City of God

No matter how many times I see it, I can’t get enough of it. It is one of the best movies I have ever ever seen. Infact I can go to that extent and say that, there are two types of people in this world - Those who have seen City of God (Cidade de Deus) and those who haven’t. Then there are those like me who have seen it many times !!

Being a hardcore movie buff, I have always been attracted to award winning foreign movies, even though I don’t understand the language they speak. Over the years I have learnt to survive on subtitles :)

The movie is based on true story and its in Portuguese, the language what Brazilians speak. Its called Cidade de Deus in Portuguese. Thanks to the subtitles I was able to understand this movie and believe me its class apart. The direction, screenplay, dialogue, acting, the plot ….everything is a class apart and so beautifully executed. Something, which I am sure any mainstream Bollywood movie can’t even dream of achieving.

I don’t want to write anything about the movie, I guess the number of awards it has been nominated and won speaks for itself. Also, the very fact that its ranked 18th among the IMDB TOP 250 movies of all time.

The main character in Cidade de Deus is not a person. It is a place. Cidade de Deus is a poor housing project started in the 60’s that became one of the most dangerous places in Rio de Janeiro by the beginning of the 80’s. In order to tell the story of the place the film tells us the stories of many characters. But all is seen through the eyes of the narrator: Busca-Pé, a poor black kid too frail and scared to become an outlaw but also to smart to be content with na underpaid job. He grows up in a very violent environment. The odds are all against him. But he discovers he can see the reality with a different eye: the eye of an artist. Eventually he becomes a professional photographer. That is his redemption..
Buscapé is not the real protagonist of the film. He is not the one who makes the story moves on. He is not the one who makes the decisions that will determine the main chain of events. Nevertheless, not only his life is attached to what happens in the story but it is also through his perspective of life that we understand the humanity of a world apparently condemned to endless violence.