Movie #75: City of God

Movie #: 75
Movie Title: City of God
Year Released: 2003

Director: Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund
Notable Cast: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Jonathan Haagensen, Matheus Nachtergaele, Seu Jorge

Short Description: Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #21
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #30
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: #87
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 7/28/2016

Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)

Rationale: I'm not sure if I can put my finger on why but the opening couple scenes of City of God sort of had a Slumdog Millionaire vibe, which was great because I love Slumdog. The feeling petered out gradually as City of God took on a darker tone than Slumdog, but I was digging it by then even though the multitude of characters were occasionally hard to follow. The method of telling the story in a chapter like manner was a fresh take that you don't see implemented often.