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City of God
Miramax Films


8.6

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 105 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

The Constant Gardener

TV:

City Of Men

MPAA RATING: R for strong brutal violence, sexuality, drug content and language

Starring Matheus Nachtergaele, Seu Jorge, Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Philippe Haagensen, Johnathan Haagensen, Douglas Silva, and Roberta Rodriguez Silvia

Welcome to the world's most notorious slum: Rio de Janeiro's 'City of God.' A place where combat photographers fear to tread, where Police rarely go, and residents are lucky if they live to the age of 20. This is the true story of a young man who grew up on these streets and whose ambition as a photographer is our window in and ultimately may be him only way out. (Miramax)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Bráulio Mantovani Paulo Lins (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Kátia Lund Fernando Meirelles
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 8, 2004 Video: June 8, 2004 Theatrical: January 17, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	130 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Brazil
LANGUAGE(S):	Portuguese (with English subtitles)

Received four Oscar nominations, including Best Director (Fernando Meirelles) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Braulio Mantovani). Original title "Cidade de Deus"; Visions Award - Special Citation, 2002 Toronto International Film Festival; Audience Award for International Feature, 2002 AFI Film Festival; Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film, 60th Annual Golden Globes

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Time Richard Corliss

The film is seductive, disturbing, enthralling -- a trip to hell that gives the passengers a great ride.

100

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Like a bomb exploding in a fireworks factory: It's fierce and shocking and dazzling and wonderful.

100

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A marvelous achievement that refuses to avert its gaze from the poetry and the insane savagery of the hopeless.

100

Film Threat K.J. Doughton

Meticulous in its descriptions of well-intended individuals caught up in these ferocious waves of street crime.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

An exhilarating slap in the face, bracing and sexy, smart and visceral, stylish and raw -- the advent of a fabulously exciting new moviemaking talent.

100

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

One of the most uncompromisingly bleak films I've ever seen.

100

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's a trip to Hell and back, and testimony for embittered cynics of all that a movie can be.

100

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The film finds a surprising amount of tenderness and humor beneath the brutality. The laughs may catch in the throat, but that's only a byproduct of City Of God's power to leave viewers breathless.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Breathtaking and terrifying, urgently involved with its characters, it announces a new director of great gifts and passions: Fernando Meirelles.

100

Washington Post Desson Thomson

One of the most startling, grittily brilliant films in recent years.

100

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

A visual and aural feast that combines elements of classic gangster melodramas, crime epics such as "The Godfather" and playful non-linear narratives such as "Amores Perros," City of God explores a deadly culture while feeling more alive than anything that's hit the big screen in years.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Emotionally gripping from start to finish, the movie presents an electrifying and unforgettable look at life in a place that God has all but forgotten.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As the movie's frenetic visual rhythms and mood swings synchronize with the zany, adrenaline-fueled impulsiveness of its lost youth on the rampage, you may find yourself getting lost in this teeming netherworld.

USA Today Mike Clark

This is one movie in which you don't feel the long-ish running time, in part because there always seems to be a surprise (as well as a new street guerrilla) around every corner.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

An epic docudrama - electric and raw.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Despite the grim, serious nature of the subject matter, Meirelles unearths occasional moments of humor, although they are often of the gallows variety.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Undeniably powerful, the work also comes with its own built-in shield against feeling any one character's difficulties too deeply, or for too long.

TV Guide Ken Fox

A tightly woven tapestry of extraordinary breadth, and director Fernando Meirelles's control over the material is extraordinary.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

In God's ghetto, as in so many of the world's forsaken places, warring armies of infants brandish their weapons of self-destruction, while politicians bluster and inspectors sleep.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

For those who didn't get enough violence from Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York," welcome to City of God.

San Francisco Chronicle Octavio Roca

Brutal, tough to watch but impossible to ignore.

Chicago Reader Staff (not credited)

Predictably, the violence is overwhelming. But the massacres are glamorized, and the characters look like they're posing for tourism posters.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Nothing if not confrontational.

Slate David Edelstein

It's sensationally well-made: skittery and kinetic, packed with mayhem, yet framed (and narrated) with witty detachment, so that the carnage never seems garish. The film is far from a work of art, but it marks the emergence of a great new action superchef.

Variety David Rooney

The impressive filmmaking craftsmanship and sharp storytelling skills make this two-hour-plus epic fly by.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It takes a strong stomach to sit through its two-plus hours of non-stop brutality (much of it involving very small children).

