City of God

[SeattleUte]

After pretenders like Munich and Kingdom of Heaven I needed to see a film that based on critical reaction stood a good chance of impressing me. So I saw City of God. I wasn't disappointed. When I was a kid living in Brazil and on later trips back there as a child of privilege my dad used to talk forebodingly about the "favelas." Later I would read stories about the little runts gunned down by police by the dozens and the awful gangland warfare. I'm not saying this film is a historically accurate representation, but now I've got a general idea about the life inside that dark green and terrifying place called the favelas, especially since I served in similar places as a missionary in Ecuador.

The hand held camara gimic was made for this film. The acting and writing was terrific. I can't say enough good things about the young men who populated this film, from ages about ten on up to maybe twenty. Great character acting. Maybe they played themselves; I don't know but they were brilliant. The film managed the same lunatic madcap black humor amid flying bullets and bodies piling up by the dozens that did Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction. This black humor aspect is essential in order to not make the continuous ferocious violence anything but oppressive. I loved the famous chasing the chicken scene. The film also captured crazy Brazilian culture which I would characterize as carelessly, disarmingly, charmingly hedonistic and beautiful and suicidal.

This is a GREAT film in its own right. I really wish they still made movies this good in the United States. The new alltime rankings for organized crime epics is as follows:

1) Seven Samarai

2) Godfather I

3) City of God

4) Goodfellas

5) Godfather II

6) LA Confidential

7) Pulp Fiction

8) West Side Story

9) True Romance

10) Scarface

[SteelBlue]

That was a great film. I remember being saddened by the ending when the really young kids find that gun and as they walk away with it you can hear them talking bluntly about who they're going to kill. A great scene that showed how the cycle just continues. The film is a truly frightening look at a world where human life has no value.

[mpfunk]

City of God is a fantastic movie and I agree with everything you said about it. What I don't agree with is where you rank the Godfather Part II. It is better than the original and is the best movie about organized crime. The top 3 are:

1. The Godfather Part II
2. The Godfather
3. Goodfellas

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by mpfunk

City of God is a fantastic movie and I agree with everything you said about it. What I don't agree with is where you rank the Godfather Part II. It is better than the original and is the best movie about organized crime. The top 3 are:

1. The Godfather Part II
2. The Godfather
3. Goodfellas

I was just happy to see LA Confidential make his cut. That was a great film.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

I was just happy to see LA Confidential make his cut. That was a great film.

Read the novel. It's even a great deal better, but still not James Ellroy's best. It's American Tabloid.

[Jeff Lebowski]

The Seven Samurai is an organized crime move? Interesting.

Thanks for the review.

[Parrot Head]

City of God is one that's been on my to-see list a while, but I haven't quite made it to it. It was next on the Netflix queue right before we cancelled the sub.

SF Chronicle had a list of best TV for the past year and they mentioned something that might interest you...

-- "City of Men." Sundance Channel. The TV version of the film "City of God," it managed to convey the bleakness of the slums of Rio de Janeiro (where it's shot on location, giving it an electricity that would otherwise be lacking). Despite warring drug dealers and young killers, this series manages against the odds to get some laughs. A very different, well done series.

From IMDB

From Netflix

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Parrot Head

City of God is one that's been on my to-see list a while, but I haven't quite made it to it. It was next on the Netflix queue right before we cancelled the sub.

SF Chronicle had a list of best TV for the past year and they mentioned something that might interest you...



From IMDB

From Netflix

Thx, I'll check it out.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

The Seven Samurai is an organized crime move? Interesting.

It's about all the usual stuff in these stories--strong men; warrior clans; localized skirmishes over territory; civilization in crisis; the peace loving and fearful taxed, preyed upon, caught in the cross fire; young men seduced by blood lust and drawn by necessity to blood lust; loyalty; betrayal; vengeance;hits; assasinations. Oh, I guess that's just the usual stuff in life.

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

This is a GREAT film in its own right. I really wish they still made movies this good in the United States. The new alltime rankings for organized crime epics is as follows:

1) Seven Samarai

2) Godfather I

3) City of God

4) Goodfellas

5) Godfather II

6) LA Confidential

7) Pulp Fiction

8) West Side Story

9) True Romance

10) Scarface

Good list. Kind of surprised to see West Side Story up there. It's not a bad movie, just not the first one that comes to mind when I think of organized crime movies.

Would The Usual Suspects count as an organized crime movie?