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City Of God : Movie Review : The City Of God

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The movie, The City of God, is based on a true story that took place during the early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The movie tells a story from the point of view of a boy named Rocket. He was born and raised in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Throughout the film, he struggles with the fear of being dragged into crime, violence, and drugs. His goal is to one day break free from the slums in which he is currently trapped. The surrounding environment and society during this time was highly influenced by what everyone else was doing.
The main characters were saboteurs and always causing corruption around town. Some notable characters would be Shaggy, Goose, and Clipper who together comprised a group called the “Tender Trio.” They were…show more content…
It allows the audience to connect with each individual character and to understand the characters’ feelings. One scene in this film that had a big impact on me related to a “runt” named, Steak. Steak classified himself as a man because he said he kills, snorts, and smokes. The word “runt” in this film is another name for a young kid. He was only about 8 years old. The scene depicts Steak bragging to superior people in order to fit in. He felt peer pressured to say he did all these horrible acts, which was extremely saddening because, in reality, a kid his age should never be exposed to crime, murder, or drugs.
During this time Brazil is a dictatorship but the film does not emphasize it enough to make it a central theme of the movie. It is a shame that kids who grow up in these certain situations don’t know any other way of life than the type of culture they are surrounded by. The idea of little kids killing people just perpetuates the trend of senseless killing that seems to be prominent in these communities. Life does not seem to retain much value to them. It becomes their nature to kill and do drugs, starting at such a young age. In a very similar way, kids in more developed communities, like America, do not fully understand communities where every day is a fight for life. Whether it was decades ago or today, it is crazy to think that horrific situations like these occur at all. Killings, armed robberies, drugs, and crime, defines life in the slums.
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