City of Men (Paulo Morelli, 2007): Brazil

Reviewed by Keith Chancey. Viewed at the Riviera, Santa Barbara

I never saw City of God and my friends tell me there is a two season series leading up to City of Men that gives a better connection between the two films, so this review will not take into account either of those things. I will certainly be renting City of God soon though. Not because I feel I need to in order to better understand City of Men (from what I‘ve heard, there is no connection other than the location), but because the original is almost always better and this was still a very good movie.

City of Men is about two boys growing up in the favela of Rio. They are both just turning 18 and on the search for more information about who their fathers are. The notorious hill they live on is the grounds for a youth gang war that tears the whole town apart and pushes the boy’s friendship to the point where it nearly crumbles down.

I saw City of Men at the Riviera Theatre in Santa Barbara with maybe 15 other people total in attendance. While it is sort of obvious that is not a very popular film, it is in my opinion a lot better than anything else that was released this weekend. The story told is very compelling to follow and while it is a longer film at 110 minutes, everything flows well and is accurately timed within the frame of the story. The camera angles used for a majority of the film are exceptionally well composed and really give a feel for what living in that area of Brazil is like. Although there is a lot less violence than I would have hoped for, the acting and tension between characters more than makes up for that. Most of the actors in the film are very young with little acting experience, so what they have brought to the screen is all the more impressive to see.

The only thing I could think of complain about would be a few scenes that seemed to really do nothing for the advancement of the story. Multiple characters were built up very well, but concluded in a very unsatisfying sort of way. I would assume it has something to do with the television series though and it wasn‘t that big of a flaw. Apart from those few scenes, this is an excellent movie that certainly does deserve a bit more exposure than what it received. Bringing in only $93,000 over the weekend, hopefully it will be able to pick up some exposure before it’s off the screen.
I would strongly recommend this film over a number of films currently out without hesitation. On a scale from 1 – 10, I would rank City of God at an 8.