Film Mini analysis City of God ( 2002) - Assignment Example

The theme of the film is the day-by-day reality in a Brazilian "favela" in the of Rio de Janeiro. From the point of view of a boy that was risen and lived in the favela named City of God, the director shows the connection between each character and the drug dealers that dictate the behavior of people by pushing them into the crime or threatening them to keep their mouths shut in case of being asked about the crimes. The main point of the film is that there is no good and bad and there is no pretension of making any judgements.

The first scene of the movie reflects that reality perfectly: a meal is being prepared and a chicken, that is supposed to be cooked, run away. A lot of people start chasing the animal and shouting at others to catch it. The narrator, whose nickname is Rocket (Buscape), finds himself very close to the chicken and tries to grab it. At this point he realizes he is right in the middle of the way with the police and the criminals at each side. He starts talking about how it is harsh to live in that favela and says an expression that can be literaly translated into: "If you run away, the beast catches you, if you stay still, the beast eats you".

That means that there are no options once you are in that place, in that kind of situation. The only question is how you're gonna make it until the next day. This scene is intense since its beginning because it shows how desperated the chicken is to escape. All other chickens are being killed and scalped, but that one managed to run away while the motion of the camera can capture that escape closely. However, the lucky chicken will probably be eaten sometime later. That might be the case with people.

Some of them struggle not to get involved in the surrounding criminality, but not all of them succeed. Rocket and many others lived the same reality. Some became criminals and managed to get a lot of money, some were killed by the police or by rivials, some found their way by following a religion and some tried to study and find a job. The film shows children getting involved in a criminal life style and they just copy the behavior of the bandits that rule the place. Some of them admire the drug dealers and think it is the best thing ever to become one of them.

Adults also get involved in the crimes for different reasons, such as addiction to drugs or personal revenge. At a certain point of the movie, the girlfriend of "Mane Galinha", a regular man so far not involved in the traffic actions, is raped by the local gang commander, "Little Ze". Little Ze also kills two of Mane Galinha's relatives and shoots repeatdly towards his house. Mane Galinha looks for revenge and manages to kill one of Little Ze's man. At this point, people in the favela start seeing him as a heroe, but things turn around very quickly.

Mane Galinha joins the rivial gang and start practicing robberies and other crimes, even after claiming that he was not a criminal and that he would join the gang only to get rid of Little Ze. According to his statements, it was supposed to be a personal issue, but he ended taking part in a war which was actually being fought to make the control of the traffic in the region to change from one to another commander. The man simply could not keep his sanity and principles once he got involved in that violent scenario.

The past and the present of the characters are shown in different colors, what gives the impression that things got worse as time went by. In the present time, people look more miserable and the favela is more crowded. The soft colors of the “past” scenes make us feel like there was still hope. The intense colors of the present expresses more explicity the poverty and the violence.