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

A razzle-dazzle lower-depths melodrama.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A potent and unexpected mixture of authenticity and flash -- even if this is what happened on the ground, making it worth our time on screen is just beyond the contortionist abilities of even this most acrobatic of films.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Meirelles's picture is so keen to brandish its social wrath, and its spirits are so rampagingly high, that the bruises it inflicts barely last a night. [20 January 2003, p. 94]

LA Weekly John Powers

But if City of God whirs with energy for nearly its full 130-minute running time, it is oddly lacking in emotional heft for a work that aspires to the epic -- it is essentially a tarted-up exploitation picture whose business is to make ghastly things fun.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

In its cinematic approach, though, the film is as slick as any Hollywood thriller, directed by Fernando Meirelles with visual flourishes - jazzy editing, lurid colors, crackling sound effects - that dilute the impact of what might have been an indelible cautionary tale.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Undeniably powerful, but also rather numbing.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Full of action, but no soul.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 105 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jack B. gave it a9:
Great film in every way, deserves the plaudits and i would say this is a film that everyone who loves film should try and watch. An incredible real life story, told in a very powerful way that will have you gripped from start to finish. Im not a huge fan of the "gangster" film genre having been disappointed by some of the films in the area that are considered masterpieces, however I challenge anyone to truthfully say that this is below the level of those films. This truly deserves the title of being a Masterpiece.

Thomas A. gave it a10:
In my top 5 of Gangster movies, fabulous and scary this is a film everyone should see.

Nick A. gave it a10:
One of the most powerful dramas of the decade is 'City of God.' Fernando Meirelles proves that he can run with the most acclaimed directors in modern cinema with this film. His disciplined style is vigorously enchanting as much as it is appealing. For his furious and violent tale, 'City of God,' he portrays, with shocking realism, the slums of Rio de Janeiro from the late 60’s to the mid 80’s, where crime was the way out and those not involved were the suckers. But among these criminals and suckers is a minority of those dedicated to the goodness that is often overlooked in cities as torn as Rio, and Meirelles exemplifies that notion through a young photographer and the story he comes to tell. The film follows – and is narrated by – a boy named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), whose dream is to become an accomplished photographer. Growing up, Rocket was raised in a lower-class quarter of Rio’s Ciudad de Deus (City of God), in which most of his peers had aspirations of becoming the City of God’s next big thing – whether the path they led was bright or familiar. Among them was Lil’ Dice, a young boy who ran with a gang of hoodlums whose main intention was stealing, though had killed before. As years progressed, both Rocket and Lil’ Dice meandered down very different corridors; Rocket found fulfillment in honesty and kindness, whereas Lil’ Dice eventually found himself the city’s most infamous drug-runner, Ze Pequeno, or Lil’ Ze. Soon before long, the City of God is ravaged by unseen violence, led by Lil’ Ze, and Rocket is capturing the horrific footage via his handheld camera. While Rocket’s intentions focus on keeping down an honest, clean path, he finds that he can make amends with both Lil’ Ze and the local police, by submitting photos of Ze and his entourage to the tabloids. Win-win for both, eh? Not quite. Even those who find success, struggle in the City of God, and by film’s end that fact is recognized by all – and it’s not soon forgotten either. The screenplay, adapted by Braulio Mantovani from Paulo Lins’ novel of the same name, allows viewers to relate and reside with its characters and surrender their absolute emotion to a film that exhausts each and every emotion imaginable. Retrospectively, Meirelles’ demand for the viewer’s attention, through unwavering brutality and almost dizzying camerawork, makes for intense movie-viewing and enthralling entertainment. Additionally, the film carries a surrealistic beauty – and is shot with an overexposed lens that brightens the photography and implies perfectly the authenticity of the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro – that elevates the heart when the movie reaches burrowing depths. All in all, 'City of God' is flawless; and with an array of resonating performances and meticulous direction, it is sure to be one of the greatest films one will ever see.

Apocalypse Brown gave it a10:
Nothing is perfect in film making, but this is as close as you get.Gripping, intelligent, subtle, violent, tragic, it has it all. After this film you really to reflect and sympathise with the poor of Brazil. In my top ten films of all time. And Metacritic, sack your advance scout, Chad S. His review flat out sucked!

Leanne H. gave it a10:
I agree with Chris S. Dave H. you've got it all wrong. This is not a Hollywood thriller, this is a neo-realism film, a piece of brazilian national cinema which highlights Brazilian's way of life in order to obtain political change (wow! I hope I ace my exam!). You are looking at this concept so wrong, unless you understand the purpose of this film you will never see it as being a fantastic acheivement, which is definitely what it is! :)

Chris S. gave it an8:
Dave H. must not understand that the favella itself is the protagonist. Rocket's life does develop as does his connection with the favella. The story is the transformation of the community and the explotation of a real situation in Rio De Janeiros slums. The Hollywood concept of story and structure is questioned and manipulated. This film can and will move you as long as there is understanding that the story is real. It is hard to fully grasp the truth behind this movie making some people feel that it is only worth a 4.

Dave H. gave it a4:
Such a waste of great performances. No characters are fleshed out to the extent that they become interesting in any way. Rocket, despite being the protagonist, takes a passive, peripheral backseat to the action. The young Lil' Dice is played brilliantly and is a very convincing psychopath, but we get to know little about either him or other characters. My interest in the film wandered constantly with so much of the narrative being devoted to exposition. Inconsequential informaion about characters' history and the logistics of the favella drug circuits is divulged by the truckload while the actual story plods throughout. Dramatically hollow and inertly paced, and this is meant to be a thriller? I have no desire to see this film again.

City of God Miramax Films

City of God
Miramax Films