Thursday, January 7, 2010

Cidade de Deus

Is a movie about the gangs in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro called City of God at the end of 60's to early 80's. It deals basically with a fight over control of drug dealing business between two gang leaders and how the kids in this slum are being recruited from very young age, the extent of corruption in the law enforcement and the practice of naked violence in every day's life in this underprivileged area. The story is told from the eyes of the narrator, a child whose main interest is photography while his peers are into rubbing, dealing, killing, guns and girls. Very interesting story with tasteful cinematography. Nevertheless, following the subtitles to keep up with fast pace of the movie and dialogues is somewhat tiring but rewarding.

The cold shower shock comes at the end of the movie when it is revealed that it is based on a true story and some of the real characters are shown in the final titles, which made me ponder for sometime, a goal that movie makers have successfully reached.

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