City of God Movie Review 2002

A long and generally lively chronicle (covering the late sixties to the early eighties) of the drug trade and gang warfare in the slums of Rio. Taken from Paulo Lins novel, the narrator is budding photographer Rocket (Rodrigues), a kid from the projects observing the violence and trying to stay out of its grip. He observes the rise to gang power of the ruthless Little Ze (da Hora), who will eventually go up against his rival, amateur boxer Knockout Ned (Jorge), who has a personal as well as professional grudge. Portuguese with subtitles.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on DVD
Running time 130 minutes.
Originally from Brazilian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Rio, Smuggler's Blues, True Crime, Period Piece: 1960s, Period Piece: 1970s, Period Piece: 1980s, Gangs

Screenplay

Braulio Mantovani

Cast

Alexandre Rodriques, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Phelipe Haagensen, Matheus Nachtergaele, Seu Jorge, Johnathan Haagensen

Cinematography

Cesar Charlone

Director

Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund

Music

Antonio Pinto, Ed Cortes

Other

Guilherme Ayrosa, Paulo Ricardo Nunes, Daniel Rezende, Tule Peake, Bia Salgado, Ines Salgado

Producer

Andrea Barata Ribeiro, Mauricio Andrade Ramos, O2 Filmes, VideoFilmes, Miramax Films

Awards

N.Y. Film Critics 2003: Foreign Film.