Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

City of God Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 29, 2010

Winner of the Visions Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' "Cidade de Deus" a.k.a "City of God" (2002) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributors Alliance. The only supplemental feature on the disc is the documentary film "News From a Personal War". In Portuguese, with imposed English or French subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Li'l Ze's soldiers

Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles’ Cidade de Deus a.k.a. City of God spans three decades -- from the late 1960s to the late 1980s -- and follows a group of characters who live in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. The film is divided into segments and narrated by a young man, Buscape (Alexandre Rodrigues), who dreams of becoming a professional photographer.

The 1960s segment introduces the Tender Trio, a group of young thugs who steal, rob, and kill at will, and one of their admirers, a kid named Dadinho (Douglas Silva). After a supposedly very easy job goes terribly wrong, the Tender Trio are forced to hide in the City of God while Dadinho goes on a killing spree to prove that he is already a man.

The 1970s segment introduces the merciless drug lord Li'l Ze (Leandro Firmino) and his partner Bene (Phellipe Haagensen), who have people working for them all over City of God. Li'l Ze does not get along with Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele), who controls a very small part of City of God, but cannot eliminate him because he is a good friend of Bene. During a wild night out in City of God, Li'l Ze rapes the girlfriend of Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge), a local playboy, who immediately joins Carrot's gang. Meanwhile, Bene is killed, and war breaks out on the streets of City of God. Buscape starts taking pictures.

The final segment in the film is about a lot of different thugs getting killed, and Buscape becoming a professional photographer. In the final third of the film, Buscape's pictures are published in a large local newspaper, and the names of the biggest drug lords in City of God are made public.

Based on Paulo Lins’ novel, Meirelles' City of God is a film that moves at an incredible speed. There are numerous flashbacks in it - most appearing at very unusual places. There is also an enormous amount of hand-held camera footage, which creates a real sense of claustrophobia.

Except for Buscape, none of the main characters in City of God are likable. They feel distant and doomed. Once the violence begins, one gets the feeling that it is only a matter of time before one character is replaced with another.

The visual stylization at times suffocates the narrative. For example, some of the most memorable parts of the film are fractured into little pieces that look like violent video clips. Elsewhere, the hand-held camerawork and fancy cuts and zooms are completely out of control.

The drama in City of God works best when everything is kept simple, from the narration to the visuals. When Buscape quietly explains why people die in City of God, it is easy to believe him. Elsewhere, the fear that one can detect in his voice is a lot more effective than the graphic killings Meirelles’ camera shows.

City of God is not the only film about life in the favelas to gain critical acclaim. In 2008, Jose Padilha’s Tropa de Elite a.k.a Elite Squad won the prestigious Golden Berlin Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film's realistic depiction of police brutality, however, also prompted some well-known critics to dismiss it as a celebration of violence and fascism.

*In 2002, City of God won the Visions Award - Special Citation (Fernando Meirelles) at the Toronto International Film Festival. A year later, the film won six Cinema Brazil Grand Prize awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

City of God Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Fernando Meirelles' City of God arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Canadian distributors Alliance.

The release offers a pleasing but somewhat inconsistent presentation of the film. Generally speaking, fine object detail is good. The close-ups, including the ones during the extremely dark nighttime footage, look very good. Contrast levels fluctuate quite a bit from episode to episode, but the fluctuations are part of the original cinematography. The color scheme is impossible to evaluate as there are several different manipulations throughout the entire film -- blues, yellows, reds, greens, browns, and blacks appear in all sorts of different variations. For example, most of the early episodes convey a very strong faded look. Macroblocking, which was a very serious issue of concern with the old Miramax DVD release of this film, is nowhere to be seen. There are no serious stability issues to report in this review either. Finally, while viewing the film I noticed a few tiny flecks popping up here and there. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

City of God Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Portuguese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, Alliance have provided imposed English and French subtitles for the main feature. This means that the film can be viewed either with imposed English or imposed French subtitles. The film cannot be viewed without selecting one of the two options.

The Portuguese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is a good enough reason to strongly recommend this Blu-ray disc. Its dynamic amplitude is excellent - the bass is powerful, rich and punchy, the surround channels intelligently used (during the mass shootouts, there are some terrific surround effects), and the high-frequencies not overdone. The dialog could be somewhat chaotic at times, but it is still rather easy to follow. Additionally, there are no serious balance issues with Ed Cortes and Antonio Pinto's soundtrack. I also did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hissings to report in this review.

The Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks is unimpressive. It most certainly does not match the dynamic intensity of the Portuguese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (compare the opening shootout scene where Li'l Ze's thugs chase the chicken).

City of God Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

News From a Personal War - an outstanding documentary film about the favelas, the drug industry in Brazil, and the ongoing war between BOPE and the drug lords. The film contains interviews with various drug traffickers and soldiers. In Portuguese, with imposed English subtitles. (57 min, 480/60i).

City of God Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fernando Meirelles'City of God has already achieved something of a cult status - but, arguably, for all the wrong reasons. Canadian distributors Alliance have put together a competent package, which should please fans of City of God in North America. RECOMMENDED.