City of God

The end of any period of time brings with it lists reviewing, ranking, commemorating the opinions of whomever is making the list. Sometimes these people actually know what they are talking about and like to refer to themselves as "critics" or "people with jobs as professional writers." Truth be told, I'm grateful they exist because there's just so much stuff out there.

For example, reading Paste Magazine's Best of the Decade list I was surprised to discover that I had not seen their #1 pick: Fernando Meirelles' 2002 Brazilian film, City of God (or Cidade de Deus, for you elitists). I'd heard of it, of course, had picked up on the buzz from time to time since its release, but like I said, there's a lot of stuff to see. So, I saw it. And it was good.

The titular locale is the hardcorest of the hardcore Rio slums and the story--which is based on real events--is about the devastating drug trade of the 70s and 80s. There are obvious parallels to John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood, but it's all in the timing, I suppose, because what struck me more were the similarities to The Wire, the amazing HBO series that I am 4 episodes from completing as of this writing. Both feature kiddie criminals--City of God's Runts and The Wire's Baltimore corner boys--as the backbone of all-encompassing drug empires. Yeah, I get that one takes place decades ago in a third-world country and the other is in a modern-day major American City. They don't call it Bodymore, Murdaland for nothing. PLUS