City of God (Cidade de Deus)

On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, the largest "slum" neighbourhood was known as the City of God. Ruled by hoodlums who profited on drugs and robberies, the city was heading into all out war as two rival gangs struggled for power. Caught in the middle was Sandro (Nachtergaele), a photographer whom's talent could be enough to get him out.

Already classed by many critics as the South American Goodfellas, City of God is powerful, gritty, hard-hitting drama at its best.

This is a visually stunning no holds barred look at true events that took place during the late 60s and 70s in the poorest area of Rio. In a place were Gangs ruled and drugs were rife this is the story of one boy's struggle to get out of the vicious circle of crime and make a normal life for himself. Told in flashback while a pivotal event in Sandro's life is taking place, the movie is split into episodic sections each revealing more of the story of how the current situation came into being.

The movie is extremely inventive. The editing and camera techniques change with every episode, becoming more creative as the film progresses. Just as you are startled by one technique another comes along in quick succession. Director Fernando Meirelles is definitely one to watch. The story itself is fascinating and pulls no punches. It doesn't shy away from showing violence, even against children but it is never over the top or gratuitous. The fact that this is based upon true events makes everything all the more poignant, showing the complete lack of control and the level corruption in Brazil at the time.

A powerful story would be nothing without some great performances to accompany it and this movie is filled with them. What makes it even more remarkable is how young most of the cast are and the fact that most of them are making their motion picture debuts. Most of them came from the City of God themselves and a lot of their performance was also improvised, which brings an even more realism and authenticity to the project.

Is this as good as Goodfellas? To be honest it wouldn't be fair to compare. Yes they both have a similar structure and are told from the perspective of someone who witnessed the events but they are different movies. Both have different stories to tell even though crime is at the centre of both.

This is a hard hitting picture that is violence and unrelenting in its approach, which might not be to everyone's taste but City of God is another example of a foreign, low budget film that is injecting freshness and invention into cinema.

'News Of A Private War' documentary (57 mins), Interactive menu & Scene access

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2003