Jason KingReview of City of God Plus My Weekend
April 27th 2008 23:14
Category: No Category
I have just been away for the last few days staying in a five million dollar McMansion at Whale Beach with 12 friends so we could attend a beautiful wedding on the Saturday. After 12 days of non stop rain and gloomy weather the morning started with a parting of the clouds to let in the most gorgeous day possible for a wedding.
I discovered that getting extremely drunk the night before and surfing down large flights of stairs on mattresses can be quite dangerous but heaps of fun when drunk. LOL
Anyway - a BIG congrats to Alex and Damo Speziali for a fine wedding and wish you guys the best for all the future.
So - after a weekend of partying I got home last night & decided to watch a DVD that a friend of mine currently living in Brazil said I would absolutely love and he was spot on. This film would have made my top 20 if I had seen it last week prior to writing the top 50. It is truly sensational.
City of God (2002) $15-
Cidade de Deus (City of God) is a housing project built in the 1960's that--in the early 80's--became one of the most dangerous places in Rio de Janeiro. The tale tells the stories of many characters whose lives sometimes intersect. However, all is seen through the eyes of a singular narrator: Buscapé, a poor black youth too frail and scared to become an outlaw but also too smart to be content with underpaid, menial jobs. He grows up in a very violent environment. The odds are all against him. But Buscapé soon discovers that he can see reality differently than others. His redemption is that he's been given an artist's point of view as a keen-eyed photographer. As Buscapé is not the real protagonist of the film--only the narrator--he is not the one who makes the decisions that will determine the sequence of events. Nevertheless, not only his life is attached to what happens in the story, but it is also through Buscapé's perspective of life that one can understand the complicated layers and humanity of a world, apparently condemned to endless violence. Written by Sujit R. Varma
City of God is an Academy Award-nominated 2002 Brazilian film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. It was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins which are both based on a true story; the war between Knockout Ned and Li'l Zé is based on their real life counterparts. It stars Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Jonathan Haagensen, Douglas Silva and Seu Jorge. The tagline is "Fight and you'll never survive..... Run and you'll never escape."
Most of the actors had never acted before, and were, in fact, residents of favelas such as Vidigal and the Cidade de Deus itself.
The film received four Academy Award nominations in 2004: Best Cinematography (César Charlone), Best Directing (Meirelles), Best Editing (Daniel Rezende) and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Mantovani). Before that, in 2003 it had been chosen to be Brazil's runner for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it was not nominated to be one of the five finalists.
This film is perfect in every way!! The cinematography is truly inspiring, the acting is perfect even though all but one person in the entire film had never acted before. The editing, the story - this film will blow your mind. It has some scenes that I found extremely disturbing. I loathe seeing children hurt in any way but I do think this was necessary to highlight the depravity and depths the mindless drug addled idiots will go to. This is a film of the circumstances we are born into and what we will do given what we are created with. Some go one way and others take a completely different route. I highly recommend this to all. I found this film is worth $15- out of $16.
Trivia: (May contain some small spoilers)
1) At the end the Runts (Caixa Baixa gang) talk about making a list of people they want to kill. The rat boys grew to become the now feared CV (Comando Vermelho) or Red Command, the most notorious gang in Rio. The CV is also known to have a death list.
2) The scene where the gang prays before the war was not scripted. During the shooting a young boy, who used to be on a real gang, asked director Fernando Meirelles if the group was not going to pray like they always did before any important confrontation with the enemies. Meirelles told him to lead the prayer as they shot the scene.
3) All of the amateur actors were recruited from favelas (slums) in Rio de Janeiro, and a couple of them - eg. Buscapé/Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) - actually lived in the Cidade de Deus (City of God) itself.
4) When we hear Buscapé (Alexandre Rodrigues) talking to Marina ('Graziella Moretto' ) about how "he never took a hot bath", that was not scripted. Actually, that was Rodrigues and Moretto talking off camera, during a pause in the shooting, when the boy (who lived on the slums) was telling her about his life.
BRILLIANT AND THANKS ELMO FOR SUGGESTING THIS TO ME!!!!!
I discovered that getting extremely drunk the night before and surfing down large flights of stairs on mattresses can be quite dangerous but heaps of fun when drunk. LOL
Anyway - a BIG congrats to Alex and Damo Speziali for a fine wedding and wish you guys the best for all the future.
So - after a weekend of partying I got home last night & decided to watch a DVD that a friend of mine currently living in Brazil said I would absolutely love and he was spot on. This film would have made my top 20 if I had seen it last week prior to writing the top 50. It is truly sensational.
