Why has god forsaken us?

Title: City of God

Year: 2002

Directors: Katia Lund & Fernando Meirelles

Writers: Braulio Mantovani based on the novel by Paulo Lins

My Take: This film had been described to me as "a Brazilian Pulp Fiction" and "you've got to see it, you'll love it." Well, one out of two ain't bad. This film had no more to do with Pulp Fiction than Kevin Smith's been able to escape Jay and Silent Bob. However, I loved City of God for being a rich, vibrant, relentless, unsanitized look at life in a Brazilian slum. It wasn't always pretty even if the cinematography was often amazing. The subject matter, the escalation of a gang war between rival drug lords, builds over the course of the film to an inevitable conclusion. The protagonist, a pot-smoking loafer named Rocket with one overriding dream - to become a photographer - is not your usual "good guy" trying to save the world from the bad guys. He's just trying to peacefully coexist under extremely difficult circumstances.

Verdict: This is definitely a must see, but don't expect to go through the film being entertained without it's graphic nature challenging your views on things. This isn't pulp entertainment in any sense of the word. This film was made to make you think and it does. Extremely well.