FIRST RESPONSE: 

6/10 

My most memorable scene would be during the party scene and Blacky shoots Benny in an attempt to shoot Li’l Zé instead, I particularly liked how the lights kept flickering, almost giving us the action in a series of still frames, which built the anticipation and made the adrenaline the characters felt more cathartic for the viewer. 

• Alexandre Rodrigues as Rocket: 
  The narrator, who dreams of becoming a photographer. His real name is Wilson Rodrigues. 

• Leandro Firmino as Li’l Zé/Li’l Dice: 
  A power-hungry sociopath, who takes sadistic pleasure in killing. “Dado” is a common nickname for Eduardo and means “dice“, and “inho” is a diminutive suffix in Portuguese. As an adult, he is given the name Zé Pequeno in a Candomblé ceremony, which may be unrelated to his actual name and more to his short stature. Zé is a nickname for José, while pequeno means “little”. Douglas Silva portrays Li’l Dice as a child. 

• Phellipe Haagensen as Benny: 
  Zé’s longtime partner in crime, he is a friendly City of God drug dealer who fancies himself a sort of Robin Hood and eventually wants to lead an honest life. Michel Gomes portrays Benny as a child. 

• Matheus Nachtergaele as Carrot: 
  A drug dealer who is friendly with Benny but is constantly threatened by Zé. 

• Seu Jorge as Knockout Ned [pt]: 
  A handsome, charismatic gentleman. As a veteran, he is an excellent shot and can shoot better than most “soldiers”. His name was changed from “Mané Galinha” for the English subtitles because in English, “chicken”, which “Galinha” translates to, is a term for a coward (in Brazil it denotes womanizing tendencies and popularity among women). “Mané” is a nickname for Manuel, but also denotes an individual not intellectually gifted. 

• Jonathan Haagensen as Shaggy: 
  Older brother of Benny and the leader of the Tender Trio (“Trio Ternura”), a group of thieves who share their profits with the population of the City of God. 

• Roberta Rodrigues as Berenice: 
  Shaggy’s girlfriend, who convinces him to leave the favela and his criminal past. 

• Renato de Souza as Goose: 
  One of the Tender Trio, and Rocket’s brother. He sleeps with a bartender’s wife and gets kicked out by his father when the police arrive, he is killed by Li’l Dice later that day. 

• Jefechander Suplino as Clipper: 
  One of the Tender Trio. He later gives up crime to join the Church. 

• Edson Oliveira as Stringy: 
  Childhood friend of Rocket. Emerson Gomes portrays Stringy as a child. 

• Alice Braga as Angélica: 
  A friend and love interest of Rocket, and later Benny’s girlfriend, who motivates Benny to abandon the criminal life. 

• Daniel Zettel as Tiago: 
  Angélica’s ex-boyfriend, who later becomes Li’l Zé’s associate and a drug addict. 

• Darlan Cunha as Steak n’ Fries: 
  A young boy who joins Zé’s gang. 

• Rubens Sabino as Blacky: 
  Carrot’s manager. 

• Charles Paraventi as Charles / Uncle Sam: 
  A weapons dealer who’s supplied by the police. After returning from a deal empty-handed, the police kill him. 

• Graziella Moretto as Marina Cintra: 
  A female journalist for Jornal do Brasil, who hires Rocket as a photographer. 

• Luiz Carlos Ribeiro Seixas as Touro: 
  An honest police officer. 

• Maurício Marques as Melonhead: 
  A corrupt police officer. 

• Thiago Martins as Lampião: 
  Child leader of the Runts gang. 

• Marcos Junqueira as Otávio: 
  Child leader of the Runts gang. 

This is Rocket’s story, the protagonist is Rocket, and the antagonist is Li’l Zé. 

The film covers three decades; this is shown to the audience by using obvious editing techniques (for example, when we transition from 1980s Rocket to 1960s Rocket – as well as signposting text on the screen giving the date) along with fashion, and the development of the City of God in terms of buildings and landscape. 

MICRO-ELEMENTS: 

MISE-EN-SCÉNE: 

Changes in the apartment; originally the room has a blue hue, when shown the apartment when it was owned by the woman, it has a yellow hue – brighter, a curtain, table with drugs isn’t there/moved, new one because she’s a dealer, Big Boy takes over, curtain is gone. Then there’s a greener hue, almost dingy, when Carrot and Aristotle are talking about his (Aristotle’s) wife, there’s one light illuminating the two whilst there’s another light in the kitchen where Big Boy is prepping some drugs to deal out – lowkey lighting. But then the mood shifts, Big Boy wants Carrot to kill Aristotle, or he’ll do it himself – the only light in the room is harsh, in the kitchen, the rest of the apartment is dark, highlighting the tense situation, high stakes. 

