There are many terrible things in the world, and when you see them too much, they become habitual.
For example, Shuai Ned takes not killing people as a rule, because killing people is a terrible thing. Once, after nearly losing his life, he learned that there are exceptions to every rule. In the end, exceptions became the rule, and killing became commonplace.
In City of God, there's nothing terrible at all, only things you're not used to.
In 2002, in addition to winning the World Cup, the Brazilian also surprised the world with a "City of God" movie.
Crisp editing, restless photography, flavorful soundtrack, reminiscent of the narrative of the Latin American classic "One Hundred Years of Solitude", the personality characters that face blindness can remember, the profound human warning, for such works, we can no longer ask for more, what can be done is to take it to appreciate.
The film opens with a quick cut of a frame in less than a second, followed by the narration narration of the protagonist Ah Gun, and the time first goes back to rio de Janeiro, Brazil, many years ago, that is, the 60s in the City of God.
What's more friendly about City of God than One Hundred Years of Solitude is that the names of the characters are easy to remember. The main characters of the story are clearly stated at the beginning of the film:
The narrator and male protagonist Ah Cannon, with a cowardly personality, is destined not to be mixed with "brother" material, so he can only watch from the sidelines, witnessing the brutality, ambition, and revenge of the City of God...
However, he had a brother who was a mixed brother, Ah Duan, so Ah Cannon was related to the famous "Young Three Heroes" in the City of God.
The "Young Three Heroes" were not easy to distinguish at first, and it was Ah Mao who always showed his chest muscles.
The tallest one is A-Pinch.
The highest hairline is Ah Duan, that is, the brother of the male protagonist Ah Cannon.
They also have two little followers who will do something in years, a very dark little bean, and a bespectacled Benny.
The three young men make a living by robbing, and driven by greed, they rob bigger and bigger, and finally commit a hotel robbery that shocks the whole city.
After the robbery of the entire hotel, no one survived, and the blood flowed like a river, and the police had to go all out to search for the criminals. The once spirited young three heroes also had to take refuge separately. Only then did they realize that in fact, like Ah Cannon, they were not mixed "brothers" material. Ah Mao, Ah Jia, and Ah Duan made different choices, and they were greeted by different fates.
Everyone has ever been a young and crazy person, and the Three Heroes are no different from many teenagers, but unfortunately, they were born in the City of God, where they would be bullied without guns. Only when they learn to be violent can they not be bullied. But once you taste violence, like Stewart in Stewart: Rewind Life, you will erode the dark side of the Force.
Violence, like drugs, is easily addictive.
Fortunately, the young three heroes only smelled of violence, and they didn't dare to really try, maybe they just wanted to arm themselves and show their might.
In fact, they didn't kill people in the hotel.
The one who really tasted the violence was the little bean of the young three heroes.
He and Ah Gun are completely different types of people, he is really able to mix "brothers", and the evil of human nature has been completely released in him.
The laughter after his killing is the most terrifying place in the whole film, and there is no one, even more terrifying than most of the vicious events in today's society. Who would have imagined that this was just a child under 10 years old, with no trace of pity in his heart.
Violence is addictive. Then Xiao Douzi walked to the darkness behind him, transformed into a single-handed little bully, and created his own 70s with his childhood partner Benny.
At this time, the movie became a very evil gangster movie, and the little bully became the overlord of the City of God, and even the old-school forces Red Mao had to avoid him for three points.
At this time, the little bully is reminiscent of the Nazi officer in "Schindler's List", and killing people is just a common thing for him.
Who dares to imagine what the evil of human nature can be like, like all kinds of "Jiang Ge incidents"? Like all sorts of child abuse? Or is it like all kinds of sexual assaults?
Orderly and regulated places cannot stop the spread of darkness in human nature, let alone in the city of God, the place forgotten by God.
The only thing that can be stopped may be human nature itself.
"City of God" did not completely erase people's hopes, so the character of Benny, the little bully's playmate from childhood. When the little bully is completely dehumanized, Benny rarely retains the good side of human nature, and he is definitely the coolest character in this film, not one of them.
Because of Benny's existence, the two forces of The Little Bully and the Red Hair can coexist peacefully for the time being. It can be said that Benny is a trace of kindness in the heart of the little bully.
If Benny is taken away, what awaits the City of God is a purgatory war.
But the excellent script was not in a hurry to turn the movie into a gunfight film, but instead installed a character in the middle, the good man Handsome Ned. Shuai Ned is a veteran who supports his family from an ordinary job, and love and peace are his wishes.
However, it is such an old good man, driven by hatred, from not killing people as a rule, to learning that there are exceptions to the rules, and then to exceptions becoming rules, he has completely become a robber.
The more his humanity is corrupted by hatred, the more fierce the war between Red Mao and the Little Bully.
Perhaps in the city of God, the most terrible thing is not bullets and drugs, but unconsciously, swallowed up by the most evil side of human nature, reduced to evil slaves, even if you have committed heinous crimes without repentance, or even without knowing it.
After experiencing the era of the Three Heroes and the era of the Little Bully, ah cannon will eventually usher in its own era, that era that does not require guns and drugs.
Sometimes he was really cowardly, and even a group of children who were a few years younger than him did not dare to provoke. But he is also really kind, even if he has a gun, he can't bear to bully people who are weaker than him.
In that dark and boundless city of God, perhaps living is just an accident, but Ah Cannon has killed a bloody road in his own way, holding a camera. Some people say that he is not the real protagonist, and there are many protagonists. But who else can really run through the whole film?
Don't think about it, Ah Gun is the soul character of City of God.
He also grew up with a role. Weak and incompetent at first, admitting that you are afraid of being shot, but in the end? Just holding a camera, braver than anyone. He wasn't watching from the sidelines, he wasn't like we could leisurely eat potato chips in front of a screen, he was in the terrible city of God, he was experiencing everything firsthand, and a single bullet could kill him at any time.
If "City of God" just wants to tell the world how terrible the slums of Rio de Janeiro are, and how terrible human nature is, there is no need to install a character who has no impact on the situation in the city. He exists to show that no matter how bad the environment is and how dark human nature is, we can still choose our own careers and keep our goodness.
Even if you don't have the ability to stop evil from catching and harming people everywhere, at least if you live with the brilliance of human nature, the darkness in the world may be a little less. For darkness is a fear of light.
Reality is more frightening than the movie, and we don't know how many people over there can survive like Cannon. But what is certain is that our survival difficulty level is really much easier than the Cannon.
What better place to perform miracles than the City of God? - "City of God"