City of God immediately explodes on the screen with youthful energy and vibrance. Though the subject matter is tragic, the film itself is a manic two-hour ride that can be likened unto a carnival ride. It starts of simple and slow, but ramps up into chaos until it’s finally over, and you hope you can make it without throwing up. City of God is a real place, Cidade de Deus, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where the neighborhoods are all slums, called “favelas”, and gang violence is not just rampant but encouraged. City of God is partially based on an autobiographical novel by the same title, and partially based on true events, which makes it that much more tragic.

In the 60s, a trio of thieves rob businesses and give the money to the community. A little boy, named Lil’ Dice, convinces the boys to rob a motel and its occupants. The trio plans to not kill anyone and keep Lil’ Dice as their lookout, but Lil’ Dice instead kills everyone in the motel and falsely claims the police are on their way. The trio and Lil’ Dice run away and decide to split up. Lil’ Dice kills the member of the trio who holds the money and takes off with it. Years later, Lil’ Dice goes by Lil’ Ze and runs the biggest drug empire around after ruthlessly killing the competition. A young man named Rocket and his friends walk along the beach until a group of children criminals, known collectively as “The Runts”, interrupt them. Later, one of the Runts interferes with Lil’ Ze’s plans, and so Lil’ Ze forces another of the Runts to shoot and kill them. Benny, Lil’ Ze’s mild-mannered number two, dates a girl Rocket likes named Angelica. The two of them decide to leave City of God and drugs forever. Ze and Benny get into a fight over his desire to leave, but it is interrupted when Benny is shot by a man named Blacky, who happens to be the number two of the only other drug trader in the City, Carrot. Carrot had been allowed to live and continue selling drugs because of his friendship with Benny. Now that Benny is dead, Ze and a group of his men go looking for Carrot to kill him. A drug war breaks out. Another small timer named Knockout Ned sides with Carrot after he is beaten up by Ze. The wars continues for the next ten years, and as each sides builds their armies, Ze decides to arm the Runts. Ze, seeking fame and publicity, has Rocket, who loves photography, take photos of his gang. Since no one from the outside can safely get into City of God, Rocket’s photos are a significant want for a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro, and they convince him to let them publish them. Rocket fears Ze will want him dead for publishing the photos, but Ze is happy with his increased notoriety and wants Rocket to take more photos. This time, before the photoshoot can happen, Carrot’s army arrives and the battle commences. The police get involved to break it up and capture Ze and Carrot, though they let Ze go because he had been bribing them for years. Rocket gets photos of the corrupt cops letting Ze go as well as photos of Ze’s dead body after the Runts take their revenge for Ze’s enforced murder of one of their own. Rocket uses the photos to get a job at the newspaper that published his earlier photos and the Runts begin to take over Ze’s drug empire.

Whew. What a movie! And as I said before, it never lets up. Some of the events are exaggerated from their real-life inspiration, but some things are tragically legitimate. I don’t know if I made it clear in the synopsis, but the Runts are children – like 8-10 in age – and they have a real-life counterpart. Children with guns and sociopathic tendencies is terrifying. City of God is so dangerous that the production, who was determined to shoot on location, required security guards to keep everyone safe. For an additional bribe, the films is full of mostly non-actors from City of God. They were given a crash course in acting for certain scenarios, but most of the film was improvised to keep the non-actors acting natural. The film is very violent, but most of the violence happens either offscreen or otherwise kept in the background to keep from glorifying it. City of God is a wonder of Brazilian cinema and sheds a much-needed light on a horrifying world that’s a lot closer than we might think.

Bonus Review: Menace II Society

Caine and O-Dog are best friends. Caine is mostly mild-mannered, and O-Dog is a little too trigger happy. They go to a convenience store and, when the owner mouths off to the boys, O-Dog shoots him and his wife, stealing his wallet and the contents of the register. He also takes the security tape. Caine lives with his grandparents as his father and mother are both dead from drug-related incidents, and they strictly encourage him to quit living the way he does and hanging out with O-Dog, advice which he ignores. Caine and his cousin, Harold, are carjacked at gunpoint, and Caine is wounded while Harold is killed. Caine, with O-Dog and their friend A-Wax, find the carjackers and avenge Harold’s death. Later, Caine is picked up by the cops after a liquor bottle with his fingerprints is found at the convenience store. However, they have nothing to hold Caine with and have to let him go. After another incident that gets Caine hospitalized, his friend Ronnie invites him to move to Atlanta with her to escape the streets of LA, which he accepts, considering his future if he stays in LA. At a party, Caine beats a man named Chauncey after he makes advances toward Ronnie, and in retaliation, Chauncey sends a copy of the security tape from the convenience store robbery to the police. Caine knocks up a girl named Ilena, but denies paternity to ensure he can still go to Atlanta. Ilena’s cousin goes to Caine’s grandparents’ house to demand he step up as a father, but Caine brutally beats him on the front lawn. Caine’s grandparents kick him out and on the day he and Ronnie are to leave for Atlanta, Ilena’s cousin and his friends engage in a drive-by. Caine is shot and lies in the grass as he slowly dies. He reflects on his grandfather’s question from earlier about caring whether he lives or dies, but at this point, it no longer matters.

In the early 90s, there was a surge of coming-of-age movies set in the culture of South Central LA. Boyz n the Hood, Juice, and Friday are among the more well-known ones. Menace II Society surfs right in the middle of that wave, and also acts as maybe the best example of the trend (though it’s debatable if it’s better than Boyz n the Hood). The characters are a bit cliched, particularly O-Dog, whose only real characterization is that of the foil to Caine and a representation of the lifestyle trying to keep him trapped. Caine is not the hero of the story, but he’s not the villain either. He feels like a real person instead of a caricature. This can most likely be attributed to Allen and Albert Hughes, the film’s directors, who started out by directing music videos for artists like Tupac before tackling this as their first film, as they grew up just east of LA and knew the lifestyle. Their association with hip-hop culture helped their credentials as well.