Cidade de Deus (City of God), September 22, 2005
This post will be the site where you can leave comments about the movie. If you want I can post larger critical commentaries or responses (I will post longer reponses and still link them in this post)--send longer critical commentaries/responses to the Bluegrass Film Society email or to my email in the profile on this site.
Cidade de Deus (City of God) Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. Brazil: 2002, 130 minutes.
Mottesheard, Ryan. “God Is In the Details: Fernando Meirelles’ Visceral Brazilian Crime Epic, City of God.” MovieMaker 49 (Winter 2003)
posted by Thivai Abhor @ 5:36 PM
4 comments
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4 Comments:
My un-deep opinion:
I found the movie enjoyable (for lack of a more precise or "serious" word). I would have liked to have seen the documentary that is on the dvd and to have discussed the film in more depth. Certainly I will try to rewatch this film in a few months or so in order to rethink my feelings about this story. Although I found myself laughing at certain parts, I would challenge anyone who believes that laughing indicates watching a film with a shallow mind. There are simply certain things that are humorous that I find connect humanity no matter if living in KY or as hoods in Rio de Janeiro. Without the occassions of realism, there would have been no way to understand that these people aren't simply killers without motives or histories. The most anyone can do is what they know.
Something this film did remind me of is the wish that always seems to return after watching most movies: "If only every citizen in the world had the means and opportunities to observe the entire world from outside of their bubble. Just imagine the difference there would be in the world." Yeah, I know...so cliche, but still.
I thought the technical aspects of the film were great. It was remarkable in its ability to bring me into the story. I think one of the simple things that aided with that was the lack of a score (or at least I didn't notice one besides that dance music). It was much more natural, since in real life we are not accompanied by a score. Sometimes scores can kick us out of the story and remind us that we are watching a fancy staged production (well I guess that's obvious, but I just kept typing).
So, there's my quick, non-coherent, naive opinion.
Great film choice.
Blamba,
Thanks for your response. Let me check my copy and see if the documentary is on it, if so, I would be happy to let you borrow it
Blamba,
Unfortunately my copy for some reason won't play the documentary, but Bluegrass Library is purchasing a copy of City of God and you can borrow it from them--as I said at the showing, I highly recommend the documentary!
The BFS is intended to bring people together to discuss films in person and on this website, so for the next movie please come up front ... I will put a comment about discussing the film afterwards in the next email.
I agree with most of what you say, but for some reason your comment "the most anyone can do is what they know." I would disagree with this and I think the movie gives a good example of how this is not the case. Rocket knows nothing of the news industry, yet he manages to capture pictures of the violence/corruption of the favelas and finds a place as an author/photojournalist. He does this without any knowledge of what or why he is doing it?
I really appreciate your "wish" that every "citizen in the world" might have the opportunity to see the world from "outside of their bubble." I don't find this cliched at all ...
Thanks for reminding me about the lack of a constant soundtrack and how it adds to the realism of the film.
I watched Mereilles new film The Constant Gardener this past weekend... another great movie, I'll write about it when i have more time.
From a student's review of the film:
"It is a very good film and I am sure that it similar to what a lot of young people go through today that are being raised not necessarily just in housing projects but anywhere where there are different types of gangs and drugs being sold. The film has a good message of how easily it is for our young children to get sucked into a life of destruction and how just a few good ones are able to stay out of the way of troubles path and be able to stay focused on what there dreams are."
Royale Woods
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