Film Review (Int'l): (Cidade de Deus) City of God (2002)

Rio de Janerio - home of the Carnival - a city filled with an unparalleled mystique in one of the most fun-loving large nations of the world. I've never been there (will get to it) and when one is exposed to the City of God (based on an actual neighbourhood in Rio by the name - Cidade de Deus), its a stark reminder that there are two versions to every megacity's story, if not more. Mumbai, New York, Chicago or Tokyo - every city has films based on them - either one that romanticizes the beauty of the city or one that romanticizes the crime. City of God is a hard-hitting, yet wonderfully written and directed, film that does the latter.

The film was so well-acclaimed that it made it to the Oscars a year late since it was overlooked the first time (oh well...that was thanks to the persuasiveness of Harvey Weinstein whose Miramax distributed it). I saw it very early on in 2002 and then on DVD recently, which allowed for the added bonus of watching a documentary that speaks of the reality in Cidade de Deus - the constant balance achieved between drug peddlers, drug buyers and the police along with the corruption and guns that maintain the status quo. It may sound unbelievable, even after seeing the entire film and references to real people in the end credits, that the film is based on that very reality. Within the end credits, there is even the original interview with 'Knockout' Ned, a high-flyer in the film, whose entry into the drug 'industry' is one of many stories that intertwine around that of the protagonist.

Fittingly, the protagonist is a photographer, documenting the mayhem visually as it unfolds. Fernando Meirelles (who made his first English feature this year - 'The Constant Gardner') resorts to non-linear narration that gives us an entertaining history lesson on the development of the favelas (planned slums in the 60's). The most notorious of these, even today, happens to be Cidade de Deus, where gun-totting boys begin hitting the streets and rival gangs as early as age 5!

Li'l Ze (aka Li'l Dice) puts in a delightful performance and so do cool characters such as The Tender Trio (Shaggy, Goose and Clipper), Rocket (the protagonist), Benny (the coolest Hood), Shorty, Steak, Penguin, Angelica, Stringy, Blacky, Carrot , Tuba and Knockout Ned. Other lessons taught to us, as the narrative progresses, are the process of drug packaging for pot and coke, the distinction between Hoods and the Runts whose ages define their place in the hoods' power structure, and the hierarchy of the drug peddling system - 'errand boy' to 'lookout' to 'dealer' to "vapor" to "soldier" to 'manager' to BOSS!

While it seems that the meaningless violence contained in each of these mini-ecosystems (the favelas) can be construed as self-sufficient for these young boys and men to justify their existence and needs, I can't think of a better film that shows the oft-repeated cycle of an eye-for-an-eye, albeit justified by economic ends (the drug trade in this case). The mob films pale when faced by the City of God - suits aren't cut the same way as vests (baniyaans) and slick pistols can't offer a bullet of resistance to the rounds of semi-automatics. Slick and rapidly paced, to the point that the (anti-)heroes rise and fall faster than the tides, its a desperate story - one that shows a strata of youngsters ostracized by society, building a parallel one and thriving in it with no value placed on human life. Emotions, such as love, do surface when the odd gangster is smitten by it but there is no room nor respect for it in the hood. Each kid begins to assume that the rules of the favela are the rules of life. If one is lucky to escape it, they join the rat race outside the favela. If not, they thrive in the rat race within. The characters know fear, and yet, they are fearless since they truly live for the moment and die in a moment.