ASNN

Cidade de Deus (2002)

I had looked at Cidade de Deus ("City of God") for quite a while. I had hesitated to add it to my Netflix; I had heard it was quite violent, and particularly so toward children. Alan had even marked it as a movie in which he was "not interested" in his own Netflix account.

As it turns out, Alan had marked "not interested" quite by accident, City of God is, indeed, very violent... and it is easily one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.

[WARNING: there may be spoilers. Tough.]

City of God is not an enjoyable movie. Much like The Passion of the Christ, the visceral reaction to the material almost overwhelms the message it intends to communicate. I suspect, however, that for both movies, the reaction is actually an integral part of the writers' messages.

Message received. City of God, while showing one young man's escape from the gutters of Rio de Janeiro, nevertheless focuses equally on the desperate cycles of drug abuse, poverty and violence in the slums. In all of these things, the movie shows the addictive nature of living in the poorest parts of the world: children start by smoking pot, but eventually resort to bartering everything they have to snort more and more cocaine; young hoodlums hold up a gas delivery truck for a few bucks, but eventually deal drugs for the bigger payoff; a child kills once for fun and curiosity, but eventually kills everyone around him for any arbitrary reason.

From time to time, we see glimpses that remind us that these are CHILDREN committing and surviving these crimes. Rocket (the young photographer striving to leave the slums) is constantly aware of his own virginity. Li'l Zé (the foulest of the juvenile mobsters) celebrates his 18th birthday in the streets, planning his foray into the drug business and plotting the murder of all of the city's drug bosses. Children are shot, children do the shooting. And every single time they are shown as children, rather than hoodlums, the effect is something like trying to dry swallow a brick.

Even when good things happen to the characters, the joy is shortlived. One boy might escape the slum, but the slum just goes on, consuming the hopes and dreams of those that are left behind. It was hard to consider it a triumph as Rocket's fate is revealed — so many young lives are destroyed in the process, and so many young lives continue to pursue destruction in his wake.

City of God is a movie everyone should watch, if only once. Technically, it is a beautifully-made movie. As a moral piece, it serves as a reminder, especially to those of us with plenty, that desperation and hopelessness exists, and that it is something far beyond a simple choice to be desperate or hopeless. It shows us that even while one light flickers and burns, the darkness can consume a thousand other lights. At times, we rejoice with the one light; at other times, we mourn the thousands that have been, and are being, consumed.

Posted by pcg at February 10, 2007 9:46 PM