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Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Rio de Janeiro, this film pairs the beauty of the city with the unforgiving reality of life inside its favelas, a contrast that has helped it earn a legendary status. Since debuting in 2002, the Brazilian epic has remained a cultural touchstone, praised for its unfiltered look at poverty, violence and survival. Directed by Fernando Meirelles with co-direction from Kátia Lund, Cidade de Deus (City of God) strips away the glossy postcard image of Rio and plunges viewers into the heart of Cidade de Deus, a real community founded in the 1960s and long associated with inequality and gang conflict.
What unfolds is a gripping though violent journey through the lives of those who are growing up in an environment defined by violence, yet there is also a sense of resilience. At the heart of the story are two young men growing up in the Cidade de Deus favela with Rocket, a hopeful, budding photographer, and Li’l Zé, an ambitious, ruthless drug dealer.
The film follows their diverging paths. While Rocket seeks to escape the cycle of violence through his camera, Li’l Zé ascends to dominate the favela’s criminal underworld.
The film shows the rise of drug gangs in the 1970s and the chaos that follows, capturing the brutal cycles of violence while still giving space to humanity, hope and ambition as Rocket hopes for more.
The cast includes Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Douglas Silva, Jonathan and Phellipe Haagensen, Daniel Zettel, Seu Jorge, and Alice Braga in her film debut.
Most of the actors were real residents of Rio’s favelas, including Vidigal and Cidade de Deus, which adds a striking authenticity to the film’s depiction of life in these communities.
City of God scored four Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and it has also received an impressive 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.6/10 rating on IMDb.
One viewer rated the film a perfect 10/10 on IMDb and called it the “best film ever made.” They wrote: “Fernando Meirelles’s masterpiece is a film to behold. Many critics have described films as “explosive” for the punch they pack, and/or the unflinching reality of the subject matter.
“But there has been no film I have ever seen that can match ‘City of God’ for energy. It has so much energy that instead of unfolding, it throws itself at you all at once, leaving everything else to be done afterwards. The actors don’t act; they don’t have time. They just…are.
“People may not agree with me that this is the best film ever made, and that’s okay. I respect that. But make no mistake, it’s an unforgettable 130 minutes.”
Someone else described the film as a “triumph of storytelling: Magnificent, gut-wrenching and utterly compelling, it is cinema of the very highest order.”
