Cinema Tuesdays Review

A great artist can take the colors of a vivid bruise and paint a masterpiece. Director Fernando Meirelles has accomplished a similar feat in his film "City of God," based on the novel by Paulo Lins. The title is ironic: this “City” is the most notorious shanty town outside of Rio de Janeiro. Ramshackle housing, disease, high crime and vice are the hallmarks of this war zone. And yet the human spirit is here, planning, dreaming and trying to better one’s existence.

Our story starts with our meeting “Rocket," a boy of the slum. With his introduction comes the casual violence of the place that shocks the viewer. The word “gunplay” has never been more appropriate. Since the life expectancy in the slum is so low, children act as adults - it is like finding the Lord of the Flies moved to Brazil. Rocket’s claim to fame is his older brother who is a member of the "Tender Trio," a crime gang that is inept as it is tender hearted. The problem with living in the ghetto is if you can find a job, the pay is next to nothing. Only crime offers the remuneration that can get you out and into the civilized world. Of course, crime isn’t civilized and that message comes back to us time and time again. Through this film we continually meet people and, as in life, we are forced to change our opinion of them as we see their true colors. Director Meirelles brilliantly uses flashbacks to hold our interest and tell the stories of the inhabitants of this slum. We find ourselves rooting for Rocket in his numerous enterprises. Like most of us, Rocket discovers his talent and is handed the key to challenge the harsh world around him. The story telling here is so persuasive that it is hard not to sympathize for those trying to walk the straight and narrow in a very crooked place.

I found this film to be well paced. The latest optical/computer effects are unusually oriented, advancing the story rather than just dazzling the eye. Sometimes the imagery is so beautiful that I missed reading the sub-titles, but this is no problem with a DVD.

Of course being Brazilian, the music in this film is colorful and hypnotic. "City of God" is beautiful and very violent. There is little sex, as Rocket continually laments. I wonder if American children would be advised to see this film about their Brazilian counterparts: the drug use, profanity, violence and amorality would hardly please their parents, although the message of this film is the triumph of the spirit over these hurdles that life places in our path.

The DVD comes with a documentary “News from a personal War."

8/23/04

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