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Review

Sustaining a creative intensity and energy from beginning to end that sets it apart, City of God -- a film of rare emotional power and rule-breaking cinematic invention -- never trades humanity for style, allowing both to coexist in a narrative that cuts to the core. Based on firsthand accounts from a book by Paolo Lins, the film tells the complex story of a group of boys in a Rio de Janeiro housing project where crime is rampant and guns are plentiful. It chronicles the boys' rises to power, falls from grace and all of the tragedy in-between through three decades.

Director Meirelles mixes the stark imagery of gun-wielding nine year olds with a bevy of aggressive film techniques to keep our eyes wide open and our hearts heavy as we watch how the cycle of violence revolves through generations. A chaotic journey into a world that isn't far from resembling life in America's poorest projects, City of God works as a brilliant cautionary tale of neglected lives and misdirected dreams. (Portuguese with English subtitles)

Mekado Murphy