Jackson Free Press

Crime, redemption and the viciousness of the human animal are the fundamental elements of "City of God (Cidade de Deus)," a brutal and beautiful drama from Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles. Nominated earlier this year for four Academy Awards, the film is now on video and DVD.

The "City of God" is a deeply ironic nickname given to a housing project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a place populated by crime and corruption. Warring gangs litter the air with gunfire and paint the streets with blood. The police are paid to stay out of the way, and the media only reinforces the glorification of violence and vengeance.

The film follows two "generations" of gangs, beginning in the 1960s with the so-called "Tender Trio" (Jonathan Haagensen, Jefechander Suplino and Renato de Souza)—three hoods who spend their days and nights robbing tourists and truckers. After a young admirer named Little Dice (Douglas Silva) convinces them to let him participate in a motel robbery, a new leader of crime in the City of God is born.

When the film's timeline advances to the 1970s, Little Dice has renamed himself Li'l Ze (Leandro Firmino da Hora), and is a feared sociopath who systematically eliminates all who oppose him. The main character and narrator of the movie, however, is Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), a boy who dreams of getting out of the slum and becoming a photographer. As he watches tragedy unfold around him, a secondhand camera gives him the chance to document the City of God and share it with the world.

Few films have come along in recent years as chilling and brilliant as "City of God." Perfectly written and acted, the film is also a technical marvel, photographed and edited more expertly than films with exponentially higher budgets. Filming took place in locations that were just as dangerous as those depicted in the film, and many of the actors are amateurs recruited from surrounding areas.

Despite its excellence, "City of God" will not appeal to everyone. The picture is in Portuguese with English subtitles, so those uninterested in foreign films (especially one that exceeds two hours in length) may want to avoid it. Additionally, the movie is completely unsparing in its depiction of violence and hatred.

What is particularly disturbing about the film's violence is that so many of the characters are so young, and there are scenes of both violence against children and violence committed by children. Meirelles intends to horrify his audience with the cyclical nature of crime in the City of God: when a hood is killed, there is always someone younger and hungrier just at his heels (and often behind the trigger).

While it is doubtlessly a dark and troubling film, there is a certain amount of hope in "City of God." Meirelles, however, does not force any sentiment one way or the other upon the audience. The final scenes contain equal doses of murder and mirth, darting back and forth from one character's downfall to another's triumph. What the movie's ultimate statement is will be different—possibly radically so—for each individual viewer. "City of God" is the work of born storytellers, the kind of experience that, by its climax, feels less like a film and more like a force of nature.