The Movie: City of God came to me highly recommended from many different people. I actually received it from Netflix more than a month ago but due to my move to L.A. County and a bunch of other circumstances, it wasn't until last night that I was finally able to sit down and watch it. Unfortunately, I think the result of all that waiting for me was that this film became kind of overhyped.

Don't get me wrong, this is an excellent film, but the way people were talking it up, I was expecting it to be some kind of life changing experience, and it definitely didn't reach that mark... then again, there's probably only 1 or 2 films every twenty years that could be put in that category. At any rate, this will truly be an eye-opening film, if not a life changing one.

Based on a true story, this film chronicles one of the bloodiest gang wars in history in the "City of God", probably the most violent slum in Rio de Janeiro. It centers around a young guy who aspires to be a photographer and the various escapades that take place around him as many of his friends take up the gangster lifestyle, starting out with simple holdups and progressing to murder and drug trafficking.

Most of this film was shot on location in a documentary style, mostly using local people from the slums rather than real actors, and these guys turn in some stunning performances. Combined with some awesome cinematography, we get a pretty gritty and immersive view of what life is like in the City of God... right down to the murderous gun toting 10 year olds... it's really quite amazing, and definitely not your usual "based on a true story" fluff. Check it out!

The DVD: This DVD featured a soft, but very clean video with excellent contrast with crisp, clean audio to go with it. By the way, being a Brazilian film, all of the audio is in Portuguese, so if you're one of those heathens that's afraid of subtitles, stay away (though I don't really know what you're doing reading this site anyway, haha). I was actually expecting quite a bit worse, having known before hand that this film was shot on location in Brazil. The only special feature to speak of is a documentary called "News From A Personal War" which is about life in the slums of Rio.