Review of City of God (2002) by Cameron J — 28 Jun 2014

"I have crawled across the burning sands to the city of God; when I scratched upon the gates, oh Lord, I felt so... odd!" Hey, changing "gold" in that rhyme scheme worked out, because it's not like people remember Pearls Before Swine well enough to notice or care that I also changed "old" in the rhyme scheme. Man, I don't know if, at the moment, I'm more weirded out by the thought of psychedelic country-folk rock, or by the idea of a Brazilian crime gang. I guess this is pretty much "The Godfather" of Brazilian cinema, not because it's "that" good, or because "God" is in the title, but because you're not going to find a better gangster film in Brazil, because no other gangster film exists in Brazil. I suppose you can find organized crime in most every part of the world, so I guess I'm most blown away to find that Brazil has hoods, complete with gangs that are in turn complete with black people. There must not be a whole lot of them up there, because looking at Brazilian booty, you'd figure that they would flock there in greater masses than tropical birds. ...Well, it sounds like I better not flock there any time soon if the black people over there are like the ones portrayed in this film, only, you know, less engaging, which isn't to say that this film, as good as it is, consistently compels.

Part of, if not an instrumental influence in the modern movement of being more harsh with gangster films, this effort breaks up relative sophistication as a weighty drama with grime and disturbances, many of which are kind of unnervingly gratuitous, or at least feel like it, based on their contradiction of the taste. Of course, there was always going to be a certain grime throughout this film, as it is driven by characters who aren't in the strictest sense likable, and although they are portrayed well enough in the script and the performances to endear, it's easy to feel a bit distanced from almost, if not decidedly irredeemable figures when the drama loses its taste at times. Of course, my biggest problem with the characters and the concept behind their unnerving story mainly stems from the not easy to hide issue of familiarity, because no matter how unique this crime drama is in so many ways, when it falls into conventions, it falls hard. The tropes, no matter how limited, bland things up, though not as directly as dull times in which quiet "intensity" is relied a touch too heavily upon, or at least dips in momentum under the weight of draggy spots in structuring which help in getting the final product its 130-minute runtime, but only help. What really makes the film so long is a layered, almost episodic narrative that is compelling in its extensive meditation upon the rise of organized crime in Rio de Janeiro, as well as convoluted, jarring through layer and layer, and hitting some focal inconsistencies along the way, until the final product actually begins to lose focus, at least in its sense of progression. I'm a little uncertain about saying that the film loses momentum after a while, because it's always compelling, and the plot actually thickens in concept as it goes along, but the storytellers still ask you to embrace a lot, and at times, it's too hard to for the drama to be all that strong. Nonetheless, as I said, the film consistently compels through all of its errors in judgment, partly because it rarely misses a beat when it comes to a certain artistic style.

Ed Cortês's and Antonio Pinto's score seems to be rather unevenly played with in this often quiet thriller, but it's worth waiting for, what with its instrumentally impressive, musically nifty and all around solid Portuguese flavor, whose value by its own artistic right and in the context of the film goes matched by that of Oscar-nominated cinematography by César Charlone whose intentionally noisy definition and grimy Coloration, all behind delicately uneven lighting, make for a grit that is pretty attractive in its sheer uniqueness, alone. This and other technical highlights help craft quite the stylistic vision for this film, so if the aesthetic grit is consistently tasteful with nothing else, then it is with artistic style, more than it is with substance. On top being a little convoluted and episodic, this crime thriller gets to be a little too dirty with its content and characterization for the its own good, but dramatic potential remains rich, as this gritty dramatization of organized Brazilian crime carries both intrigue and depth, on paper, alone. By paper, I am referring both to the concept, and to the script, because when you can cut through the grime in Bráulio Mantovani's writing, you can expect to find wit, as well as characterization which is generally effective in its nastiness, further sold as endearing by the performances. Real charisma and emotion found across the board with this sizable cast does a lot to define the nuance of this drama with subtlety and, if you will, grace, but it's a performance not found in this cast of acting talents which can make or break the engagement value of this stylish and gritty dramatic thriller. Ranging between frantic and slow, direction that is primarily handled by Fernando Meirelles, and also taken on by Kátia Lund, more often than not, finds comfortable middle ground, with style that is just flashy enough to entertain, and a steady dramatic hand that, with an audacious attention to consequential violence and other gutsy elements, sinks its teeth into nerves with anything from tension to an almost moving selling of gritty emotions. The film does require a fair bit of patience, I'm not going to lie, but it is effective much more often than not, with raw guts which are sure to compel anyone willing to embrace a drama so audacious.

Bottom line, the film gets to be questionable with its grimy visuals and characterization, as well as conventional, dry, draggy and uneven with its arguably overblown story, whose shortcomings are overshadowed enough by solid scoring, cinematography, writing, acting and direction which make Fernando Meirelles's "City of God" predominantly effective and ultimately rewarding as a breakthrough in foreign and gritty grime thrillers.

3/5 - Good.