Review of City of God (2002) by Francisco G — 09 Jun 2013

The brazillian Goodfellas.

An incredibly acted movie (where most of the actors were amateurs pulled from the slums of Cidade de Deus), City of God also succeeds for it's incredible frenetic pace, amoral/cynical look of the lives on a favela but always with a human touch behind it. The way violence keeps getting more and more dismissed by each generation that comes by (specially on the last shot of the movie) is chilly, brutal and unforgiving. The perfect balance between an originally well told story, pitch perfect editing, incredible pace, fantastic performances, immense quotable moments, plenty of entertaining segments well ballanced with the brutality of this way of life, City of God is an instant classic and one of the best and most important flicks of the last decade.