Earlier in the year, I wrote a review of E.L. Doctorow’s millennial novel, City of God. Tonight, I watched a movie with the same title. It depicts a completely different place and time, but the story reverberates just as deeply as Doctorow’s depictions of the struggle for life in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Nazi occupation.

The movie is Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles’s City of God (2002). It is a harrowing journey into the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro. Take a look at the sensationalized trailer from Miramax that totally misrepresents the movie (well not totally — it has some of the elements, but completely misrepresents the narrative structure and style — that’s Hollywood folks!). The critics for once recognized a powerful piece of filmmaking, and even regular film viewers enjoy the film as can be seen by the reviews at Netflix and Amazon.  

The movie is beautifully filmed, and the story is both riveting and important — I highly recommend it. However, even more important, and sadly ignored, is a documentary, News From a Personal War, directed by Katia Lund (who is also credited as co-directing City of God), that is included on the DVD version. This is a searing look at the favelas now and the continuing cycle of violence and corruption involving police, dealers, dwellers, and increasingly, outsiders. It is powerful in that it is a glimpse into the corruption of state power, the desperation of crime/violence, and how violence breeds more violence. As an American, I kept thinking of our own situations in our own cities where the inner cities are run down, the citizens (dwellers) rightfully distrustful of an uncaring at best, more often willfully brutal or dishonest law enforcement system (go ahead, scoff — study the history of police brutality in Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Chicago, San Diego, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, etc.), and disadvantaged poor youths choosing between menial jobs with little respect and the illusionary glamour of criminal activities. This is an extremely important documentary because Lund was (amazingly) able to follow and interview special forces police, their officers, favela residents, favela dealers, their young initiates, and incarcerated gang members.  Everyone speaks with a complete candor, absent in the US, about the social structure that has led to the desperate lives of the favela residents. A high-ranking police officer even gives an enlightening dissertation on what the true role of the police is in preserving the status quo for the elites and what role brutal violence plays in suppressing possible resistance from those who are being exploited/oppressed. Please watch this important documentary and show it to others!

thivai