Review of City of God (2002) by Matt F — 16 Feb 2012

Fernando Meirelles' Brazilian slum epic "City of God" is, simply put, one of the most dazzling motion pictures I've ever seen. It's a profound, stylistically impressive and daring in technique; spanning three decades of child gang warfare on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, with non-actors (some of them actually involved in the everyday violence in the "City of God") playing their poverty-ridden lives for the camera.

Each chapter of this film pulsates with powerful, uncompromising, deceptive momentum. Perhaps its most impressive feature, technique-wise, is how it takes a seemingly innocuous plot development and transforms it into a moment critical to the emotional success of this narrative.

In this sense, Meirelles has done what very few filmmakers are able to do: project a movie that is both disturbing and somehow inherently compelling. Not since "Pulp Fiction" have I seen that kind of virtuosity.

Letter perfect, and deserves multiple viewings.