City of God

I have been watching a lot of movies with blood and gore lately. City of God is no exception. Directed by Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles (of The Constant Gardener fame).

Based on the real life story of journalist Wilson Rodrigues, it is based in one of Brazil’s biggest ghettos, Cidade de Deus, and is a story of a young boy Rocket and Ze. Rocket is a honest boy while, Ze is a pshycopath who wants to become the City’s biggest gangster and loves bloodshed. The movie is narrated in reverse fashion and is directed impeccably. Though Wiki tells me that most of the cast were rookies and many from the City itself, it seems hard to believe given the awesome performances of most of the cast. The movie gripped my attention, despite the subtitles which were bad at the best and pathetic generally.

The most disturbing scene was at the end when you see a group of kids, the Shorties, killing Ze and proclaiming themselves as the new bosses. Remind me of Blood Diamond and the children soldiers, and how they get sucked in to the entire thing without really knowing the consequence. Also, the scene where Steak dies and you see Knockout Ned remembering how he says:

“Listen man, I smoke, I snort… I’ve been begging on the street since I was just a baby. I’ve cleaned windshields at stop lights. I’ve polished shoes, I’ve robbed, I’ve killed… I ain’t no kid, no way. I’m a real man.”

Insane. A definite must watch for everyone, though you need to tolerate a lot of blood.

PS: Alice Braga is so hot!!