City of GOD is based on real events in the 1960s through the 1980's. The screenplay was well-written and all actors were well cast.
The slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazill, known as the City of GOD, were built in the 1960's to keep the poor people of Rio out of Rio's downtown core. In the City of GOD, there is a gang of young hoodlums, The Tender Trio, who steal, kill and rape, only because they can. This is how they survive.
There are two boys in particular, from this group. One of these boys is Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), who would love to become a photographer one day. The other is Li'l Zé, (Leandro Firmino) who's main goal is to become powerful and control the City of GOD.
Rocket takes a back-seat approach to life, knowing when to listen and when to keep quiet. Li'l Zé loves to kill, and in doing so gains power through money, murder and drugs.
An all out war becomes reality as the slums turn into a bloody 1980's Vietnam. Youth are corrupted at an early age. Sex and drugs are rampant. No one is safe. And as the old saying goes, "absolute power corrupts, absolutly." It is only a matter of time before others step up to challenge Li'l Zé for control of the City of GOD.
Like Goodfellas before it, Cidade de Deus (City of GOD) tells the tale of the rise and fall of a drug lord. City of GOD is a fast paced epic about, to use the cliché, sex drugs and even some rock & roll.
The brilliant Fernando Meirelles re-uses some scenes (albeit from different points of view) over and over again to bring across what he is trying to show. Fernando tells the life stories of several of the youth from the City of GOD, and he doesn't shy away from the violence. I was horrified to see children as young as ten (maybe even younger) saying "fuck" like it was going out of style and even blasting away other children and adults like they were toy soldiers.
There is no shortage of violence in the film which only adds to the fantastic realism of the picture. City of GOD is a mind blowing edge-of-your-seat thrill ride of epic porportions. You can't help but be dazzled and horrified at the same time. If you like Goodfellas, you'll love City of GOD.
Plot:
City of GOD is based on real events in the 1960s through the 1980's. The screenplay was well-written and all actors were well cast.
Visual Effects:
The editing is second-to-none. The scenes move by quickly, and the action is fast-paced. You blink and you miss three or four shots of action alltogether.
Cinematogrpahy is too good for words; one would swear they filmed the real action from the 1980's. This film could eaily be a documentary; it is that realistic.
Sound: 
There are some songs in the dancing scenes, and the score is decent as well.
Character Development:
There are a great deal of chracters that we meet in the film. Many of them die before we learn much of anything about them. They have no time to develope. But aside from those "made to die" characters, there are some that don't die who we do not learn anything about. Some characters appear throughout the entire movie but stay an enigma.
Still, we learn enough about the main characters in the film (like Rocket and Li'l Zé) for it to flow smoothly.
Atmosphere:
WARNING: This film isn't for everyone!
The film starts out nice enough but soon takes a drastic turn to the dark side. The film is graphically violent, and the language is incredibly corse, even for subtitles. The most disturbing part of the film is children as young as ten smoking pot and killing other people.
This film isn't for everyone; watch if you have a strong stomach.
Realism:
This film is based on real events from Rio in the 60's, 70's and 80's. This isn't a Hollywood production at all. It is violent and horrifying, and that makes it all the more better.
Warren's Rating:
8.86/10Is the movie worth your time to watch?
29-12-04
