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City Of God | 
| Studio: Alliance (Universal)
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 14.99
Buy New: CDN$ 11.63
You Save: CDN$ 3.36 (22%)
New (7) from CDN$ 11.63
Avg. Customer Rating:  97 reviews
Sales Rank: 2815
Format: Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
UPC: 065935200864
EAN: 0065935200864
ASIN: B00013UIXK
Release Date: June 8, 2004
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: We sell brand new shrink-wrapped items only. Guaranteed or your money back.
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Amazon.ca
Adapté d'un best-seller de Paulo Lins, tiré de faits réels, City of God est la première réalisation du tandem brésilien Katia Lund-Fernando Meirelles. Percutant et inventif, le film, co-produit par le cinéaste Walter Salles, confirme également la bonne santé du cinéma sud-américain. Construite dans les années 60 dans la banlieue de Sao Paulo, la cité de Dieu est une favela gangrenée par la violence et le trafic de drogue. Sous les yeux de Fusée, gamin déterminé à se créer un avenir dans la photographie, la cité en expansion devient le terrain d'une guerre civile entre deux brigands, Petit Zé et Manu Tombeur, secondés par leurs gangs sans pitié. Sorte de Scarface revisité par un Wong Kar Wai fan de samba, City of God est un film ambitieux, parfois choquant mais réellement solide. Retraçant avec une cohérence stylistique impressionnante l'histoire de la cité des années 60 à nos jours, il montre de près l'effondrement moral et social de toute une génération en proie à la pauvreté, à quelques kilomètres d'un Rio touristique de rêve. Sans concession, tirant profit d'images très dures pour susciter la réflexion, il a l'intelligence de ne pas glorifier la violence. Malgré quelques longueurs, mais dynamisé par une audace esthétique époustouflante, City of God est le fruit d'un réel talent de mise en scène et remplit avec justesse le rôle social que le cinéma peut avoir à jouer. - Helen Faradji.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 92 more reviews...
 True tragic masterpiece September 9, 2008
This true movie will shock all the way trough this rough and blessing story. And show how mean can be the men in theyre path to accomplishement.
Stunning.
Seeking to survive in a brutal environment... January 10, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"City of God" ("Cidade de Deus") is the story of a boy, but also the story of a "favela" (Portuguese word with similar meaning to slum or shantytown) on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. That shantytown is called "Cidade de Deus". Throughout this extraordinary movie both the boy and the favela grow, albeit obviously in very different ways :)
The boy is Rocket (Buscap in Portuguese, played by Alexandre Rodrigues), who is born in Cidade de Deus and grows up before our eyes living in it. He is quiet and easygoing, just a non-violent person seeking a way to survive in a brutal environment. Rocket ends up doing exactly that through his passion, photography, that ends up making him an intermediary between the local gangs and the press. He is also the narrator of this movie, the voice that accompanies us throughout many of the stories that "City of God" has to offer...
The other main character of "City of God" is the "city" itself, that starts merely as a couple of houses, but that grows immensely as years go by. The activities in which its inhabitants are involved also change, from petty robbery to organized crime that involves drug dealing and arms trafficking. We see Li'l Z (Z Pequeno in Portuguese, played by Leandro Frimino), one of the boys that used to play soccer with Rocket, grow up to become a murderer and a drug lord, someone that makes his own laws. The same happened with others, but Li'l Z probably represents to most dangerous kind of sociopath that the favela can produce. Rocket and Li'l Z, same circumstances, different persons, different choices. Who says that where you lives determinates how you are and what you do?. This is an excellent example that that is not always the case...
Directors Fernando Meirelles and Ktia Lund somehow managed to convey in their movie the full strenght of the novel (written by Paulo Lins) on which "City of God" is based. This film is full of colour and energy, carrying the spectator at a dizzying pace through the twenty years it covers, never giving him time to get bored. It is wortwhile to point out that most of the "actors" didn't have any real experience as such, they just happened to live in different slums of Rio de Janeiro (including Cidade de Deus) at the time when the film was being made. I think that is something that shows in the realism of the results...
On the whole, I can say that I loved "City of God", notwithstanding the fact that it is undeniably bloody and has some very violent scenes. In my opinion, they are not gratuitous, because they help the directors to capture what may really happen in a Brazilian shantytown, and show it to us. All in all, this movie is nothing short of an experience worth having and sharing. If you watch "City of God" and love it as much as I do, do your part and recommend it to others :)
Belen Alcat
Modern day film makers should question their work. September 5, 2004
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Though filled with dizzying violence and brutality (things I usually frown upon in films) City of God is one of the best films I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. The violence and brutality is necessary in this film in order for the story to be told the way it was intended to. This film is a true depiction of an impoverished community where there are very few legitimate ways out and also very little value placed on human life. In the tradition of films like Francesco Rosi's "Salvatore Giuliano", City of God takes a true story and tells it with realistic acting and visionary film-making. After watching City Of God modern day film makers should really question their work and decide if they're really putting their talents to use for the better of humankind. It's about time film makers stopped entertaining and started to educate the viewer on injustices in this world. Hold off 300 million dollar productions of fantasy films and show the world some things that really need to be changed. City Of God is not just a film, it's stunning portrayal of corruption, greed, and how desperation in poverty can lead to senseless violence. It achieves something way more powerful than just being labeled as "a work of art." What could that be you ask? Watch for yourself and see.
 4 star movie 5 star bonus documentary August 8, 2004
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
CITY OF GOD does pay off in the end but I think that the bonus documentary has more relevant meaning to it. But the movie is a TOUR DE FORCE of CINEMA no doubt about that. It is very much a GOODFELLAS/CASINO of the flavellas.The superb documentary contained on this disc in the special features section explains far more the political dimensions of the subject. One thing that is not explained in either the movie or the documentary is the origins of the 1964 Coup that over-turned Brazilian democracy and saw a fascist junta come to power.
That event was the fruition of a plan and a policy conceived and insisted upon by John F Kennedy though the Hollywood JFK mythology machine does not want to "go there" or you to know it.
Kennedy was an ardent supporters of neo-nazis across the Third World from Indonesia to Iraq to Brazil. Though his plan for Brazil did not come to a full fruition until after his assassination the plan was very much Kennedy's and all the key people Rusk. McNamara etc were still in power. In theory Brazil should be a 1st World rich country it has all the resources. They now have the first decent President in their history. But he has forty years of interferance from the North and a culture of brutality to over-come. hsm_melody@hotmail.com
SIMPLY AMAZING July 27, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I thinks its one of the best films I've ever seen. I don't think you will ever see something as amazing as this film. It left me speechless. I don't think people realize that many of the actors in the film are from the slums of Brazil with no prior acting and that the budget of the movie is almost nothing compared to Hollywood. Keep that in mind when your watching this movie and you will realize that this is as good as it gets. AMAZING!
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