EDITING: 

Daniel Rezende (film’s editor) said, “What we tried to do with the editing was attempt to use ‘effects’ whenever we thought that this could bring something extra to the sensation or emotion that we were aiming to evoke. If the situation is tense, and there’s no time to think, we speed it up and make it even tenser. If the character is going to be important later, then we freeze the face to commit it to memory. If both things happen at the same time, then we split the screen, so as not to lose anything. In the third part of the film, we especially welcomed anything out of the ordinary for the editing style. If a ‘badly made’ cut could increase levels of discomfort in the viewer, then we incorporated it.” 

Split screen during Benny’s farewell party: 

PERFORMANCE: 

Working with non-professional actors: – Used non-professionals as wanted to recreate the same feeling of the book as it would make the events of the film feel more natural and real. – Meirelles learned from Mike Leigh & Ken Loach to not give his actors a script 

– Meirelles would tell his actors the intentions behind each scene and character and allow them to improvise, which also created a stronger sense of reality through this style. 

– 70% of what you see/hear on screen was improvised. 

Prayer scene before the fight 

SOUND: 

In the opening sequence, both diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used to build anticipation and atmosphere, as well as signposting when we shift back to a different time. Starting with the sound of a knife being sharpened against stone, this sound is isolated at first. As the cuts become more frequent, we get more diegetic elements such as music and animal sounds. This effectively builds up the tension and atmosphere for the film, establishing the chaotic environment City of God is. When we’re introduced to Rocket, there’s a transition from the 1980s to the 1960s – Rocket as a child. There is a non-diegetic sound effect used to signify the time jump, a woosh sound, along with a ticking clock. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY: 

•  The ‘restless’ style, characteristic of the film, announces itself from the start. It begins not with the customary establishing shot but with flashes that illuminate a series of close ups – knife, hand, and stone – with a cut to black between each shot. Another photographic flash illuminates Rocket with his camera. He zooms out from behind a network of bars, which collapses down into his image. This is in fact a flash forward to the scene that will replay very near the end of the film, where we will see then that the reverse shot has denied us here, with Zé bribing the police after his gun battle with Ned and subsequent arrest. He has been introduced as a key player in the drama, but still only a fragment. The montage of conflicting shots and the collision of the fast-paced editing now gives way to the spectacular circling shots which will morph Rocket from a young man to a boy, and the favela to its former days of low-rise shacks and open spaces. The meeting between two of the principal characters initiates the story; the circular shot will provide the bridge between what they were and what they will become. 

• The series of tight close ups zooms in and out on further fragments of street life – faces, a guitar, a tambourine, hands with tumblers of drinks, hands scraping and chopping carrots, chicken feet and chickens being lowered into the cooking pot. The first mid shot of the film is of a live chicken on the table, tethered by its leg. A cut provides the first long establishing shot of the film. The chicken jumps down off the table making a bid for freedom. Brazilians describe a situation that appears to have taken off and be going but will soon crash to the ground as a “flying chicken”. This apparent freedom is illusionary – the chicken might try to fly but it can’t get very far. A close-up low-level shot from the chicken’s point of view shows a plate of blood on the ground, a reminder of the chicken’s fate. 

Key thoughts for representations of violence: 

– Why was the material filmed/edited in the way it was? 

During the rape scene, there were jerky cuts to convey the harsh reality that it’s out of her control, perhaps providing insight to her state of mind – trying to block out certain moments to cope/disassociating. 

– What effects are the filmmakers attempting to have on the audience & how have specific techniques been used to try and achieve these effects? 

Hotel Scene: 

– Unpremeditated attack 

– Cinematography: The camera work is restless, particularly when a man is being kicked on the floor, the lens continues to push in and out with the movement of the kicking.  

– Editing: Simple, showing the sequence as it’s happening, paired with the upbeat music, it conveys the fact that this is normal behaviour for them, a regular occurrence. 

– Performance: Natural and calm, aside from barking orders but there’s no real intensity – which is surprising given the crimes they’re committing. 

The Killing: 

– Cinematography: When we’re first shown the deceased people, it’s a wipe from black after the trio drive off without Li’l Dice (he was killing people), and it’s slow and smooth unlike the jerky movements from earlier during the robbery. This shows that Li’l Dice finds killing people to be okay, and this is where he realises he has a knack for it. Blurred focus on the people, you can only make out Li’l dice. Not shown the people he’s killing in the second shot, only the gun firing and Li’l Dice are in frame. 

– Editing: Only two wipes when showing the aftermath. During the killing it was a dissolve, once again an eerily calm atmosphere is being created by Li’l Dice’s performance. 

