City of God

Its a great film and well worthy of its the respect it has. Its gruelling too, the 18 rating is due to the thread running through the film of continuous and ruthless violence of gangs trying to control their drug area. The is the story told through the eyes of Rocket who avoids getting in to the gang war of his brother and friends by trying to find a safer life.

The film combines slick production without losing a genuine documentary feel which I think it is why its so enduring. While it achieves a feeling of reality, it isnt specifically a true story. However, the Cidade de Deus is real (being created to rehouse the slums away from Rio de Janeiro) and this story of its underworld and the films production makes one believe it may not be ...

Told by way of an occasionally narrated retrospective, "Rocket" (Alexandre Rodrigues) tells us a story of his childhood in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Growing up in a community of newly built boxes, without power or plumbing, that reminded me of a row of concrete beach huts, the community is pretty lawless. The crime is largely to confined to pettier crimes, but as aspirations grow so does the scale of the criminality. A raid on a motel-cum-brothel is supposed to make everyone extra cash, but their inventive young watchman "Li'l Dice" (Douglas Silva) hates being left out and so does a little augmenting of his own. Brutal and attention grabbing. Next the cops crack down, bodies pile up and the societal order starts to change. It's this ...