A friend and co-worker of mine has been trying for a while to get me to see a little-known foreign film, City of God. His persistence, coupled with the fact that it's actually ranked #17 over on the IMDB top 250, finally "wore me down" to the point where I decided to give it a shot.Made in 2002, the movie was described to me as a "more serious" version of Slumdog Millionaire. That's only accurate to a point. This is not a love story, as Slumdog was at its core. But it is a look at a very rough place for a kid to grow up -- a place in which one could easily become trapped.
It's based on a true story of a boy who grows up on the streets of the "City of God," an impoverished slum near Rio de Janiero. He and his friends get involved in crime at an early age, some going on to become drug lords as they come of age. The story follows them over a period of many years, showing the paths their lives take, and how their environment forces most of their decisions.
It is most certainly "more serious" than Slumdog Millionaire. This film doesn't shy away from very difficult material. There are some scenes of real brutality in the movie, difficult to watch and very powerful. And there's very little uplifting content to cut the stark reality.
Those sequences are actually the most effective pieces of the movie. And while I can't really say I wanted to watch more of them, they did ultimately feel like the real meat of the film. Between this handful of unsettling, well-realized scenes, the film was slow and meandering. I almost found the rest of the film harder to watch, as my attention wandered between these moments that forced me to sit up and take notice.
I suppose the question of whether I'd recommend the film comes down to whether or not you're the sort of person who would see a movie on the strength of a few elements. (It also depends very much on whether you like to see "challenging" movies.) Overall, I'd rate City of God only a C+. But it certainly contains within it a handful of grade A scenes. I wouldn't lavish upon it the praise of the IMDB voters, but I would say it's a movie deserving of more attention than I think it has received.
2 comments:
City of God is one of my favorite movies. I think the art direction is amazing (the opening sequence alone is worth the price of admission.) And I think, despite the horrors it shows in the reality of Brazil's slums, the fact the focus is on a character who managed to make it - as much because of luck because of his character is what really helps the movie stand out because it's someone you can really sympathize with. The movie just really got to me.
I'd say your C+ grade for it is crazy, but from reading your blog, it's quite obvious your taste in movies is very different from mine. :)
I appreciate the different opinion. I can see where someone could like this movie more than I did. As you said, our tastes don't quite match perfectly. :-)
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