City of God

A film set in a favela in Rio de Janeiro and spread across twenty years. The narrator is Rocket. He wants to take photographs and sees no other way out of the neighbourhood. The film starts in the 1960s. Three young men rob a lorry and a legend is built in the district; there is a very small boy among them. By the 1970s that boy has grown. Li'l Zé takes over all the trade in the area and leaves no rival. From there the film is a story about power. A raid on a motel, a flat, a football pitch, a hairdresser, and ages that keep getting younger. An opposition appears. Carrot, and then Knockout Ned; the neighbourhood splits in two and a war begins. What the narrative is interested in is not crime but succession: the children who take over the guns at the end are ten years old, and the narrative gives that as a cycle rather than a conclusion. The telling is fast. Freeze frames, chapter headings, flashbacks and direct address to camera are used throughout. The casting is the real matter. Almost none of the actors were professional and most were found in real favelas; they went through a workshop lasting months and many scenes were found in rehearsal. The source is a novel by Paulo Lins, who grew up in the same place. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, a year after its release. Fernando Meirelles directed, with Kátia Lund as co-director. Who it is for: anyone who likes hard, fast crime films grounded in fact. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot take violence involving children; the film does not hide those scenes.