City of God (2002) $15-
Cidade de Deus (City of God) is a housing project built in the 1960's that--in the early 80's--became one of the most dangerous places in Rio de Janeiro. The tale tells the stories of many characters whose lives sometimes intersect. However, all is seen through the eyes of a singular narrator: Buscapé, a poor black youth too frail and scared to become an outlaw but also too smart to be content with underpaid, menial jobs. He grows up in a very violent environment. The odds are all against him. But Buscapé soon discovers that he can see reality differently than others. His redemption is that he's been given an artist's point of view as a keen-eyed photographer. As Buscapé is not the real protagonist of the film--only the narrator--he is not the one who makes the decisions that will determine the sequence of events. Nevertheless, not only his life is attached to what happens in the story, but it is also through Buscapé's perspective of life that one can understand the complicated layers and humanity of a world, apparently condemned to endless violence. Written by Sujit R. Varma
City of God is an Academy Award-nominated 2002 Brazilian film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. It was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins which are both based on a true story; the war between Knockout Ned and Li'l Zé is based on their real life counterparts. It stars Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Jonathan Haagensen, Douglas Silva and Seu Jorge. The tagline is "Fight and you'll never survive..... Run and you'll never escape."
Most of the actors had never acted before, and were, in fact, residents of favelas such as Vidigal and the Cidade de Deus itself.
The film received four Academy Award nominations in 2004: Best Cinematography (César Charlone), Best Directing (Meirelles), Best Editing (Daniel Rezende) and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Mantovani). Before that, in 2003 it had been chosen to be Brazil's runner for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it was not nominated to be one of the five finalists.
This film is perfect in every way!! The cinematography is truly inspiring, the acting is perfect even though all but one person in the entire film had never acted before. The editing, the story - this film will blow your mind. It has some scenes that I found extremely disturbing. I loathe seeing children hurt in any way but I do think this was necessary to highlight the depravity and depths the mindless drug addled idiots will go to. This is a film of the circumstances we are born into and what we will do given what we are created with. Some go one way and others take a completely different route. I highly recommend this to all. I found this film is worth $15- out of $16.
Trivia: (May contain some small spoilers)
1) At the end the Runts (Caixa Baixa gang) talk about making a list of people they want to kill. The rat boys grew to become the now feared CV (Comando Vermelho) or Red Command, the most notorious gang in Rio. The CV is also known to have a death list.
2) The scene where the gang prays before the war was not scripted. During the shooting a young boy, who used to be on a real gang, asked director Fernando Meirelles if the group was not going to pray like they always did before any important confrontation with the enemies. Meirelles told him to lead the prayer as they shot the scene.
3) All of the amateur actors were recruited from favelas (slums) in Rio de Janeiro, and a couple of them - eg. Buscapé/Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) - actually lived in the Cidade de Deus (City of God) itself.
4) When we hear Buscapé (Alexandre Rodrigues) talking to Marina ('Graziella Moretto' ) about how "he never took a hot bath", that was not scripted. Actually, that was Rodrigues and Moretto talking off camera, during a pause in the shooting, when the boy (who lived on the slums) was telling her about his life.
BRILLIANT AND THANKS ELMO FOR SUGGESTING THIS TO ME!!!!!
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Comment by ellman
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
City of God is one of the most powerful and moving films I have ever seen. After worshiping "Amores Perros", I lapped this one up at the cinema. Transporting me through the poverty stricken streets of Rio, there was a passionate energy that came from every frame of the rich cinematography and superb editing. Great storytelling and convincing performances made it all too real and engrossing.
A must see film for sure, that gives you a glimpse at another culture and society.
Comment by AmyHuang
Project Job Search
Travel Debate
Travel String
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I can't bring myself to watch City of God - I am not sure if I can take the violence. I really really do want to watch it though!
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Amy - just do it!! It's amazing!! The brutality is necessary - people need to know this stuff goes on and others don't live in cotton wool like most of us have the pleasure of living. After watching this I realised that me whinging about the rain of the last 12 days was slightly selfish (but none the less still bloody annoying - lol). The story behind the film is remarkable and just think of the violence as a character you hate. There was one scene with 2 very young kids in it - you will know the one when you watch it. This scene had me balling my eyes out.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
So which groomsman is you on the beach there? I just came back from a five week honeymoon myself
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
It literally blew my mind - my friend who left the first comment is the guy living in Brazil and said to watch ''tropa de elite'' as it is very similar and just as good, I couldn't find on DVD but managed to download off the net - hopefully to watch in next few days. City of God also became an amazing TV show in Brazil and apparently the book is much better than the movie.
CONGRATS on the 5WEEK honeymoon!! Sure it wasn't long enough?? LOL. Where did u travel to?
Unfortunately I wasn't one of the groomsmen - I was one of the two photographers.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Yeah, honeymoon should've been two months or more!!
We went to Tokyo, London & Sussex, Barcelona, Granada, Valencia, the islands of Malta & Gozo, Paris, and Val d'Isere (French Alps)
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
I am way way way jealous and if the opportunity presents I will sign up for a honeymoon or three!! Hehe