City of God () is a 2002 Brazilian epic crime film directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Kátia Lund. The screenplay, written by Bráulio Mantovani, is adapted from the 1997 novel of the same name by Paulo Lins, though the plot is also loosely based on real events. The film portrays the rise of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro between the late 1960s and early 1980s, culminating in a war between drug dealer Li'l Zé and vigilante-turned-criminal Knockout Ned. Its tagline is, "If you run, the beast catches you; if you stay, the beast eats you."
The film features a cast including Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Jonathan and Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Daniel Zettel, Seu Jorge, and the film debut of Alice Braga. Most of the actors were actual residents of favelas such as Vidigal and Cidade de Deus itself.
City of God received widespread critical acclaim and earned four nominations at the 76th Academy Awards: Best Cinematography (César Charlone), Best Director (Meirelles), Best Film Editing (Daniel Rezende), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Mantovani). At the previous 75th Academy Awards, it was Brazil's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film but was not selected as a finalist. In 2015, the Brazilian Film Critics Association (Abraccine) ranked City of God 8th on its list of the 100 greatest Brazilian films.
Following the success of City of God, Meirelles and Lund created the City of Men TV series and its 2007 film adaptation. Both projects share some actors (notably leads Silva and Darlan Cunha) and the same setting as City of God.
Plot An armed gang chases after an escaped chicken in a favela called the City of God. The chicken stops between the gang and a young man nicknamed Rocket.
In the 1960s, three impoverished, amateur thieves known as the "Tender Trio"—Shaggy, Clipper, and Rocket's older brother, Goose—rob business owners and share the money with the community who, in turn, hide them from the police.
Li'l Dice, a young boy, convinces them to hold up a motel and rob its occupants. The gang resolves not to kill anyone and tells Li'l Dice to be a lookout. Instead, Li'l Dice guns down the motel occupants after falsely warning the trio that the police are coming. The massacre attracts so much police attention that the trio is forced to split up: Clipper joins the Church, Shaggy is shot by the police while trying to escape the favela, and Goose is shot by Li'l Dice after taking his money while Li'l Dice's friend Benny, Shaggy's brother, watches.
In the 1970s, Rocket has joined a group of young hippies. He enjoys photography and likes one girl, Angélica, but his attempt to get close to her is ruined by a gang of petty criminal kids known as "The Runts". Li'l Dice, who now calls himself "Li'l Zé", has established a drug empire with Benny by eliminating all of the competition, except for Carrot, who is a good friend of Benny's. Rocket witnesses Li'l Zé take over 'the apartment', a known drug distribution center, and forces Carrot's underboss Blacky, to work for him instead.
Because of this monopoly, a relative peace comes over the City of God under the reign of Li'l Zé, who manages to avoid police attention by executing petty criminals, including a member of The Runts. Benny decides to branch out of the drug dealer crowd and befriends Tiago, Angélica's ex-boyfriend, who introduces him to his friend group. Benny and Angélica begin dating. Together, they decide to leave the city and the drug trade.
During Benny's farewell party, Zé and Benny get into an argument about Benny leaving; the argument is interrupted by Blacky accidentally killing Benny while trying to shoot Li'l Zé. Benny's death leaves Li'l Zé unchecked. Carrot kills Blacky for endangering his life. Li'l Zé and a group of his soldiers start to make their way to Carrot's hideout to kill him.
On the way, Zé follows a girl who dismissed his advances at Benny's party. He beats up her boyfriend, a peaceful ex-soldier named Knockout Ned, and rapes her. After Ned's brother stabs Li'l Zé, his gang retaliates by shooting into his house, killing his brother and uncle in the process. A gang war breaks out between Carrot and Li'l Zé. A vengeful Ned sides with Carrot, initially trying to stay true to his ideals of only harming criminals, but he quickly loses his morals after having to shoot a policeman during a bank robbery. Tiago also is drawn into the conflict to support his drug addiction, siding with Li'l Zé.
The war is still ongoing a year later, in 1981, the origin forgotten. Both sides enlist more "soldiers" and Li'l Zé gives the Runts weapons. One day, Li'l Zé has Rocket take photos of him and his gang. A reporter publishes the photos, a significant scoop since no outsiders can safely enter the City of God anymore. Rocket believes Li'l Zé will kill him for publishing the photo of him and his gang. The reporter takes Rocket in for the night, and he loses his virginity to her. Unbeknownst to him, Li'l Zé, jealous of Ned's media fame, is pleased with the photos and with his own increased notoriety.
Rocket returns to the city for more photographs. Rocket finds himself caught between Zé's gang and the arriving police, who quickly withdraw when they realize they are outnumbered and outgunned. Rocket is surprised that Zé asks him to take pictures, but as he prepares to take the photo, Carrot's gang arrives. In the ensuing gunfight, Ned kills Tiago but is then killed by a boy who has infiltrated Carrot's gang to avenge his father, the policeman whom Ned shot during the bank robbery. The police capture Li'l Zé and Carrot and plan to show Carrot off to the media. Since Li'l Zé has been bribing the police, they take all of Li'l Zé's money and let him go, but Rocket secretly photographs the scene. The Runts meet with Zé, seeming to want to talk, but tackle him to the floor, mock him, and shoot him dozens of times in the head, back and legs in retaliation for Li'l Zé murdering their friend a year prior to set an example for the Runts previous petty crimes spree. Rocket approaches Zé's mangled body, and takes a final photograph.
