Sound

City of God utilises sound in this scene, as his prayers are used as narration as he joins the church and abandons his gang lifestyle. This contrast with his sinful lifestyle, and shows his sudden salvation to God and a lifestyle of faith grants him the luck of not being shot by the police, thus extenuating the tragic and dangerous reality of living a life crime.

Mise-en-Scene

Fernando Meirelles crafts this scene with the use of mise-en-scene, it aids the storytelling whilst communicating time passing. The different elements that make up the room tells the spectator a lot of information about the owner of the drug empire at that time, such as their success rate and cumulative decline in safety and credibility.

Cinematography

The use of cinematography, specifically lighting in this scene communicates an array of ideas to the spectator. The first being, a connection to a main motif present in the film; photography. The use of strobe lighting gives the sense of the whole scene being captured in snapshots of a camera, similar to the one Rocket is gifted, from Benny, and then stolen, from lil’ Ze. Not only does this further a significant motif of taking pictures, this also amplifies the suspense in this scene for the spectator, the lighting matches the tone of the scene, and builds tension when things go south.

Editing

The cyclical structure of City of God’s narrative is a clear example of where editing is used to create meaning in the film. The movie begins in what is called ‘en media-ris’, where the scene starts in the middle of a key event. The film then picks up this narrative strand in the falling action of the film, it provides context within the scene, and shows how this scene is in a way one of the most important; it is where the day the war between both business comes to a violent end. Rocket is significantly places between both sides; one being the lifestyle of a criminal and drug dealer, and the other the police, representing a life of morality and ethics, this could be argued to be the motive or ‘message’ of City of God; the culture of gangs and violence being something that is a last resort for poverty or even something that is brought on by the idea of ‘masculinity’ and proving yourself.