cidade de deus [city of god].
rio de janeiro may bring to mind images of carnaval, bossanova and impeccable white sand beaches, but rio is widely known for its slums or bairros. and cidade de deus, or the "city of god" is where gangs fight over guns, drugs and money in the most poor and neglected slum of all the slums in rio.
miramax brings to the screen city of god from brazil, with the portuguese language intact with subtitles, and it explodes across the screen like the goodfellas on sangria. based on real life, we watch as the shanty town where the poor retreated to in the 1960s, where desert and jungle collide, are swallowed up by a maze of scaffolding and concrete as the city swells, making whatever little dignity the dwellers had, when they weren't being either robbed or hassled by the police, disappear under dust and bullets.
we follow two boys as they watch their older brothers, smalltime hoodlums, rake up the attention their crime sprees warrant, and the way their paths diverge and intertwine as one takes the gangster life to an extreme whilst the other resists into a straighter yet equally perilous life. friends and family, enemies and rivals, power and authority, corruption and revenge ...these all are woven in the claustrophobic atmosphere where everyone is two steps away from everyone else and anything can be acquired for blood or money.
spanning decades but jumping in and out of time, city of god plays like a more hyperactive sinister goodfellas. shades of tarantino and guy ritchie abound, but the humour is barely around. the fact that most of the criminals here are teens and kids compounds the horror, where packs of kids run around terrorizing the populace, leaving the older gangsters as de facto peacemakers that keep the order, payoff the corrupt police and bring money into the slums. however, if the peace is threatened, the lengths to which rival gangs dispatch each other are ruthless and if anyone makes it into adulthood, it's by sheer luck.
the cast of actors here are mostly unknowns that actually live in the barrio, adding to the isolated authenticity. all the playboys, junkies, pushers, thugs and weary adults look like they're in their element during the movie. but the star is the actual city. filmed in both sunchoked daylight and pitchdark nighttimes, you can feel the dryness of the soil and the heat that can't be escaped. the cinematography embraces this and pay particular attention to the soundwork: not just the notoriously rich music, where samba, soul and funk provide a sumptuous sense of relief, but the pitter-pat of everyday sounds seem alien and the scattershot metallic bullets provide a staccato rhythm that comes across as a more natural backdrop.
this is one vicious movie, where kids shoot kids for respect, good deeds are their own threats and survival is merely holding onto unbelievable luck. a few people in the theatre walked out because of the difficult subject nature, but this isn't grit for glamour's sake. somehow, people have managed to flee the slums, but they maintain a steady grip. well worth it if you can find it in the theatres.
two quick oddities:
- one of the boys seems to age totally, yet another almost remains the same, which may be a little jarring, but don't let that bother you.
- make sure you watch at least part of the credits, where you not only see the photo of the actor with the name, but you also see shots of the actual people who inspired each role. however, manhattan's picked up a nasty habit of cutting off the credits now, since showtimes are more packed closely in time now and the seats have to be emptied quicker. complain if this happens. guess i have to wait for the dvd.