"City of God" tells the chaotic living state of Rio de Janeiro's slum "City of God": crime, violence and gun proliferation, drug abuse... Is poverty breeds violent crime, or violent crime creates chaos and poverty, it seems to be a An inexorable knot.
I think the director's technique of using the camera lens is in line with the theme of the film. Shaky, fragmented, dynamic chasing shots are frequently used in movies, and fixed shots are rarely used, and following these shots is as if you are there too, in a state of chaos with the characters in the movie.
The director did not deliberately show the misery and misfortune of the ghetto, nor did he explicitly criticize what the gang members did. Taking the protagonist's growth experience as a clue, telling the events he witnessed and experienced, the camera is responsible for calmly recording every crime and gang vendetta.
The movie ends with "Little Bully" being shot to death by a group of children, and it is "Little Bully" who handed the gun to them. I think it's a metaphor that the violence doesn't end with the death of an all-powerful "bully", but someone else takes over, creating a cycle of death.
Mutual vendetta is never-ending, and runs through the entire movie. When one person is killed by another, someone will take revenge for him, and the person who is avenged will take up a gun to take revenge for him, and that’s it.” When is the time for retribution?" Violence will never be stopped.
Although God does not favor the slums in the name of God, he still favors the dream of the protagonist. The protagonist wanted to become a photographer, and he was frustrated in the process of chasing his dream, and he also gave up his dream and went astray to participate in crime, but in the end he was determined to get out of the "city of God", stay away from violence, and pursue his dream. He started as a newsboy, and by chance, he made his first pot of gold by taking pictures of "Little Bully", and finally embarked on the road of a professional photographer. This may be a glimmer of hope left in the desperate "City of God".
All in all, I think this movie is worth watching. Excellent gang crime movies are not limited to bloody and violent scenes that bring sensory stimulation, but can calmly reveal the lowest living state and the darkest corners of a society. , the cruelest truth.
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