NCLAFF: Cidade de Deus | City of God

Dir. Fernando Meireles. Brazil. 2002. 130 minutes. Portuguese with English subtitles.

City of God is based on a semiautobiographical novel with the same name originally published in 1997. It takes place in the 1960s slums of Rio de Janeiro where two boys growing up in the neighborhood take on different paths in life. The story is told through the eyes of Buscape, aka Rocket, a poor young fisherman's son who dreams of becoming a photographer one day. His story narrates the violence and corruption surrounding the city and the rise and fall of one of the city's most notorious bosses, Li'l Ze. As war wages on the streets Buscape's only way out of this violent life is to expose its brutality to the world through his pictures. Along the way the lives of others are put into perspective as their stories intersect with the events that take place.