I think the name of the slums in Rio de Janeiro is the "City of God", which is the biggest irony. Is there a place with God is heaven? There is only endless violence, drugs, guns, rape, here is purgatory on earth, it is hell, it is God's joke.
Nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay in 2004, the film is based on the semi-autobiographical novel "God's Town."
In literary terms, the film uses line drawing to show the audience the normal life of the people of Rio de Janeiro's favelas in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The director has been sending a message to the public: these things that seem incredible to outsiders are common here. This is what the City of God really looks like.
For example, when the director introduced the gangster "Three Young Heroes" in the City of God, he used an event to introduce it. The boy who originally played football on the sand knew that the gas truck was coming. He immediately put on red clothes, covered his face, took out a gun, robbed the driver, and called nearby residents to get gas. Residents swarmed, neither cheering nor surprised, as this happens so often. When the police car arrived, the three young men fled, taking off their red clothes and face-covering towels while running, and then returned to the sand to play football as if nothing had happened, laughing at the police car that drove away.
After the robbery, they didn't have any extra emotions except the excitement of getting the money. There is no aftermath of escaping the police pursuit, no nervousness about robbing with a gun, and no guilt and guilt under the legal and moral framework. It's like they've just played a game of housekeeping.
It's far from law and morals, people live with guns, robbery, drugs, and sex. The children don’t go to school properly, and take robbers as their role models in their lives; there is only an old TV in the house that doesn’t know how to function, and people can only enjoy the most primitive happiness at night; Control the children and let them be punks.
I grew up in a normal family, normal school and normal education. When I say ordinary, I don't mean the quality is not good, but I mean that it is similar to the vast majority of Chinese children. So I can't imagine that in some corner of the world, there are people who live so different from me. They really did everything they could just to survive. After watching this movie, I love my country even more. I think this kind of film can be played as a patriotic education film, because people feel superiority in comparison, and it is only false to say how powerful our country is. It needs to be compared with other regions in order for people to truly feel China Peace and prosperity. The Wolf Warrior series also uses this routine.
As human beings, even if we are mediocre, we are happier than most people. So at some point, we have to learn to help them. This is not just sympathy and pity, but the law of conservation derived from "human beings are created equal". Since all human beings are created equal, why can we enjoy a stable life while their lives are in tough mode? The world should be balanced. The more resources we enjoy, the more resources we should go to those who are weaker than us.
As for the film itself, in addition to the wonderful audio-visual, its reflections on culture and journalistic ethics are also refreshing.
Winning an Oscar for best film editing is no child's play, it tells the whole story from the point of view of a young man living in the city of God. The young man Rocket has a special identity. He is the younger brother of one of the Fantastic Three. He has witnessed the robbery and crimes of his brothers since he was a child. When he grows up, he likes girls, helps her buy white powder, has contact with drug dealers, and is also the second-in-command of the biggest gangster at that time. Banny became a good friend; as a local resident, he knew the big and small things that happened in the local area, and finally as a photojournalist, he went deep into the research and witnessed a large-scale firefight. The narrator, Rocket, is not the protagonist. He is an ordinary existence in the City of God that can no longer be ordinary. He will always appear in every corner of the City of God events, which makes the audience feel like they are peeping. Through the humble rocket A sneak peek at the evolution of the City of God over nearly 30 years.
I'm used to watching movies from the third-person perspective, but suddenly it changes to the first-person perspective, which is a bit surprising and a little uncomfortable. We are always spectators in the third-person perspective, but we are the witnesses of the event in the first-person perspective, which is very immersive. And the way the film is told is to string together the clues of the story through some small events, and the clues are clear and clear.
The soundtrack of the movie is also in place. I like the drum beats in Latin American music the most. The scene of catching chickens with music at the beginning draws the audience into the Latin American world at once. The dense and rhythmic drum beats, along with the movements of the chickens, are bright and strong in rhythm, which is very suitable for the dazzling South America.
Every time I watch a foreign movie, I feel like I am immersed in a foreign culture. Especially Latin American culture, which is very different from Chinese culture, can better appreciate the different characteristics of different cultures through comparison. I admire the director's choice to shoot the film in the slums of Latin America, knowing that the slums in Latin America are so dangerous that they need the police to protect the crew. Even the director later said: "If I had another chance, I would not choose to shoot a movie here."
It is precisely because of the director's craftsmanship that the original appearance of Brazil's slums can be better presented to the audience. If the director has no ingenuity, then he can set the scene according to the city of God, reproduce a safe Brazilian slum, or use a green screen to cut out a slum. But I don't think anyone else would do this except Angela's "dedicated" baby. Thanks to the director's excellence, it is possible to restore the audience to a very real slum.
Finally, as a journalism student, I would like to discuss the power and morality of the media in the film from this perspective. The first time the media appeared in the film was when the two gangs exchanged fire in the City of God. Because the fire was too fierce, the media reported that the police had no choice but to intervene. As a person who is about to enter the media industry, this sentence is very moving to me. When we usually do reports, we do not want to be successful and famous, but to truly help those who need our help. The power of the media has ripped open an opening in this God-forgotten city, where the light comes in. Only when the story of the City of God is heard by more people can the government and the police increase their efforts to rectify the City of God.
Then the hero rocket went deep into the war to take pictures for the newspaper to use. I remember that in the photojournalism class, the teacher would often show us documentaries of war reporters. They put life and death aside, and they only want to use the camera to record the facts and present the facts to the world. When I saw Rocket hiding and filming while the two armies were fighting, I suddenly thought of these war correspondents. He's not afraid to die and just wants to record what he sees, but does Rocket have what we call journalism professionalism? I don't think so. Although he risked his life to take pictures of the two armies fighting and the gang boss bribing the police, he didn't make it public.
Rocket looked at the photo of the bully bribing the police: "This can make me famous, and even on the cover of a magazine. But what about the police?" Finally, the newspaper published, not this picture.
But I can still forgive Rocket. After all, he has already tried his best to survive, so why force him to do such a thing? Those of us who don't have to worry about life probably didn't have the courage to make that photo public.
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