Overall Rank:

Avg. Rating:

# of Ratings:

Genres:

Rating:

Language:

Director:

Actors:

Alexandre Rodrigues
Leandro Firmino
Phellipe Haagensen
Douglas Silva
Jonathan Haagensen
Seu Jorge

Plot outline:

Add Plot +

View Plots +

Growing up in the same town, two boys take life differently in Rio de Janeiro. One becomes a successful photography and the other a drug dealer while their lives continue to pass as they grow older.

01/19/2009 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

One of the Best of The Decade!

here is what's most remarkable: that the movie tells an extraordinarily well-organized and coherent story; that with a large cast and a dizzying onrush of scenes and despite the underlying madness of this Brazilian slum life of poverty, drugs, and violence these scenes show us, everything in "Cidade de Deus" is lucid and logical. The technical flash isn't a matter of confusing us, but of conveying the hopped up, bloody action precisely and succinctly: this is what the dissolves and jump cuts, fast cutting, freeze-frames, and speeded up film are all for: to condense events without loss of vividness; to tell the complex story without losing our sense of its vivid texture.

"City of God" is a masterpiece of editing.

Essentially it's a series of short stories (indicated by small onscreen...

Rating of
3.5/4 

02/19/2008 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

A beautiful and violent ride.

Definitely one of my top 10 movies of all time. A violent true story about life in the favela of Cidade de Deus, where drugs and crime run rampant. Brilliant performances, great storytelling, amazing cinematography, and an overall amazing piece of work.

Rating of
4/4 

10/01/2007 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

City of "The Angels".

Pretty ironic, considering we talk about a favela. A favela is a very poor place, but at the same time, very powerfull. Brasilian's favelas are one of the most dangerous places in southamerica, where drougs and guns are the usual trade article for leaving.

In this mark is where the story develops, following the life a boy that grows and learns the ways of surviving what's closer to hell, than heaven. The story is fantastic. It's really interesting, the script is perfect, so the acting. The direction, the way of was shot and the photo are techincally flawless.

City of God is far from being heavenly. Probably with Schindler's list, the best movie that the continent gave to world in the past 20 years.

Rating of
4/4 

09/30/2007 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Excellent look at life outside the U.S.

I saw this movie in Costa Rica, before it was released in the U.S. It was in Portuguese with Spanish subtitles, but I still got the gist. I bought it on DVD when it came out here so I could check out the English subtitles.

Let me start by saying that this film is based on a true story, which makes it even more interesting.

The movie is the story of a young man growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from the 1960's to the 1980's. Rocket, the main character, sees through the eyes of a participant and photographer, the escalation of violence and crime as the poorest of the third world try and find a means to survive. Drugs, gangs and violence are plentiful here, as well as touching scenes of beauty.

This movie is filmed beautifully. From the slow and easy shots in the sixties to ...

Rating of
4/4