Delayed Reaction: City of God

The Pitch: The answer to the question: What's that one Brazilian movie I'm thinking of?

A crime story set in the City of God favela in Brazil.

This is actually my second time seeing City of God and I'm no less perplexed by it. It's a very highly acclaimed movie. I think I first found it because it was highly rated on the IMDB Top 250 (Currently #22). Or maybe it was because it managed to get Oscar nominations in two different years thanks to weird eligibility issues (It had a Foreign film nomination for 2002 and director, screenplay, cinematography, and film editing nominations for 2003). As far as I can tell though, the only person of note who came out of it was the actress Alice Braga, who you've maybe seen in a couple things. For just about everyone else in the cast, their IMDB profile picture (if they have one at all) is a screenshot from this movie. I know that most of the cast is made up of untrained actors, often pulled right off the streets. They are so good though. It's strange that Braga is the only one I've heard from since. Director Fernando Meirelles had success with his follow-up, The Constant Gardner, but has been in Hollywood movie jail since the flop, Blindness. I mean, maybe he chose to pull back, but I doubt it was his choice. Co-director Katia Lund has taken to documentary film making mostly. I cannot say how those documentaries have been received, because foreign documentaries simply don't break through to American audiences at any level. Screenwriter Braulio Mantovani has only written one movie that I've even heard of (Elite Squad) since City of God. It seems odd for a movie that's so critically adored to have led to so few opportunities. And maybe it is just a language barrier thing. I may not appreciate Brazilian cinema from the last 16 years enough and the people in this movie may have not wanted to take projects in which they had to learn English. 

Another reason the movie confuses me is because it's structured unlike anything I can think of. It's very episodic, like a collection of interconnected short stories. The narrator cedes focus to other characters. I'm not sure who the main character really is. It's almost like it's structured to look unfocused, when it's actually very deliberate. Based on how much the story covers, I remembered this as being a lot longer than 2h10m. It's incredible how much it packs into that runtime.

City of God is a great movie. As a period piece, as a crime movie, as a showcase of amateur actors, it's as good as anything you'll find. I totally get the praise that's heaped on it.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend