Corruption In The Film City Of God

The police in Rio de Janeiro regularly takes bribes from drug lords, abuses favela citizens, and sells back drugs and firearms to the drug trade. Because of this, the favela becomes scared of the police, which can make some places dangerous to be at which can make it easier for people to be killed.

Any reference to the ‘hood’ has negative connotations attached to its meaning. Modern reference to an area as the ‘hood,’ is analogous to the preceding term gangland. According to Thrasher, ganglands symbolize spatial and social interstitial areas. These interstitial areas consist of underlying conditions of social disorganization characterized by poverty, deteriorating neighborhoods, and the absence of both formal and informal social control mechanisms. As a result, interstitial areas cultivate interstitial groups, or gangs, that develop as an expression of the region’s socially disorganized state (Thrasher 1927/2000). In short, these regions are poverty-stricken, politically powerless, and socially marginalized.

The quality of life in the favela’s depicting accurate accounts of the infrastructure, corruption of law enforcement, and atrocious living conditions. The poor living conditions added with

City of God, a movie directed in 2002 by Fernando Meirelles, accurately portrays the slums of the Favelas over three decades, beginning in 1960 where the protagonists are children and merely thieves. Ending around the early 1980’s, the slum is an unrecognisable war zone, most of the main characters are either dead or engaging in a bloody turf war. Following the journey of two children, Rocket and Lil Ze, who are both growing up in the same housing project. Lil Ze, a child who desperately wants to prove himself goes through extreme lengths, eventually growing up to be a merciless drug lord who attempts anything in order to gain power. Whereas Rocket, lives a relatively calm life by comparison, staying out of trouble and eventually becoming a reputable photographer.

Thousands of tiny, cliffside houses surround the city, climbing up into the verdant hills, packed together like brightly colored sardines. These are the favelas, home to hundreds of thousands of the poorest people in Brazil. Many of Rio’s favelas remain dangerous and unstable, but in the past several years the Brazilian government has begun a movement of pacification. Where once police would simply invade, battle a gang and withdraw, they are now permanently stationed to ensure the safety of neighborhood residents. This safety, however, brings with it a new kind of danger: as the favelas are pacified and begin to develop,

Guerilla warfare and drug gangs in the “favelas of Brazil” pushed many families to emigrate to the United States and Canada; separating families (“Latin America” 3). The people of Latin America love pursuing human contact, so those families that did stay found themselves in the cites. That is because opportunity lied in the city, and no longer on the country-side; therefore, leading to a constant flow of people from rural to urban areas. The author says, “In Latin America, urban culture was not created by industrial growth; it predated it” (“Latin America” 4).

6.1 In The Planet of the Slums, Mike Davis using the definition made by the US Department of Labor, describes slums as “an area of dirty back streets, especially when inhabited by squalid and criminal population” (Davis: 22). Brasilmar Ferreira Nunes and Leticia Veloso, similarly explain the definition of “favelas”, as a “marginalized urban space” (Nunes & Veloso: 225). In other words, a slum is an underprivileged, underdevelopment, and often dirty and overpopulated “neighborhood.” I personally prefer Nunes and Veloso’s definition of favelas to the US Department’s definition of a slum. I agree that a slum is looked at as dirty and can contain a criminal like population, yet I disagree that these slums are always in the “back streets.”

In both Bolivia and Brazil locals rallied around a plethora of issues. Bolivia, specifically Cochabamba, rallied around the issue unfair water practices by the foreign company Bechtel. Cochabamba’s dependence on Bechtel sprung out of a need for water that had festered due to overpopulation, deforestation, and poverty. However, Bechtel proved to be a major problem and increased water rates by more than 50% which caused the locals to riot. Problems also exist in Brazil in the favelas and for the landless peasants. Favelas are small houses that are on land that is not owned by the occupants of the favela. People live in favelas due to extreme poverty as many favelas lack sewage, garbage collection, water and are plagued with drug dealing and crime.

Researching gangs can be a delicate and complex topic. While researching and collecting information I found a noteworthy pattern, showing that the underlying topic in a majority of the articles surrounds gangs and their aim towards to violence and crime to survive and thrive. In essence many drug retailing gangs have tendencies to distrust and depend on violence and illegal methods of business. As well as vandalizing the community, which they see as exhibiting their signs and displaying their territory. By committing these low level crimes, the members begin to further run down their community, in addition to the previously poverty ridden area to begin with. While the majority of the country is attributing the poverty ridden neighborhoods to the gangs we explore if the neighborhoods have truly taken a turn for the worse permanently.

