Although it is said that the real protagonists of the film are not characters, but the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. But when analyzing this film, I think we should start with several important characters:
First, Rocket, the narrative character of this film, he is a rare "positive character" in this film, but it's not because of his kindness, but because of his kindness. He was relatively timid. He found a job in a supermarket with a poor salary, and was later fired for stealing from the "Short Gang". He finally realized that integrity is useless in the city of God, and took out his brother's gun and planned to rob, but he still dared not do it. He is a very smooth person, he never dared to offend anyone, and he didn't dare to make a sound after his most beloved woman was taken away by Benny. But Benny also took great care of Rocket. He knew that Rocket's dream was to be a photographer, so he gave him a camera as a gift before leaving. Rocket finally realized his dream, but the story of the city of God did not end.
Another core character is the gang leader Li'lZ' of the City of God. He and the other leader of the gang, Benny, were good friends when they were children. They murdered, robbed, robbed and sold drugs. The leader who covers the sky, Li'lZ' relies on drug trafficking to make money. His way of doing things is very simple, kill those drug dealers and directly take over their business. Carrot is the only force in the City of God that threatens Li'lZ'. At first, Li'lZ' and Carrot had a large-scale conflict, but Benny's death made him completely lose his mind, and the war in the City of God began. The result of the war was of course both losers. Li'lZ' eventually capsized in the gutter and fell into the hands of the "Short Gang".
Benny, Li'lZ''s best buddy, is the coolest bandit in the city of God, he's slowly getting tired of this life, and after finding a girlfriend, he starts to be gentle. He finally decided to leave, and he wanted his life to be on the farm with his girlfriend, smoking, and listening to rock. Once Li'lZ' wanted to kill Blacky, Benny organized him. Li'lZ' said that Benny's heart was too soft, and he might be bitten in the end. Ironically, Benny died at his farewell party. And it was Blacky who killed him, which once again confirmed that it was not "the prodigal son's return for nothing".
KnockoutNed is a military veteran. He was originally a "good citizen" doing a serious job. After his family was killed by Li'lZ', he turned to Carrot for revenge. He followed Carrot to the robbery, he made the rules - no indiscriminate killings, the first time, he saved a man from Carrot's gun, the second time, Carrot killed a man who tried to shoot at Ned, Ned Understand that there are exceptions to any rule, and the third time, exceptions become rules. Ned just degenerates into a member of the gang, his hands are covered in blood, and what will happen to him in the end.
The images of these protagonists in the story are very vivid. After thinking about it carefully, I found that there is actually a kind of "fate" in them. Rocket has the ideal of being a photographer. Although he is timid, he has never done bad things, so in the end he realizes his dream; Li'lZ' gave the guns to the children, but was killed by them in the end; Benny let Blacky go, but ended up being killed by Blacky's gun; KnockoutNed killed the bank's security guard, who was Otto's father, Otto came to Ned, Ned gave him a gun, and he was eventually captured by Otto kill. This kind of pattern actually exists in many movies, such as Frank Darabont's movies, and Ning Hao's movies as well. Including the theory of "fate" in this film actually left a little hope for the film. Otherwise, it is really too cruel. Many children learn to kill before they understand the preciousness of life, and many die before they understand death. This is a very sad thing. The film has a child who said something impressive: "I've drunk, I've killed, I've robbed, I'm a man." Black humor. After his death, this passage was repeated again. Ignorance is really scary. If human nature is evil, then children need someone to guide them in the right direction.
The last paragraph of the film is called "The Beginning of the End", which indicates that although the story has come to an end, the violence and killings continue, and there will be new stories in the City of God, and everything is in a vicious circle.
Writing here, I suddenly thought of the last sentence Lu Xun wrote in "Diary of a Madman": "Children who have never eaten people, or are there any more?" save the child...
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