City
of God (2002)
Alexandre
Rodrigues , Matheus
Nachtergaele , Fernando
Meirelles , Kátia
Lund R DVD
Shocking
& Relevant,
This film contains
elements I most dislike to see--excessive, graphic violence & excessive,
graphic violence directed at children--and there's more. CITY OF GOD contains
scenes of excessive, graphic violence executed by children. We're not talking
about the sort of aberrant violence found in movies like LORD OF THE FLIES where
the violence is more or less psychological, used in the interest of
illustrating artistic concepts; no, the violence in CITY OF GOD is the cold
illustration of a mundane, day-to-day reality. Despite my own emotional
squeemishness, I couldn't take my eyes from watching every second of every
scene in this potent & shocking movie. The only serious problem I had with
the movie was its ending. There was an abrupt detachment of focus from the
central issue of slum poverty & violence, to an almost lighthearted conclusion
that seemed to reinforce the idea that by "following your (artistic) dream
and by hard work," you can liberate yourself from--the cycle of poverty
& violence. In CITY OF GOD this is somewhat balanced with the fact that the
artist (photojournalist) in this case "gives something back" by
drawing attention to the terror of the ghetto. Unfortunately, this line almost
parallels exactly the current propaganda of USA capitalism. It's the old
"American Dream" mantra. The main difference is that the conditions
of poverty outside the U.S. are so drastic that a film like CITY OF GOD simply
can't help but be more artistically & significantly relevant than, let's
say, AMERICAN IDOL.
Pan's
Labyrinth
The
Orphanage
Shiver
Review: JEFarrow
Updated 2/10
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