Brazil has some of the most violent cities in the world. The murder rate in Brazil has been going through the roof each year. Some cities have a murder rate of 50 per 50,000 people. Most murder victims are usually male, poor and teenagers. Most of these crimes take place in the infamous favelas of Brazil. Murder is not the only crime leaking in the shallow streets of the favelas. High-profile rape cases, kidnapping, drugs, and weapons dealing in the favelas are the common headlines in Brazil (Griffin, Jo). These crimes are born in the favelas and spread through the streets of Brazil. The economic growth of Brazil over the years has benefited the rich puppeteers of the society, but it has made life more miserable for the poor (McCann, Bryan). Not just in Rio, but favelas have spread throughout many cities in Brazil and now they are the number one birthplace of different types of crimes in the country. In this paper, we will analyze an article published on the online version of ‘The Guardians” regarding the lives of people living in Brazilian slums (favelas).

In the major cities pickpocketing, taxi scams, robbery and drugs have been a huge issue that affects the quality of life. It is because of all the poor people who do not have anything, so they try to steal things such as money, so they could make a living. The crime rate has also increased because of all the carnivals, parades and beaches which have thousands of people which are very crowded. They have made robbery, gang violence, money laundry and a variety of scams the way of life in Brazil. President Michel Temer who was elected in August 2016, believes that one way to lower the crime rate is to first eradicate or decrease the favelas within Brazil. He has created various programs and improving the structures of the buildings themselves. Brazil is a federal presidential constitutional which is constructed off a representative democracy. It is divided into three branches, the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. Most people of Brazil are pleased with this type of government, however brazilians want them to do more to help improve their quality of life. There are also a lot of people who do not want change because they find joy in pickpocketing, robbing, drug trafficking and many

And during a major gang war, he is able to photograph the police killing a gangster, a murder they plan to pass off as gang-related crime. These events can be seen as reality for many people in Rio’s slums. In its actual level of violence, "City of God" is less extreme than gangs related movies but is clear that the city is divided in two: the employed and secure, who are served by law and municipal services, and the city of the castaways, whose alliances are born of opportunity and desperation. Those who live beneath rarely have their stories

Cities are supposed to provide opportunities for individuals, but in reality, there is a split between the wealthy and poor. In South America, a poor neighborhood, Las Tunas, is squeezed between three private neighborhoods. Although this should be good merging the poor with the wealthy, there is an impeccable difference. Las Tunas does not have drinkable water, sewers, natural gas facilities, or 24 hour medical services. Whereas, the neighborhoods that are next to Las Tunas have access to all of these basic life needs. So why doesn’t Las Tunas have the same benefits? The government decided to separate the poor community from the wealthy neighborhoods by inserting a wall in-between the neighborhoods. These walls have cameras installed along them to monitor that the poorer neighborhood is not bothering the wealthier. With Las Tunas having no sewers, “the last time this happened was during April and May. The floods carried away beds, clothes, children’s toys, among other things” (O’Boyle 2014). Throughout the world, inequality lies in cities, causing conflicts and uncooperative

In all parts of the world, spaces are separated based on affluence with the rich receiving more privileges and advantages. São Paulo is no different in this retrospect with economic segregation dividing the city and its urbanites. Derek Pardue’s “In Motion: Transportation and Knowledge in São Paulo” discusses the relationship between the social differences and spaces in São Paulo. Throughout the article, he examines the spaces of the city to gain an understanding of the urbanites and their life regarding their mentality, customs, social class, and etc. He emphasizes the clear division between the poor and wealthy and the impact it relays as a result. One of the important points he implores is how the public and private spaces are separated according to wealth with the affluent accessible to more spaces and able to receive more privacy. While, the other crucial point he stresses is the division of the people based on wealth and how “certain truths about social class” can be discovered through the mode of transportation in regards to the bus, private automobile, and the train (157). Clearly, São Paulo is separated by social class through spaces and mode of transportations.

Sao Paulo is Brazil’s financial center and is well-known for its breathtaking views, its abundant cultural institutions and for their rich architectural scene. However, there are many negative issues that are ravaging the lives of the citizens in this city. For starters, Sao Paulo has terribly congested traffic, a significant amount of crime and gang violence, a lack of quality in the medicine-health field, a high amount of air pollution, and also water shortages. However, these are not the biggest of their obstacles. Sao Paulo’s most pressing issue of the moment is the informal housing that is plaguing the city. This essay will first analyze Sao Paulo, Brazil’s informal housing issue, then will compare Sao Paulo’s unique obstacle to similar