<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > synopsis of the City of God</h1>
The slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are the "City of God" and where the devil will sigh and turn around.
Alexandre Rodrigues takes us here, where he witnesses more than two decades of chaotic life surrounded by brutality, greed, revenge, ambition, betrayal, plunder, and ultimately a disastrous gang fight. Although he has had to survive among bandits since he was a child, his timid and fearful personality and self-protection instinct have always enabled him to live in peace.
In the early 60s, Ah Mao, Ah Jia and Ah Duan were the "three young heroes" here, and after robbing the hotel, the three of them parted ways, and Ah Jia returned to the arms of God, and Ah Mao and Ah Mao paid the price of their lives.
In 70 years, the little brother of the "Three Young Heroes" at that time, Xiao Douzi (Douglas Silva), relied on his own heart and kept annexing other people's territory, becoming the "little bully" of the slums, and the business escalated from robbery to a more lucrative drug trade, and he flew with Benny (Phellipe Haagensen).
Benny meets the beautiful Andilica (Alice Braga) and prepares to go into hiding, at the farewell party, he is accidentally killed by the opponent, and in grief, the "Little Bully" gathers his men to avenge Benny, and the fight between the gangs begins.
At this time, Ah Cannon, by chance, became a trainee photographer of the magazine, and his camera showed the viciousness of children with guns and bullets, and the endless vendetta between gangs.
The film is based in a slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which on the surface is a turbulent place with a spiritual name "City of God", but in fact it is a place where the devil also sighs. In order to truly restore the local life situation, the director personally went to the local filming.
At the beginning of the movie, there is a scene of a group of children chasing chickens. This scene is presented to the audience with the harshness of local security. As a highly harmful weapon, guns are actually used when chasing fleeing chickens, which vividly reflects the local gun flood. The camera follows the chicken's running route, and the change of scenery allows us to see the confrontation between the bandits and the police. The police, as a group of people who punish crimes, can only lose when they encounter too many bandits. These upheavals are incomprehensible to audiences living in modern civilized societies. The director inserts the theme through the opening paragraph, and does not try to hide the high crime rate and the crime age rate in the local area.
The film mainly shows us the whole story through the narration of a trainee photographer journalist Ah Gun, who grew up as a member of the City of God and witnessed more than 20 years of brutality, robbery, gang fighting, greed and sexual violence in the local area. The film uses flashbacks, and from his mouth, we clearly know the parting of the amateur bandit "Young Three Heroes" and the rise of Xiao Douzi.
The protagonist of "City of God", Ah Cannon, survives in such a living environment, fearing and fearing all day long, in people's hearts
He was a weak and incompetent boy. He longs for love, but his crush is obsessed with rich families and gangster bosses; he wants to avenge his brother but doesn't have the guts to shoot; he loves photography but doesn't have the money to buy equipment. In short, he is a man who has achieved nothing. If you think he's a loser, but he has his shining points: he has the guts to go to the beach with the police chief's daughter and take pictures together; he dares to go deep into the Tiger's Den, take pictures of gangsters, and get a job at a newspaper office because of this photo. His role is obviously an outlier in the whole City of God, the director carefully selected him as the protagonist among many characters, in order to show that not only violence can solve problems and protect themselves, but also his personality is absolutely contrary to the people of the entire "City of God", he is cowardly on the surface, but dares to expose sin, which is very different from most of the locals who look down on sin and grievance. It is because of his difference that he is very suitable as a spectator, a bystander.
Those who do nothing evil are still children after all. The director does not only reflect their "evil", but never ignores their "good" and "true". They also aspire to achieve what they want and to be valued. Unfortunately, the "City of God" has its own inherent survival model, in which children make more decisions about violence, conflict, guns, drugs, and even death than anything else. In the face of the harsh reality, only the stronger the stronger can survive in this naturally chosen place. The director does not criticize the children under the lens, and even prefers helplessness and sympathy.
This movie is plainly Brazil's "Ancient Puzzle Boy". The grim situation in Brazil has long been reflected on the big screen, such as "City of Man", which reflects the lives of ordinary people today, and "Elite Troops", which tells about the police, while this "City of God" reflects the daily life of gangsters. In the film, the audience can feel the control of gangsters over the lives of locals, and the frequency of gang clashes is high. No matter what identity you have, it may be you who will fall tomorrow! The erosion of a country's national spirit is not only because of the persecution of this country caused by gangsters, but also because of the growing bluntness of the people in this country and the local government allowing crimes to continue and even participate in criminal actions. No matter how serious a local policing crime is, the bad guys are always in the minority. If the locals adopt an attitude of intolerance, they will confront all external violence. There is no guarantee that crime will disappear, but at the very least it will decrease so that the vicious circle can be avoided as much as possible. While truly reflecting the truth of the facts, the film satirizes the indifference of the locals and exposes the law enforcement personnel who ostensibly uphold law and order and secretly cooperate with criminals. The backwardness and lawlessness of a place is not the fault of that place, but the fault of the judicial system of the whole country. Just think of the last sentence that Ah Gun said, "We are no longer afraid of xiaodouzi, but what about the police?" "The gang leader was not killed by some big man, but by a child who shot him to death. The setting of this plot made me feel very much, an incompetent, corrupt, and increasingly backward ecosystem, and the most hurt is our next generation.
The film is innovative, not only because he dares to adopt new actors, but also by reflecting the people at the bottom. In terms of production, the director did not particularly highlight anyone, which is very different from those Hollywood movies that highlight individualism. Reject the single-point focusing method, and instead extend the lens to anyone. The creators understand that it is not a half-human fault that such a harsh environment is created, and that while you condemn the actions of the bosses, each one should wonder if he is a parasite in a place.
The butterfly effect tells us that very small changes in initial conditions are amplified and can make a huge difference in their future state. Don't decide to stand idly by without assuming that your power is too small. The spark of a spark can ignite the plains!