Regular Saturday night, I was flipping through my movie channels to find something I might enjoy watching and usually, I read the info provided by Mediacom along with their ratings. It is easy to see that their rating system is very harsh. Good movies get 2 stars, excellent movies get 3 stars, and so on. I have never seen a movie above 4 stars and tonight, a foreign movie gets 4 stars. I just had to see. I missed the first 20 minutes of the movie but hopefully nothing too crucial, I will have to rewatch it.
Basically, it's based on a true story set in the 70's and 80's. It's about gang violence in Brazil in a town called the "City of God." Two kids start out as friends and grow up to be totally different, one a photgrapher and the other a drug dealer. The cinematography is excellent. Almost every single "foreign" movie I have watched has been A+ Not only are unconventional filming methods used but the stories are actually entertaining.
The entire movie is in Portuguese I believe, supplied with English subtitlesand it is very easy to follow. If Quentin Tarantino watched this movie, he would be impressed. There are some clear Tarantino moments his fans will love. Flashbacks, time-freezes, words that appear on screen to display different chapters and this is all done with style. At one point, one of the main characters wants to rob a bus but figures that the teller is the nice guy and we find out that he is named "Knockout Ted (or Ned)." Before the character attempts anything, he finds out that Ted was a soldier who was ranked number one sharpshooter in his troupe and although he was for love and peace, if he had to fight, he would. The camera then freezes and the main character says that later on, Ted finds himself in that very situation but his story is for another time. Just like a Tarantino film.
This isn't a movie for the faint of heart, mind you. People get raped, others killed, and more. This one scene shows two kids from a gang called "The Runts" who get captured by another gang and the leader shoots both of them in the foot and forces a kid in his gang to choose one of the two to shoot. It is very graphic and with all the crying, close-ups, and yelling; it's almost as if you are there.
There are so many moments I wish I could rewatch and if I find this movie on DVD, I am buying it. it is really worth it. Independent movies, foreign movies, budget movies, etc. All these should never be overlooked and from now on, I will keep an eye out for movies unheard of.
12/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317248/
![Citade de Deus [City of God]](http://forum.talktopics.com/iconimages/international-movies/citade-de-deus-city-god.gif)
