the way that characters are killed off. The people in the film are introduced to us, the audience, and usually after we establish a connection with them, they are killed off, and in an extremely horrible or disrespectful way too. It goes to show that no matter how good of a person you are, you will end up in the dust with everyone else, killed by the hand of one psychopath, who was made by another, and another, and so forth. Most characters we see grow up, develop, grow, and then we see them shot and left to die in the streets, like an animal. It shows off the true brutality pop gang violence, and how there is no God in The City Of God.

The film is also extremely difficult to watch! There a few scenes involving child abuse and rape that are incredibly shocking and disturbing. They are made this way, I imagine, to imprint the sight of violence and cruelty on the viewer, making more of an impact on them and getting across the film’s message too. The message being to not seek revenge, and remain innocent, even when everyone around you, no matter how good of a person they are, eventually succumbs to evil. Whether they are killed by it, or become it themselves.

I personally loved watching The City Of God. Despite how tough some of the scenes were to watch, I still feel like I’ve learned an important lesson of how some people are forced to live. It was an uncomfortable story to witness, but one that I will never forget, for that reason. The film was also very enjoyable most of the time. The characters were interesting, the film was engrossing, and it was all weaved together seamlessly. I rate The City Of God ★★★★★!