Reely Bernie Faves: City of God (2002)

If you run, the beast catches you; if you stay, the beast eats you.

City of God is a jaw-dropping study of an entirely different category of violence than what we might see in a Scorsese or Tarantino film. Calling it gang violence is too soft; socio-economic violence, too safe. This is honor violence. And, it is running rampant in the soccer-lobbing slums of Rio De Janeiro, where kids run the streets and go through guns like candy. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s not an exploitative one either. The true story comes from Paulo Lins, a miraculous survivor of the bloodshed between drug lords, cops, and innocent children in between.

Using cinematic style and flare, what would work as a fascinating documentary unhinges into a Lord of the Flies morality tale where evil begets evil, and love is the only escape if you can make it to the beach. Prior to filming, over a hundred of children were chosen to attend acting workshops throughout Brazil. Seeking improvisation and spontaneity over script, Directors Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund achieve a communal effort and a horrifying authenticity.

Alongside, Composer Antonio Pinto complements the narrative’s rapid pace with remixed pop hits by James Brown, Carl Douglas, and Tower of Power.

There’s a fascinating montage sequence called “The Turf,” in which one flimsy apartment room witnesses the corrosion of characters as they venture deeper into drug dealing and addiction. Cursed spirits gradually saturate the walls, and you wonder if any future tenants get haunted by the darkness.

These are kids ill-fated at birth, representing three “generations” in the window of 1960 to the late ’80s. Their grim reality discharges an intoxicating experience of a movie not for the faint of heart but vital to any moviegoer’s canon.

Have you seen it?

Reely Bernie Faves:

1. Amadeus (1984)

2. Magnolia (1999)

3. Poltergeist (1982)

4. Pulp Fiction (1994)

5. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

6. The Godfather Part II (1974)

7. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

9. Goodfellas (1990)

10. Nosferatu (1922)

11. Pollock (2000)

12. Kicking and Screaming (1995)

13. Jaws (1975)

14. Fargo (1996)

15. Citizen Kane (1941)

16. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

17. The Endless Summer (1966)

18. Back to the Future (1985)

19. Angel Heart (1987)

20. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

21. The Goonies (1985)

22. Trainspotting (1996)

23. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

24. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

25. Bambi (1942)

26. The Paradise Lost Trilogy (1996-2011)

27. Psycho (1960)

28. Parenthood (1989)

29. Swingers (1996)

30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

31. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

32. Smoke (1995)

33. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

34. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

35. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

36. City of God (2002)

37. 1917 (2019)

38. Black Swan (2010)

39. School of Rock (2003)

40. Mulholland Drive (2001)

41. Groundhog Day (1993)

42. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

43. The Greatest Showman (2017)

44. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

45. The Florida Project (2017)

46. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

47. So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

48. Shadowlands (1993)

49. Steve Jobs (2015)

50. ¡Three Amigos! (1986)