When I saw this film I felt it was almost too real. I couldn't separate the fact that this was cinema from how it affects me so realistically. I wasn't exploitative or needlessly violent like most crime films, but showed a city for what it truly is on the underbelly where age, gender, drugs, sex, race and money meet head on. The film is spectacular, every performance feels completely authentic the characters emotions are completely palpable. It's a disturbingly blunt and stylish view at a world we don't know but can't deny. A world we hate that exists yet are totally drawn towards. This film is better than any film made in America in the past 10 years, it belongs on the top #20 where it's at here, but it truthfully deserves a higher post. It's not only a great film, but it's has a conscience that is lacking from other crime films. The protagonist, Rocket, is the guiding light in this world of darkness, who leads us from temptation to temptation, mixing us in with these impoverished people and drug-fueled gangsters on a Homeric odyssey that has one of the most poetic and cynical endings I've ever witnessed. Not to be missed, if you haven't seen City of God, you are woefully missing out.
Review of City of God
