Review of City of Men (2007) by Chris S — 10 Sep 2008

Ace: Now there are just the two of us.

Following the success of the brilliant film, City of God, a spinoff TV show was created in Brazil, which ran for four seasons. This film follows the same main characters from the show to give audiences a new story set in the modern day Rio slums.

The story revolves around Wallace and Ace, two lifelong friends, both living in the slums, getting by. Both are about to turn 18 and fatherless. Ace is a young husband and father and Wallace is the nephew of a local gang leader.

One plot strand revolves around Wallace finding his father and developing a relation with him, as well as learning about his past. Another deals with incidents that create issue between the two best friends. This is mainly due to a gang war that erupts and splits the town apart.

Going in to this, it was easy for me to know that this film would not match the brilliance that is City of God. However, this is still a well made and effective film. While City of God worked its way through a few decades, kept in line by its rapid pace, strong acting and visual style, great soundtrack, and overall kinetic spark that gave great life to the film, City of Men works more as a straight forward narration that still benefits from a good visual sense and strong performances.

The film is not as much about portraying the kinds of issues that have plagued this area of Rio or showing the various characters and the numerous connections they have to the city. The film is much more a drama as well, while City of God was able to inject a good amount of humor and energy throughout, this film certainly dwells in its darkness.

These things do not make it a bad film, it certainly does the job, it just isn't as fresh and certainly sits in the zone of comparison to the original film.

Well done film, but lacks a spark.

Ace: [he and Wallace are holding Clayton's hand] Clayton, don't worry 'cause I'm gonna teach you all I know. Let's cross.

Wallace: Okay.

Ace: Clayton, before you cross the street, you have to look both ways. First this way, then that way. Let's go.