City of God

The City of God is based on actual events that occurred in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) during the 1960s and 1970s. During this time period, Brazil was undergoing a lot of socio-economic problem. The disfranchising of working class and peasantry from politics, the suspension of civil rights and liberties of the Brazilian people by the Heads of State, and the rising inflation were just some of the few political turmoils going on in Brazil. The passing of secret law, and government operating under the Doctrine of National Security only led to more social injustice and dishevelment. This movie manifests all these political turmoil, poverty, injustice, social and economic inequality within a boundary of a Slum called City of God. In the introduction scene, the hero of the movie says, "In the city of god, if you run away they get you, and if you stay, they get you too.” This one statement explicitly invites us to contemplate the idea of a place where reasons were discarded and nothing mattered except self-sufficiency.

City of God is a very backward, slow, and poor place. Its community's inability to realize common values and to solve the problems of its residents has only resulted in the breakdown of effective social control within that community. It seems as though the residents are simply living their life to get through the next day. One of the contributing factors to this disorganization is crime, which is expressed as more of a necessity than social stagnation. Unemployment was a big factor in Brazil at this time, and it seemed like the only occupation available in Slum was drug dealings, and robbery. Even the people who chose to do an honest job had a hard time continuing with it as frequent mobs, hold-ups only led to the downfall of workers. In the movie, the manager of Super market Rocket worked at fired him without paying, and without any genuine reason of misconduct. Frustrated by the inefficiency of an honest job Rocket at one point in the movie says, “Honesty doesn’t pay sucker,” and even he intends to commit crimes.

The incorporation of children in these crimes is more heinous than crime itself. Kids were not only recruited, but abused to the extremes. They were shot, just for enjoyment and in some cases to spread the message of gang’s ruthlessness. Kids were told to shoot other kids, to prove their commitment to gangs. Guns were given to kids just so they could contribute to the one gang’s goal of extermination of other gang. Most of the times, the kids also tuned their face to violence, as the only way to gain redemption. The killing of Knockout Ned by one of the kids in the gang illustrates the example of how kids were motivated to join the gang.

Civil war