Rocket contemplates whether to publish the cops' photo, expose corruption, and become famous, or the picture of Li'l Zé's dead body, which will get him an internship at the newspaper. He decides on the latter, and the Runts walk around the City of God, making a hit list of the dealers they plan to kill to take over the drug business.
Cast Alexandre Rodrigues as Rocket – The narrator, who dreams of becoming a photographer. His real name is Wilson Rodrigues. Leandro Firmino as Li'l Zé/Li'l Dice – A power-hungry sociopath, who takes sadistic pleasure in killing. "Dado" is a common nickname for Eduardo and means "dice", and "inho" is a diminutive suffix in Portuguese. As an adult, he is given the name Zé Pequeno in a Candomblé ceremony, which may be unrelated to his actual name and more to his short stature. Zé is a nickname for José, while pequeno means "little". Douglas Silva portrays Li'l Dice as a child. Phellipe Haagensen as Benny – Zé's longtime partner in crime, he is a friendly City of God drug dealer who fancies himself a sort of Robin Hood and eventually wants to lead an honest life. Michel Gomes portrays Benny as a child. Matheus Nachtergaele as Carrot – A drug dealer who is friendly with Benny but is constantly threatened by Zé. Seu Jorge as Knockout Ned – A handsome, charismatic gentleman. As a veteran, he is an excellent shot and can shoot better than most "soldiers". His name was changed from "Mané Galinha" for the English subtitles because in English, "chicken", which "Galinha" translates to, is a term for a coward (in Brazil it denotes womanizing tendencies and popularity among women). "Mané" is a nickname for Manuel, but also denotes an individual not intellectually gifted. Jonathan Haagensen as Shaggy – Older brother of Benny and the leader of the Tender Trio ("Trio Ternura"), a group of thieves who share their profits with the population of the City of God. Roberta Rodrigues as Berenice – Shaggy's girlfriend, who convinces him to leave the favela and his criminal past. Renato de Souza as Goose – One of the Tender Trio, and Rocket's brother. He sleeps with a bartender's wife and gets kicked out by his father when the police arrive, he is killed by Li'l Dice later that day. Jefechander Suplino as Clipper – One of the Tender Trio. He later gives up crime to join the Church. Edson Oliveira as Stringy – Childhood friend of Rocket. Emerson Gomes portrays Stringy as a child. Alice Braga as Angélica – A friend and love interest of Rocket, and later Benny's girlfriend, who motivates Benny to abandon the criminal life. Daniel Zettel as Tiago – Angélica's ex-boyfriend, who later becomes Li'l Zé's associate and a drug addict. Darlan Cunha as Steak n' Fries – A young boy who joins Zé's gang. Rubens Sabino as Blacky – Carrot's manager. Charles Paraventi as Charles / Uncle Sam – A weapons dealer who's supplied by the police. After returning from a deal empty-handed, the police kill him. Graziella Moretto as Marina Cintra – A journalist for Jornal do Brasil, who hires Rocket as a photographer. Luiz Carlos Ribeiro Seixas as Touro – An honest police officer. Maurício Marques as Melonhead – A corrupt police officer. Thiago Martins as Lampião – Child leader of the Runts gang. Marcos Junqueira as Otávio – Child leader of the Runts gang. Arlindo Lopes as young man.
Production City of God was filmed on 16mm film stock.
On the bonus DVD, it is revealed that the only professional actor in the film was Matheus Nachtergaele, who played the supporting role of Carrot.City of God DVD extras Most of the remaining cast were from real-life favelas, and in some cases, even the real-life City of God favela itself. According to Meirelles, amateur actors were used for two reasons: the lack of available professional black actors, and the desire for authenticity. Meirelles explained: "Today I can open a casting call and have 500 black actors, but just ten years ago this possibility did not exist. In Brazil, there were three or four young black actors and at the same time I felt that actors from the middle class could not make the film. I needed authenticity."
Beginning around 2000, about a hundred children and young people were hand-picked and placed into an "actors' workshop" for several months. In contrast to more traditional methods (e.g. studying theatre and rehearsing), it focused on simulating authentic street war scenes, such as a hold-up, scuffle, and shoot-out. Much came from improvisation, as it was thought better to create an authentic, gritty atmosphere. This way, the inexperienced cast soon learned to move and act naturally. After filming, the crew could not leave the cast to return to their old lives in the favelas. Assistance groups were set up to help those involved in the production to build more promising futures.
Meirelles went into the film with the intention of staying true to the "casual nature" of the violence in the novel by Lins. Critic Jean Oppenheimer wrote on the production of the film saying that: "A second guiding principle was to avoid glamorising the violence" and that "many of the killings are either shown indistinctly or kept out of frame."
Because the real Cidade de Deus favela was in the middle of a conflict, a large majority of the film was shot in Cidade Alta, a different favela within Rio. During the production, slumlords did not allow for the production company to have their own security, so local security guards were hired for the safety of the set.
Lund and Meirelles filmed the short film Golden Gate as a test run while casting for City of God was in the initial stages.
Music The score to the film composed by Antonio Pinto and Ed Córtes. It was followed by two remix albums. Songs from the film: "Alvorada" (Cartola / Carlos Cachaça / Herminio B. Carvalho) – Cartola