City Of God Essay
In the film City of God, director Fernando Meirelles and Kàtia Lund utilize subtle yet effective cimatography techniques to call attention to the inequality that lies within the favelas of Brazil. City of God, released on January 17, 2003, focuses on the lives of two black boys, Lil Zé and Rocket, from the City of God. Rocket is the ambitious, kind, and charming photographer while Lil Zé is the as the callous, sinister, and selfish drug lord. Meirelles and Lund utilize this film in order to expose the social, political, and economic exclusion that City of God faced. While also shining a light on how the city’s exclusion and inequality leads to a violence breeds violence lifestyle that is seen throughout the film. In the film, City of
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Meirelles and Lund highlight this aspect by centering the film around children, showing multiple scenes of drug dealing armed children as young as six years old. The directors chose to focus on Lil Zé and Rocket in order to show how no matter what path the young children took escaping poverty and violence is nearly impossible in the favelas. The directors also utilize nicknames in order to desensitize the children and portray death as something trivial. There was no emphasis on anyone’s death except for maybe the two main leaders of the cartels. Other characters (children) involved in the shootouts did not have any personal connections to the audience, they did not have names or background stories. The directors used these techniques in order to show how death is trivial in the favelas as children were dying left and right while no action was being taken.
In conclusion, the film City of God was an eye opener, seeing a city completely excluded with no laws or enforcement really made me think about similar cities in the United States. The way the film started and ended had a significant impact on displaying the vicious cycle of violence and poverty as it starts and ends with children engaging in violence. The children did not have stories, parents, or anyone looking after them, as a result almost all of them were involved in either drugs or violence. At the end of the film
Meirelles and Lund highlight this aspect by centering the film around children, showing multiple scenes of drug dealing armed children as young as six years old. The directors chose to focus on Lil Zé and Rocket in order to show how no matter what path the young children took escaping poverty and violence is nearly impossible in the favelas. The directors also utilize nicknames in order to desensitize the children and portray death as something trivial. There was no emphasis on anyone’s death except for maybe the two main leaders of the cartels. Other characters (children) involved in the shootouts did not have any personal connections to the audience, they did not have names or background stories. The directors used these techniques in order to show how death is trivial in the favelas as children were dying left and right while no action was being taken.
In conclusion, the film City of God was an eye opener, seeing a city completely excluded with no laws or enforcement really made me think about similar cities in the United States. The way the film started and ended had a significant impact on displaying the vicious cycle of violence and poverty as it starts and ends with children engaging in violence. The children did not have stories, parents, or anyone looking after them, as a result almost all of them were involved in either drugs or violence. At the end of the film