– Performance: In this scene Li’l Dice is still a child and is already exhibiting characteristics of a sociopath: impulsive, violent, and apathetic. With his age and behaviour combined, it results in an eerie performance, he’s smiling and laughing in their faces as he shoots them. 

1. Book origin 

‘City of God’ by Paulo Lins, 1997. The author was raised in the City of God; he did research for an anthropological work about drug dealers in the favelas – boss asked him to write a novel about it. It took 8 years to write, became bestseller in Brazil and it had a lot of shock value as many were not aware of the happenings inside City of God. Cicade de Deus was established in 1960 in the western zone of Rio de Janeiro as part of a government strategy to systematically move favelas away from the city centre and relocate inhabitants to the suburbs. 

2. How did Meirelles and Lund get involved? 

Meirelles was introduced to the novel by a friend. He was the director of the film; Lund was a co-director and consultant. When Meirelles was asked about his involvement with Kátia Lund, he said that he knew she was familiar with the world of City of God as she had just finished a documentary on drug dealers (News From a Private War). She was focused on the acting, mostly.  

3. Casting and filming:  

Only one professional actor, Matheus Nachtergaele, played Carrot. Used non-professional actors from an acting workshop, because he (Meirelles) wanted to recreate the same feeling of the book. Allowed the actors to interpret the intentions behind each scene and character, letting them improvise. Filmed in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – location filming, used a 16mm film stock to shoot. Community members hired are security guards to ensure everyone’s safety. In an interview with Slant Magazine, Meirelles said that the police didn’t know that he was talking about their corruption in film until later. PRODUCTION: Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, screenplay by Bráulio Mantovani, produced by Andrea Barata Ribeiro and Maurício Andrade Ramos, cinematography by César Charlone, edited by Daniel Rezende – “Digital editing” allowed the characters to be emphasized through freeze-framing and other features, different results could be achieved with different editing, music by Antonio Pinto and Ed Cortes. Began filming in 2000, about 100 children and young people were hand-picked and placed into an acting workshop for several months. For safety reasons, most of the film was shot in Cicade Alta, a different favela within Rio as the real Cicade de Deus was in the middle of a conflict during filming.   

4. Box Office / Funding 

Grossed over $7.5 million in the U.S. and $30.6 million worldwide – in the Brazilian Box Office, the film grossed approximately $10.3 million (USD). The film was funded by TV Globo, which is Brazil’s largest TV channel and O2 Filmes Brazil’s biggest commercial company. They had a budget of $3.3 million. Distributed by Miramax. 

5. Critical reaction 

The raw realism was frequently praised, as well as the fact that the film raised awareness of what’s really going on within the favelas. However, some harsher critiques say the violence was excessive to the point it was ‘numbing’. According to the TV network, Al Jazeera, some critics argued that the film glorified violence and crime, potentially overlooking the complex social issues at play. Brazilian rapper MV Bill, a resident of Cidade de Deus, said the film had “brought no good to the favela, no social, moral, or human benefit.” He said, “The world will know that they exploited the image of the children who live here in Cidade de Deus. What is obvious is that they are going to carry a bigger stigma throughout their lives; it has only become greater because of the film.” 

AESTHETICS: 

-The look and feel of the film; cinematography, auteur, motifs, and influences 

-Documentary-style-handheld camera work, purposely used for conveying the realism of the city, the situation, the relationships, they are a reflection and elevation of reality. 

-Social realism  

During the end credits, it’s clearly shown that the characters in film are based on real people – like Knockout Ned, a real interview from when he got out of the hospital shown alongside the photo of the portrayed version of him and the actors’ name. 

Richly saturated but consisting of lowkey lighting during violent scenes/as time goes on. For example, when it transitions from 80s-60s. The colour grading is powerfully used to intensify the emotions within the scene. From 1960 to 1964 the first phase of Cinema Novo “an idea in your head and a camera in your hand” established modern cinema in Brazil. It transformed its image outside the country because of its critical success. The Brazil that it symbolized of was one of exploitation, violence and deprivation. 

Colour palette: 

Golden hue on past scenes, reflecting nostalgia for childhood despite all the violence. Also to convey temperature. However, the second part of the film has a darker colour palette, also goes down in saturation, more blue hues to reflect the dire state of the conflict and the way reality settles in on its residents as they get older. Low lighting. Connotes change of fortune. Growth of gangs, gang violence, the situation of City of God has worsened.  

‘Book-ending structure’ :

Hyper-realism:  

The violence is amplified to signify the danger and unpleasantness of the violent environment. Unlike Tarantino, where he uses violence for comedic effect. Must exaggerate the violence because the extent of the danger in City of God during that point in time can’t be shown in a naturalistic way in a feature length film – condensed version of the truth.