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By:
JBR
Fernando Meirelles is considered to be an important director among contemporary Latin American directors. Born in Sao Paulo in Brazil he studied architecture. His passion for films drove him to produce experimental videos together with his friends, which won several awards in Brazil film festivals.
His film ‘City of God’ is treated as one of the important films in the world. It has come to occupy a unique place in modern films owing to its restless cinematography, editing clarity and the distinctive story telling method. Most of all, the importance of this film is due to the plot Fernando Meirelles has based his film on.
Several films have been produced on the theme of criminal life. Most of them have attempted to present it through the life of an individual. Telling a story through the life of an individual has the possibility of interpreting the individual’s strengths and weaknesses; his tenderness and violent nature; his own dominance and subservience as part of that life. For these reasons, they tend to project one aspect of criminal life.
But Fernando Meirelles’ ‘City of God’ is not the story of an individual. This is the story of a locale – a slum in Brazil teeming with young criminals.
‘City of God’ is a place that is created for the purpose of the poor and homeless outside Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, to keep the capital clean and free of pollution. The place of God, devoid of basic amenities including electricity is the breeding ground for young criminals and this film approaches and analyzes their life without any sympathy.
The story is told through the eyes of a photojournalist called Rocket from that place in the ‘60s, ‘70s and 80’s time period. In the ‘60s Rocket happens to be a young man aspiring to become a photojournalist. His own contemporary Li’l Dice, on the other hand, likes to burgle and murder.
Li’l Dice in the company of Goose, Clipper and Rocket’s brother Shaggy, goes to burgle a motel. Without others’ knowledge and their restraint, he kills all people in the motel. The police start looking out for Shaggy, Goose and Clipper. Clipper wants to turn a new leaf and wants to go for work. In an effort to escape with his sweetheart, Goose gets killed by the police. Shaggy who is always confrontational, gets killed by Li’l Dice. Having committed so many murders Li’l Dice has not crossed his 10th birthday.
The ‘70s see him liking Angelica, a co-student. He wishes to lose his virginity through her. It is the time when Li’l Dice and his associate Binny turn into the most notorious burglars of City of God. In the meantime Li’l Dice changes his name into Li’l Z and kills the entire drug dealing community in the place. He then starts ruling over the total drug market. The only person who escapes this rampage is Binny’s friend Carrot.
Then Binny and Angelica fall in love with each other. They buy over a farm and keep away from the criminal world. But Binny is shot dead in a party to celebrate their move. Lil Z thinks that Carrot was responsible for the murder and decides to take vengeance. On the way, he rapes the fiancé of Knockout Ned and kills his brother. When Knockout Ned joins hands with Carrot in an effort to kill Li’l Z, a gang war begins.
Though the story may appear to be linear, the screenplay writer Braulio Mantovani has added an artful content by blending non-linear flashbacks.
What shocks the audience are the bunch of 5 and 10-year old kids. These kids are employed in the role of drug delivery boys and drug dealers. Guns become their everyday toys. These boys handle the killings and become victims in the ordinary and the extraordinary situations. In the end these are boys who kill Li’l Z.
The film begins from the end of the story. Rocket gets caught between the Li’l Z gang and the police force, both armed fully. As he tries to escape, the scene dissolves into ‘60s when Rocket was a kid. Through such flashback technique, the story reveals the lives of Shaggy, Goose, Carrot, Binny, Knockout Ned and the kid who murders Knockout Ned. Fitting so many flashbacks and bringing out the oneness of the film are the achievements of screenplay, direction and editing.
The director thrills the audience in narrating the events. Rocket goes to see his school pal and drug dealer Blackie to buy drugs for Angelica. While he is inside Blackie’s house, there is a knock on the door. Li’l Z enters the house with his accomplices. Li’l Z asks Blackie if he claimed that it was his apartment. While the camera is steady, the scene dissolves into ‘The Apartment’s story’ and narrates how Blackie came to own that apartment. In this scene, the camera is steady and the events are explained by the entry and exit of characters in the frame.
In another scene, Li’l Z sends a boy to Carrot. The boy informs Carrot that if he kills Knockout Ned, Li’l Z won’t bother him. The boy notices the presence of Knockout Ned only after conveying the message. Fear drives him out running being chased by Carrot’s gang.
Now two scenes are projected on the screen. One, where Carrot is conversing with Knockout Ned and the other, where Carrot’s gang is apprehending the running boy. The screen reverts to a single scene when the gang brings the boy into room. With all the emotional ingredients like poverty, deprivation and tragedy present, the film is not moving in that direction by Fernando Meirelles. He brings into fore the restless life in Brazil by restraining emotions and by ever-moving camera, compact editing to move the scenes fast and employing the technique of documentaries.
The music of Antonio, Pinto and Ed Cortis adds a lot of strength to the movie. Caesar Charlone is the director of cinematography and Daniel Rezende is the editor.
This film is taken after the novel ‘City of God’ by writer Paulo Lins. The author has introduced 350 characters in this 600-page novel. One would conclude that Fernando Meirelles has sidelined the author in the manner in which he has produced the film.
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-13.10.2006
