“City of God” is set in Brazil and takes place over more than 20 years. The movie covers multiple characters and is a basic depiction of the way in which people from similar foundations can take different paths in life to have very different endings. The story focuses on the poverty-stricken areas of the well-known Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Rocket is the main protagonist in the film and is a child of the slums of the city. There are numerous flashbacks in the movie that give an idea of how Rocket got to the point where the movie begins – which is with him thinking that a gang of boys is after him to kill him. The movie focuses on how Rocket’s brother and some of his hoodlum friends have been terrorizing the community and robbing businesses for money.
They then take their spoils back to the slums, dubbed “City of God.” The residents of the city are grateful for the fact that the robbers are willing to give them back some of the money, even if its stolen. The trio of friends conducting robberies in the area are responsible for some of the most heinous crimes put in cinema. There is one scene where the trio of robbers actually slaughters people violently in a hotel room. The three break up and take three different paths. One of the trio, Rocket’s brother, is killed by another boy in the community. That boy – Lil Ze – has created a huge drug business and is keeping things relatively peaceful, as long as his profits keep rolling in. Comparatively, Rocket is content with his life as a photographer, smoking weed and spending time with friends. However, Lil Ze does have plans to eliminate the one person that is giving him competition in the drug game. Lil Ze ends up causing mayhem and violence in the city once again and ends up crossing paths with Rocket through Rocket’s photography business.
Rocket ends up taking pictures for Lil Ze, all the way to the point at which Lil Ze is killed because of his crime-ridden life. Rocket ends up selling the pictures that he took with Lil Ze to the newspaper and begins a career in photography as a result of his exposure to his time in the slums. The movie ends with another group of drug dealers starting their reign in the “City of God,” with more violence on the horizon.
The best character in the movie, by far, is Rocket because he is one of the more complex characters. He is not what one might expect in a movie like this one because despite having grown up around so much violent, he is not a violent person himself. In fact, he can envision a life for himself unlike the one in which he grew up and this adds to the complexity of the character. It makes him stand out from the other characters in the movie, even if they are somewhat stereotypical in nature because of the surroundings in which the movie takes place. While there are issues with the city itself and the area portrayed, Rocket manages to find his own niche in life and pursue it with passion. This makes him stand out as a main character, when he could have easily gone the same route as his brother. What is also interesting is that he ends up caught up in the drug scene to a certain extent anyway, but he still doesn’t meet the same fate as some of the other characters, particularly Lil Ze.
Latin America is depicted in the movie somewhat unfairly. While it is true that many of the cultural problems depicted in the movie are true, this is not all that is represented by Latin Americans. Not only Latin American cities are drug-riddled, crime-infested places. Not all Latin American teenage boys are intent on causing more violence and mayhem. While there are many slums throughout Latin America, there are also slums in the United States. Therefore, it is unfair to make it seem as though these slums only exist in the bad areas of Latin America. There seems to be no hope within this culture the way that it is depicted in this movie. This is not necessarily an accurate description either.
Latin American culture is extremely rich in music, art, fashion, education and more. This is not the way that this is communicated in this movie. It also seems desperate, smarmy and hopeless. The people are not depicted in the movie as anything more than victims or common criminals. Perhaps this has to do with the general theme of the movie. However, there is no real counterbalance in the movie to make it clear that there are other aspects of the culture that are much different from what is being shown in this particular slum. This is particularly true with regard to Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. There is also an idea in popular culture that this is a city of slums and danger.
The issue is that this is true, to a certain degree. Moreover, because of the imperialism and gentrification that has run rampant in this country for so many years, the residents of this city (and of Brazil, in general) are still struggling just to get a fair shake. If there were just one social issue to tackle in this movie, this would be it. The main problem is that social justice is not a theme here; it is not an aspect of life for people living in the slums and not on the beaches that the city is so renowned for. Issues like racism, inequality and lack of opportunity abound, making the slums depicted in this movie a reality for a segment of the population. Moreover, there is no end in sight for individuals living in this situation because of the rampant corruption found throughout the Brazilian government. Even though there are ways that these issues could be tackled, the reality is that those that live in communities like the ones shown in “City of God” are truly the forgotten people of Brazil. The government would rather depict people walking on beaches and show the sunny side of life instead of the harsh realities faced by many in this country.
These are issues that I already learned about because I’ve done extensive research on the history of Brazil for various other projects. I knew that the country had issues with income inequality and that people faced issued with gaining access to opportunity. That is part of what made this movie so good – it was very realistic in terms of the story that it told for those that do live in this situation. It did not sugar coat the story with a happy ending. This is not the reality for many people that live in Brazil or live in poverty.
I also enjoyed the fact that the movie did not shy away from hard subjects. All of the aspects of living in poverty – drug use and abuse, the challenges of not having enough on which to simply live, murder, danger and more – were all included in this movie. It was gritty and very hard to watch if you’ve never lived that life. It was well-acted by those that participated in the movie, as it really made you believe watching it that they were living that reality. There was a lot of sadness and emotion in watching the movie and knowing that people are born into these slums and simply try to make it the best way that they know how. Even the trio that was engaging in robberies in the beginning of the movie was doing it, at least in part, as a way to give back to the community that was just trying to make it the same way that they were. Everyone in the movie was in survival mode, which is really how it is living in the slums.
This could really have been any slum anywhere in the world. While it was set in Rio de Janeiro, the reality is that this is not a Latin American problem; it is not a Brazilian problem. It is a problem for disparate communities around the world that don’t get the fair shake that they deserve. This movie brought to the big screen the reality that there are entire communities of people that don’t have a shot from the time that they are born. And while Rocket’s reality changed from that of his brother, the fact is that he had to experience a great deal of horror to get to that point. He had to see things that no person should ever have to see and live a life of fear, which really came through in watching the movie. As a viewer, I felt that fear and his pain. He had so much loss throughout his young life and it drove home that for those people, this is a generational challenge to be overcome.