CITY OF GOD (CIDADE DE DEUS)

This is the first of my reviews.So I thought I could start of with a foreign language movie.Just got to watch it today.

"City of God"(CoG) is one of those movies which got rave reviews by both the public and the critics.It was released in 2002 in its hometown,Brazil and was released world wide a year later.

"City of god" refers to a ghetto near Rio de Janeiro. The movie is basically about the ghetto dwellers, drug dealers, gangsters etc. The director employs the non linear chronological narration in this film reminding some of quentin tarantino movies. The movie starts near the climax and goes back a coupla decades and then moves forward. The pace of the story is maintained till the fag end, thanks to a crafty screenplay and the interestingly woven flashbacks of various characters.

The main characters are Ze , Rocket(the narrator) , benny , knockout Ned.The life of all the characters are interwoven. Each of them wants to get even with someone or the other,which u always expect in a revenge flick.After all, this is a gangster movie..and the only thing a gangster wants more than money and power is revenge.All characters have their share of revenge before the climax.

Ze who starts his gangster career as Kid Ze(or Li'l Ze) uses every wily trick in the bag to become one of the most feared gangster of Rio. While Rocket,the narrator is honest till the end and is rewarded suitably for that.KnockOut Ned is forced to become a gangster,his senses blinded by revenge.

The film is racy throughout, with individual moments of brilliance that can be felt quite frequently. All the actors had done a commendable job.I couldnt beleive the fact that all the lead actors were rookie actors with little acting experience.The movie is directed by Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles,They dont seem like the first tiome directors that they are. I was quite frankly surprised to see a female directing a gangster movie(That too a good one).

I give the movie a 68 for its amazing screenplay and the nativity in the theme..

P.S. This movie is supposedly one of the inspirations of the tamil movie "Pudupettai"... In spite of the dark humour that both the movies have, I think this one stands miles above the latter.

Thats all Folks...