i just saw this film

it was a mind numbing excursion into hell

it bordered on masterpiece




any one else catch this?

Beautiful, horrific film-making. A snake eating its own tail on celluloid. Or probably digital these days, bastards.

I finally saw this film a few days ago. Actually bought the DVD and I've watched it several times already. It's a much different view of Rio than the average person conceptualizes.

Very powerful, but sad. To think that most people in the favelas don't live to the age of 20... For the last two years I've been begging the missus for a trip to Ipanema Beach in Rio. Not sure I could enjoy myself now, thinking about all the madness taking place a few short miles away.

Excellent film. Loved it!

Great movie!

That scene with the children "acting" like gangsters...wow....

amazingly heartbreaking film.

FANTASTIC FANTASTIC MOVIE!!! The best that year!!

It's actually on my list's of movies to rent.

i thought this was going to be a thread about augustine's book.

shausler said:

I had the same reaction...even started a thread about the movie, too..lol

Excellent film, one that I'll be buying soon.

Very impressive movie, I really loved it.

I thought it was very good, but it wore me down after a while. That level of violence for such a sustained period of time was just too much for me, I'm afraid....

deebee said:

im certain that that interpretation of toned down from

how it really was and is

shausler said:

I own it as well....Excellent Movie!!

shausler said:

I suspect that that's probably true. But it makes me wonder, how do either of us know "how it really was and is"?

And as well as "toning it down", the film also "spiced up" how things really are too, didn't it? For instance, the real thing doesn't have a funky/latin 70s-style soundtrack accompanying it, and, sadly, the experience of it isn't over in 2 hours....

It was a very engaging film, but we shouldn't forget that it is just that - a film. It's a certain director's representation of reality, designed to appeal to a certain kind of international audience - it's not actually reality itself.

I enjoy The Sopranos, but I don't know whether it would be a good source of information about what organised crime in America is really all about.....

Just some thoughts.....

deebee said:

i recall rather vividly years ago

a 60 minutes report about the youth of rio being killed left and right

this was years before this film was made and its what i base my jugement opon

deebee said:

The difference is, City Of God is based on the real-life story of someone who lived it firsthand: Rocket, the kid-turned-photographer...not to mention at the very end, they show the videotaped interview with the real-life Knockout Ned, which the movie mimics to-the-T, including vocal inflections and body language...you get the feeling that it's more real-to-life than we may want to believe. The Sopranos, on the otherhand, are made purely from fiction...

("Rocket" was his name, right??)
[Edited 10/24/04 14:44pm]

I must catch this one on DVD.

Byron said:

That interview at the end that actor NAILED it!!!

Sweeny79 said:

I bought it a while ago but I have yet to get through all the extras. I need a month off to just dick around & catch up

Byron said:

OK, then it's a 2-hour long dramatization of selected events from the life of someone who "lived it first-hand"; scripted and edited; set to a funky soundtrack; and sold to a largely Western audience.

I'm not trying to imply that the reality is actually all fluffy bunnies or something, but I am saying that it's a piece of (commercial) art, and should be seen as such. (Not that that in any way detracts from it being a really great, thought-provoking piece of art.)

All autobiography is semi-fictitious, and all fiction is semi-autobiographical anyway....

(OK, Goodfellas instead of The Sopranos....)