A chronicle of ordinary violence in a neighborhood that swallows its sons and spits them out in the form of junkies and corpses, City of God shows a sad reality that spares no one, let alone its children.
Armed to the teeth kids, two gangs ready to face each other to death, The City of God sets the scene from the first images. Whoever will lead the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics ten years later does not do business with the local tourism ministry. Far, very far from Brazil fantasized about samba, carnival and other cliches usually conveyed, we find ourselves in an implacable reality. That of a two-speed development, which leaves the poorest behind, with violence as a daily occurrence.
The favelas are among the most dangerous areas in the world, and the settling of scores would almost make them look like war zones. The situation is not new, as Fernando Mireiles and Kátia Lund show, who place the action in the heart of the 60s and 70s. This City of God really exists. Paulo Lins knew her and nothing changed because the film crew faced the same difficulties and the same dangers when scouting. The bias is that of ultra realism. With a neutral look. Nothing here is glorified or condemned.The narrator, a childhood friend of the author, really exists, like many characters. To best stick to this realism and for the viewer to have a direct relationship with the characters, it was chosen to shoot with unknown actors, many of whom came from the neighborhood, as well as the singer Seu Jorge. This concern for veracity and spontaneity, we find it throughout the film, with parts of improvised dialogues and no scene that could seem far-fetched or far-fetched, which contributes to the success of the project.
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| Photo credits: Mars Distribution |
The other great thing about the film is that it has solid credentials while setting out on its own. Urban violence between gangs, street language, the setting perfectly match American ghetto films and allow the film to rub shoulders with classics like Boys N The Hood or Menace II Society. The narrative codes, the multitude of colorful thugs and the fact that the film stretches out over a long enough time to see the decay of a neighborhood, a city from a trio of small strikes to the reign of a gangster psychopath evokes the big thrillers like Goodfellas, or Once upon a time the Bronx. However, if these codes are present, The City of God knows how to get rid of it with something new.
First, by the fact that there is no star in the credits, no known head who will replay situations with a game inherited from the great schools of theater. The actors know the area, its history, have lived it for some and transcribe it with all their spontaneity and generosity. Then, with immense technical qualities. Cesar Charlone’s photography has the grain of an old-fashioned image and turns out to be warm or very cold as if to emphasize the dramatic and plump character at the same time. But the most impressive is the mounting. Sublimating the daring camera movements wonderfully, Daniel Rezende offers us a sometimes nervous and often inventive montage, qualities that we will find later in Elite squad by Jose Padilha (which, on a similar subject, shows no bias whatsoever. , the vision of the police officers who work in the favelas) as well as in The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick (a montage which made this last film a unique experience). The whole carried by a very rich soundtrack and in phase with the framework of the time (Brazilian music and also a lot of funk to stick at best with the part of the 70's, also very worked on the looks of the characters).
The City of God is the work of people who know their subject well and have produced a strong film while remaining neutral, at the crossroads between fiction and documentary.
In brief;
Nervous and violent from start to finish, The City of God takes a disillusioned and lucid look at life in the favelas. Coming from a country whose local cinema does not have a strong media exposure, it goes beyond the stage of short film come from elsewhere to impose itself on the table of great standards, monuments of the genre. All with a small budget but great honesty, hard realism and exceptional qualities. We don’t see the two hours at all and in the end, we come out with the feeling of having taken a powerful right.
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